Photos courtesy of Neal Eiber
Neal Eiber believes that anyone who has both run and walked a race will say that walking is harder.
Unlike running, race walking has rules.
The first rule is that one foot must remain on the ground at all times. The second is that the forwarding leg needs to stay straight. And there are a lot of other principles at play.
“You use different parts of your body. You rotate your hips to get a further stride,” says Eiber. “You use your arms; they act almost like pistons of an engine to drive you.”
So why do it? Fitness is Eiber’s chief motivation.
“The health benefit is fantastic,” he says. “I would say walking is the overall best exercise you can do because you can do it for a lifetime.”
People can use the walking technique as they age because it involves many different parts of the body, Eiber says. But he also enjoys the competition. He says running is solitary, while walking forces you to focus on the other racers.
Eiber discovered race walking nine years ago when, in the midst of a 5K, a racer passed him with a unique stride. Intrigued, Eiber attended seminars taught by Olympians to learn the technique.
Eiber, now 71, plans to continue for as long as possible.
Lindsey Capritta is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
