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| Our beach house |
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| The boys at the beach |
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| Patio playground |
While at the beach, Glenn and I had planned on running a long run together. Unfortunately this didn't happen for a variety of reasons. I was disciplined to wake up early two mornings to get in a 6 & 8 mile run. Glenn also did 2 runs- 5 & 6 miles. Each of us had feet issues on this trip.
Glenn got several foot blisters which forced him to take it easy for the remainder of the week. I have been dealing with some heel pain which seems to be my nemesis injury. Off and on during my running & tennis "careers", I have had problems with heel pain. Usually I can heal it with rest & care. So I decided to take it easy the rest of the week- no reason to push myself with 14 weeks of training left.
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| Glenn's nasty foot blisters |
On the trip I bought a book with me called "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall. My good friend, Wendy, who is also running the NYC marathon recommended this book to me after I mentioned my heel pain. I thoroughly enjoyed this book for many reasons. The book follows the story of a man's search for pain-free natural running which leads him to researching the practices of Tarahumara Indians in Mexico and ultra-marathoners in the United States. It is pro-barefoot or minimal running, building the case against the use of shoes that promote heel-striking running. As a lover of running, I was intrigued with the ultra-runner community (though I have no desire to run an ultra-marathon). I also found a lot of good advice about running techniques which has caused me to evaluate my own running technique.
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| Courtesy of Amazon |
Due to my constant foot & heel pain, I am going to slowly change my running gait as well as my running shoes. When we returned on Sunday, I went out for a 3 mile run and focused on my foot strike, trying to land on my mid-foot and not the heel. I immediately noticed a difference in my foot pain. The next day I ran 5-6 miles which I did at a slower pace than normal, continuing to work on landing on my mid-foot and keeping my foot under my hips and not out in front.
Wearing my Brooks Trance, which has a high heel sole, made it challenging to take the heel strike totally out of the picture. Luckily there are great blogs about running that are easy to find and I located a blog called Runblogger @ www.runblogger.com. I found great information about shoes and technique. I am not looking to get into barefoot running but I need to change something in order to get rid of my chronic foot pain. So I am going to go shoe shopping today- looking at the Brooks PureFlow and Saucony Kinvara as possible shoes.
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| Saucony Kinvara |
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| Brooks Pureflow |
Running is a physical, mental and emotional challenge at times- right now I am experiencing a physical challenge which I am confident I can overcome. I am lifting this up to God in prayer but I also believe that God wants you to help yourself as well. Sometimes we need to be actively praying but also actively participating in the solution.
For example, on my 6 mile run at the beach, I was discouraged that I was still feeling the pain in my heel. I kept running, praying that God would carry me through my training, getting me to the marathon in New York. When I got home, I checked my email and I had an email from Runner's World titled "Fix Your Feet Fast". It was advertising a book about foot care & injury prevention. What a coincidence- you might say! But I believe when we give it to God, there are no coincidences. So what did I do? I ordered the book- I can actively participant in the solution by researching my options while asking God to take away the pain. Either way I know that He got me in (marathon) and He will carry me through!
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| "Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in ME will carry it on to completion.." Phil. 1:6
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