Thursday, November 03, 2022

On the Run

Two plus months and I'm starting to get back to running. 

My foot is healed, or seemingly so.  I had an MRI a week and a half ago and still no results. It's annoying, and I work for the health system. I had to wait so long to get said MRI that by the time the time came, I was in very little pain. 

So, I took myself out for a test run. Several. 

I started at 6 minutes. Then 8.  Then 12.  Then 15.  Each time slightly upping my speed, which started at 3.7 mph. 

With my visits to the ortho guy, he questioned me on where I got my shoes fitted and where I run. While not appalled, he did sadly shake his head when I told him I purchased them at DSW, and them mouthed, "no". 

He told me, and Morty confirmed, that I needed to hit a store that would truly fit me, and that there was a life to running shoes. A fairly short one.  Just a note: my gym shoes are like 8 years old.  

After a few runs, I felt it was time to get the correct shoes and get back at it. 

Honestly, I cannot even tell you someone in a store has put shoes on my own feet. The self-service stores are the norm anymore - or is that just me? 

We went over my running "history" and there was some thorough measurement of my feet.  I had a pressure point scan - nothing really of not there.  Then I did the scan you see above, which captured a lot of information. 


It never occurred to me my feet were not the same size. But they're not. And they suggest going up at least a half size in terms of shoe. 



I'm just sayin', no guy wants to have small or narrow ball width and girth.  NO guy!

We tried on a LOT of shoes. Some successfully, some I knew wouldn't work. It came down to two pairs. One I thought would be the victor. I was wrong. 

I wore one of each shoe and walked around and it turns out the one I liked second best became best best. I said it felt lighter and more in tune with my foot, when asked which felt better and why. It turns out, the shoe I selected, while feeling lighter, is heavier than the one I ended up rejecting. 

That was Saturday. I ran Sunday, Monday and Wednesday......remembering to take two days off per week. The shoes worked well on three 30 minute runs - getting up to 5.4 mph. 

I am still taking it easy. I feel like I'm babying this, but that's ok. This is the long haul. I'm not at the 10 minute mark, or anywhere near it yet. But that's ok. More importantly, I didn't lose focus when I ran. If anything I was more in tune with it all. I really assumed I might lose the interest or ability after two and a half months. 

The good news is: no issues with the ankle or foot. I'd like to keep this up, but really trying to - pun intended - pace myself. 


Song by: Pink Floyd

2 comments:

Travel said...

The right shoes, and replacing them every few months makes a huge difference, and you are going to hate me for saying this, especially at our age. The most expensive shoes I have ever owned (except for a pair of crocodile slip ons) have been good running shoes, they are not cheap. But without them I have a lot of heel and ankle pain. The good news is once you find a show you like, you can buy the same thing online - or on sale.

Old Lurker said...

I hope your feet hold up and you can take up running safely again. I'll have my toes crossed for you.

It is such a shame men are so self-conscious about the width and girth of their balls these days. Just because you see guys with girthy balls on the Internet doesn't mean that is the norm, and one can still get a lot of steps in with small balls -- it is all in how you use them.