Has the Pilates craze hit race walking?
It hasn’t hit. I love yoga, and I think it’s great for strength and flexibility. Flexibility is a constant challenge for an athlete putting in 100 miles a week. The athletes tend to tighten up on you. So I love yoga, and I don’t do as much as I’d like to, but it’s definitely a component of my training. 8. What other sports did you do growing up? I tried absolutely everything. I just eventually realized I was best at distance running and from there realized I was good at race walking. From grade school through junior high school, I played football, basketball, volleyball, baseball — I did absolutely everything. Sometime around ninth grade was when I became a runner. I learned how to race-walk in summer of seventh grade. I didn’t become a full-time race walker, really focusing on race walking, except during the summers. It was just another event in track and field until my senior year in high school. I wanted to make a world junior team that summer, so I gave up running that track season
