Walking across the gameworld at a snails pace drives me a little batty....was wondering if running is possible. Trying to download the manual but the community will probably have an answer before my cruddy isp/download speed starts working better.

Ah HA! The ol' Ctrl key does the trick.

As you found out, yes. And in some places, you'd better be sprinting or Bad Things Will Happen because you took too long!