(NBC) -
A cloak of mystery surrounds many Olympic events, not least among them: "racewalking". It seems straight-forward enough at first glance, but as the Olympic Zone's Marshall Harris learned, it's not as easy as it looks.
You've seen them, the ones with more than a just a little pep in their step, that hip action, that glide, the racewalkers.
Even Team USA's John Nunn was skeptical when the University of Wisconsin-Parkside offered him a scholarship fifteen years ago.
When they were telling me about it, this is a joke, but then once I understood and I got the technique down, I realized it's incredibly hard.
The legs need to be straight, the hips need to roll and to avoid disqualification, you need to keep at least one foot on the ground at all times if you don't, it's an offense called "lifting".
"You have to have a little rhythm," said Nunn.
Even at this slow speed, the novice quickly understands that this is not simply walking and Nunn competes in a race that spans more distance than a marathon.
Nunn says, "50k is a brutal race. It's the most grueling physical race that there is in the Olympics."
"What goes through your mind? It seems like a monotonous activity!", asked Marshall.
"It is. It is a horribly monotonous activity!" said Nunn.
It may seem like an impractical way to race, but Nunn's quick to point out the same can be said about events in other sports.
Butterfly, is a pointless stroke to go long distance. We all know that to run 50k is a lot easier than to walk 50k," said Nunn.
Even if the technique may not translate to spectators, the speed does.
"I can walk a mile in 5:49," said Nunn.
John Nunn walked in the 2012 Olympic men's 50-kilometer race on Saturday and placed 43.
Click for John Nunn's biography
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John Nunn
