After the Big Event: What's Next?

By Kim Cottrell

If you are a veteran of half-marathons or marathons, you’re familiar with the post-event blues. Likely, you’ve developed strategies to deal with the letdown in the weeks and months following the event. If you’ve never walked 13.1 or 26.2 miles, perhaps you’ll get a new perspective on your options after finishing your recent long distance event.

After your first long distance walk or hike, you might ride a high for a few weeks before you experience a letdown. Or, you might wander aimlessly around the house wondering what’s next. After the intensity of a training program, your family might have gotten so used to you being absent on a Saturday morning that they’re not sure how to reintegrate you into their lives. Or, conversely, you feel smothered in togetherness and long for the open trail.

Without a destination or a goal, what’s a walker to do? A few ideas include:
• Kick back, take a rest and go to the lake with the kids.
• Take a walking tour in your own town.
• Invite a neighbor for a walk.
• Walk and pick up garbage in your community.
• Walk dogs at the Humane Society.
• Find or form a walking group.
• Hold meetings while walking, rather than sitting around a table or over lunch.
• Walk with someone who lives in your home; partner, child, or pet.
• Take a walking tour in another country.
• Customize future walks; tailor the distance and intensity to fit the season.
• If you’re a walker, branch out and take a hike. If you’re a hiker, explore your urban green spaces.
• Slow down your walks; focus on the process of walking instead of pushing.
• Did you discover that walking in a group isn’t for you? Walk alone instead on busy routes and in public places.
• What if you’ve always walked alone? Look for company. Grab a friend or join a group and set out to challenge yourself.

You’ll know what’s next for you. In the time it takes you to read through a list like this, you can take note of which ideas fit your current circumstances. And, you might even notice an acknowledgement in your gut — a sense that it will fit your life. A friend of mine recently read a story about a man who walked the entire length of the Oregon Coast. When she read it, she “knew” that was the idea she’d been waiting to explore. But, she also knew she couldn’t take a month off work, so she made plans to take two to three years to walk the coast.

Maybe you’re tired of taking part in long distance events, always setting goals and putting in long hours training away from your family. If so, you can rest knowing you can come back to walking at any time and in any way. That’s one of the beautiful things about long distance walking, it is always available. Maybe you’ve just begun with long distance events and you’ll never sit still again. Or, maybe you really need a break and a new activity. For you, there are endless other ways to be active and stay active without putting in the number of miles and hours in training. You might be ready for a more sedated or gradual time commitment to your weekly routine.

There are endless events and non-events to take part in. You can walk to raise money, to go a certain distance, to collect another T-shirt, or to exercise the dog. Whatever you decide to do, you’re sure to increase your sense of strength, purpose, and competence. All of the walkers who finished a recent half-marathon training program reported an increased level of satisfaction and all were thrilled with the sense of connection and support they got from the group’s time together.

Kim Cottrell is a Feldenkrais practitioner and communication specialist, and walking coach for the Foot Traffic University half-marathon training program. Training for 2009 Foot Traffic Flat Half Marathon begins on the first Saturday in February 2009. For more information visit www.kimcottrell.com.