Week 4/Day 4: The Science of Subtleties or "Dear Diary" and 3 miles

(Because, let's be honest, the amount of whining I've done about various knee/ankle problems is more conducive to the self-indulgent crap of a diary than to a public-ish blog):

This morning, in an act of desperation for some reprieve from pain in the lower right portion of my body, I put on my old pair of Sketchers. This the same old pair of Sketchers that I nearly threw away last week after realizing that I have such poor form. In fact, I threw away an embarrassing amount of threadbare socks (lovin' grad school life!) and a~l~m~o~s~t tossed the shoes too. I have worn them nearly everyday for the last 7 or 8 months; they are exhausted. They showed that I land on the outside edge of my right heel, then underpronate. My attempts to correct this form have, as discussed ad nausea, not only lessened/eliminated my knee pain (yay!), but have brought on new kinds of ankle strain (boo!) from now overpronating.

I put on these terrible shoes and - sweet Jesus! - my ankle feels so much better and I can walk again!

So, for now, it's back to the old, crappy shoes for daily wear. I just walked/shuffled/jogged/ran the 3 miles that I was supposed to do yesterday. At least I'm not falling TOO far behind the training schedule, right?

But, I have to confess, I think it's amazing. It's really crazy to see how subtle these differences are in where you place your foot during your stride, and yet how profound their outcomes. The various sundry sources of information on the internet aren't lying when they talk about "taking it slow" when you start running. A small twist, a small turn, and you definitely can hurt yourself.

The new shoes are supposed to be here tomorrow. I have a feeling the new shoes will help the right foot and the old shoes will work just fine for the left foot. I'll be wearing mismatched shoes. AWESOME. The adventure continues...