New Shoes - Again! Third Time's A Charm, I Hope.

I have been having all sorts of trouble with running injuries. I have had runner's "black toe", shin splints, a stress fracture, Iliotibial Band Syndrome and Achilles tendon pain. Most people would suffer one injury, maybe two and then just quit running. Not me. I am not about to give up my best solution for weight control and fitness. Not when I sincerely love running so much.



As a new runner, I had no knowledge about the sport of running. The only thing I knew when I started running was that runner's needed to be in running shoes, not tennis shoes or cross trainers. After my first two months of running and coming to the decision that this was going to be a new way of life for me, I decided to purchase my first pair of running shoes. I went online and did some research on the newest models and brands of shoes and raced off to the chain athletic shoe store with a list in my hand of which shoes I wanted to try. I left the shoe store with my new Asics Gel Nimbus 12 shoes feeling great about having real running equipment.



My first hint that my wonderful shoes (and they are great if they are the right shoe for the person wearing them) could be causing me trouble came when I experienced "black toe". I finished a run and took off my shoes to find that my first and second toes on my right foot were actually bleeding beneath the toenails. Horrified by my discovery, I immediately went to my laptop and researched my injury to find the cause. I was so sad to find out that my shoes were the culprit. Thus began more in depth research into running shoes.



Imagine my surprise when I discovered there are three different basic types of running shoes and they are made to fit three different basic gaits of runners. I read every article Runner's World had online about the subject. They recommended have my gait analyzed at an experienced running shoe store, but we do not have that in Lubbock. We do have a running shoe store here, though, so off to the store I went with a bit more knowledge about my feet and what my gait might be. Unfortunately, I allowed the salesperson to talk me into a pair of shoes I knew nothing about. I laced up my new Brooks Ravennas and thought I had found the cure for all of my problems, which at this point included shin splints and a stress fracture. The new shoes eliminated my shin splint and stress fracture pain and my toes were healing nicely.



Everything was smooth sailing for about six weeks. Then I went out for a 12 mile run which included some time that I would have to be on concrete sidewalks. By mile eight I was having pain that I had never had before. The outside of my left knee began to ache and progressively got worse as the run continued. By the time I got home, I knew I was in serious trouble. The pain was centered on my knee, but I could feel it up the side of my leg as well. Sitting still for any length of time or going up and down stairs intensified the pain. Back to the laptop for more research. This time I had a good idea that my pain was because of the shoes, but I could not be sure until someone with expertise helped me. I found what looked like a good shoe store in Dallas, but I could not just drop everything and head to Dallas. Even if I did, I had a race coming up and knew changing shoes at that point was not a good idea.



The opportunity to take a road trip finally came last weekend. I had to be in Dallas to pick up my oldest son from a visit to his dad. Before we headed back to Lubbock, I dragged all of my kids to check out "Luke's Locker" with me. There, I had a wonderful salesperson named Chris who devoted an hour to analyzing my gait and fitting me to new shoes. He had me walk and run barefoot on the in-store track and the treadmill. He showed me (in a mirror in front of the treadmill) why my gait is neutral. Next, he had me put on my Asics that I had brought with me
and do the same things. He showed me why the neutral, but heavy Asics caused my shin splints and stress fracture. He was clearly surprised that anyone who knew shoes would put me in a stability shoe like the Ravenna and explained why that shoe had caused ITBS and my latest Achilles pain. I finally walked out of the store with a new pair of Brooks Defynace 4 running shoes. I went for my first run yesterday in them and felt great. Running pain free was really nice. I am just hoping this lasts for longer than six weeks!

Just so I do not leave you with the impression that children ages five, three and one could sit through an hour at a shoe store with mom, my 14 year old son, Justin, sat in the car right in front of the store with the three and one year old boys. They were both sound asleep and no one wanted to disturb that!