As I challenged myself to conquer my hatred of running, I encountered road blocks. Or maybe I should call it lack of proper education. Insert big sigh here. I started having knee pain and after talking with a co-worker who runs marathons, I decided to do what I should have done before. Go see someone who knows what the heck they are talking about. Google running stores in your community to find one. I went to this great running store named Run 26. I went in with purpose. Inserts. Trent said I should look at inserts. The cute guy at Run 26 said we should probably start with a gait analysis. "A whaaaa?"
What I discovered is the wise runners among us have had someone analyze their gait in order to determine if you have a neutral gait, over pronate, or under pronate. To add to the excitement, running shoes are designed for these specific gaits and THEN if you need an insert, well you’re in luck there too.
I left Run 26 that day with a fancy pair of Mizunos. I thought I had done my research on shoes but this goes to show you should talk to the experts before venturing out. Cute Guy was also kind enough to check out the callous on the bottom of my foot. Yes, I did show him. (We were talking about running troubles after all. I had no idea a callous could be so painful and I’m on an HSA plan, so I try to do some troubleshooting on my own first.) Cute Guy said these shoes will make me run faster. I strapped these little pieces of heaven on and logged 4 miles. I do believe he’s right!
Here are some great resources I’ve found in my search for a pain free run. If you’d like to get out there with summer looming and goals to meet, I encourage you to check these out:
