Walking is NOT fun

I had my first run with my Super Turtles Running team. Well, it was not much of run. It was a very, very fast (for me) walk. The girl who joined me today was very, very fit. She runs a 10 minute mile, so she walks effortlessly about as fast as I can run.

Now, here is the thing with me and running. I don't know why except the biomechanics of running is just different, but a 16-minute mile running is a lot harder than a 16-minute mile walking. I can't run a 16 minute mile and hold a conversation. I can manage a few words here and there, but I cannot talk. And my new Turtle friend is, well, very friendly. So that we could converse, I walked. She talked easily throughout while I structured short sentences with which to communicate between pants, so I cannot help but worry that I did not give her much of a workout. But for her part, she walked my tail off. I would wonder if it only felt so much harder because I was concentrating less on the run and more on the conversation, but I burned 700 calories in 45 minutes. Holy smokes!

I did however decide my future Turtle meet-ups will need to be more structured. I just can't hold a conversation while I workout. Though I do want to workout with companions. I will designate some set intervals for running (or walking quickly if I am with less Turtle-like turtles) and intervals for walking (ie. chatting) and some time before and after for cool down and camaraderie. I don't want to be rude, but despite my incredible calorie burn, I do not actually enjoy walking much at all. Or just...at all. Especially walking fast. I feel like if I am huffing and puffing, all red faced and sweating bullets, I should at least be able to say I'm RUNNING.