See Diva Run

I was all set to post about shoes and a very positive experience at a local running store when I happened to visit The Runner’s Lounge. The topic for this week’s Take It and Run Thursday is feet. How timely!

In the past when I’ve had injury issues, I went shoe shopping. But I’ve been professionally fitted on many occasions. I have a variety of shoes in my closet, and when good shoes weren’t enough to keep injury at bay, I assumed it was because I had run so much that shoes could no longer compensate. With past injuries I’ve been able to minimize my down time by switching to neutral shoes, and shortening my mileage. Since this contradicts everything I’ve learned about pronation and over-pronation, this time I went with my sturdiest motion-control shoes for my recovery.

Last night the 5K training group met at Run 26 in Lynnwood. I wasn’t too enthused, because I’ve been a customer of Super Jock n Jill for a long time. Run 26 owner, Shelby Shenck is a former Super Jock n Jill employee, and very knowledgeable about shoes, body mechanics and injury. I have been diagnosed as a mild pronator on many occasions, but have occasionally been fitted in motion control shoes because of my heavier build and wide, flat feet. The problem is that my right ankle is so unstable that my foot rolls to the side, leading to supination. Can you be a pronator and a supinator too? While most people have a straight forward diagnosis, in my case he said it makes more sense to rotate between neutral and stability shoes. Wow, I used to do that. I quit because I was worried that the neutral shoe didn’t provide enough support for the distances I was running. Maybe I should have just cut back on the miles instead. So, Super Jock n Jill, you will always be my first love (of the running shoe store kind), I think it’s time we started seeing other people.

I’m going to experiment with the neutral and stability shoes in my closet, and if they don’t feel right, I’ll head back to Run 26 and hope that Shelby is there to work with me. For the first time since my disappointing visit to the sports medicine doctor, I’m feeling some hope about being able to run without pain. He also recommended a couple of foot & ankle specialists. I’m hoping one of them is on my insurance plan!

If you are experiencing running related injuries, it might be time for new shoes, or a new shoe store. This is not the time to be cheap. If your shoes aren’t working, take them back, or donate them and get a new pair. $100 may seem like a lot of money, but you can’t buy new feet!

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 14th, 2008 at 11:19 am and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.