  We propose that a holographic description of `walking' behaviour, namely
quasi-conformal dynamics relevant for technicolor models, can be obtained from
relevant deformations of N=4 super Yang-Mills. We consider deformations which
drive the theory close to the N=1 Leigh-Strassler fixed point, eventually
deviating from it in the deep IR. We use the Pilch-Warner dual supergravity
description of the flow between the N=4 and the N=1 fixed points to focus on
observables that only require knowledge of the walking region. These include
large anomalous dimensions of quark bilinear operators, which we study via
probe D7-branes. We also make a first attempt at describing the theory beyond
the walking region by introducing an infrared cut-off, in the spirit of
hard-wall models. In this case we find a light, dilaton-like scalar state, but
whether this mode persists in the exact theory remains an open question.
