This week was the first week where we started the walkers ahead of the runners. The walkers were to meet and start at 7:00 AM and the runners started at 7:30. Overall, I think it worked pretty well.

This was also the week where I did the entire distance (8 miles) with one of our walkers with Crohn’s disease while letting her husband head off and do the run/walk on his own, just to see what he is capable of. Honestly, both of them performed better when they were on their own than they usually do together. She managed to keep up 15:00-16:00 minute miles for the first half, but she did slow down some the second half. (She discovered the healing power that can come from taking in a little bit of sugar midway through… that perked her up quite a bit!)

I can’t do this every week, it wouldn’t be fair to others on the team to spend all my time with one person. And I miss getting the chance to interact with others, but I think this served as a valuable lesson to this couple that they are both capable of doing so much more than they think… they’re both stronger than they give themselves (or each other) credit.

Post run I had my friend Dr. John Vigil (aka Johnny Tri) do a stretching clinic for the team. He is the only person in Nevada certified to perform Fascial Stretch Therapy. (Although, that will change as of tomorrow… one other person here in Vegas is getting the certification!) Dr. John demonstrated some stretches runners/walkers can do on their own that would work through the entire body, as well as explaining how the team members should gradually work through the range of each stretch in order to get maximum benefit.

He also had his table there and helped some of the team members that were hurting. Each person he helped got off the table with a look of awe and amazement on their faces at how much relief they got just from 5-10 minutes of stretch therapy. One girl started having hip pain, limped in the last 3.5 miles, and after John worked on her a little bit she walked to her car to leave without a limp.

After everyone was done and had left, Dr. John stretched me some too. Wow… it’s a truly magical feeling! Yes, it can be kind of like a massage where there are painful spots but when it releases it is awesome. I knew I had some tightness because I haven’t been as good at stretching lately as I usually am, and John verified that. But he also was pretty impressed with how flexible I am, almost rivaling the flexibility in some of the dancers he treats. Go me!

It was a good training, but I’m looking forward to next week and having the chance to mingle with the Team a little more.

I am coaching a group of runners for the organization Team Challenge. They are fundraising for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America while training to run the Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas half marathon in December.