Ready to Run

In 2003 I bought a pair of great walking shoes. After ruining them on my honeymoon, my husband replaced them for me for Christmas that same year. I loved these shoes. Then a few months ago I realized that my feet would hurt after walking in them for a while. I finally stopped and thought about it....hmm...I know they rarely get use, but even so, 6 years seemed like a long time. So I did some research and found out that shoes should be replaced every 300 miles. Well, even with my minimal usage, I am sure I hit that number years ago. My miles were walking miles, but hey, they were still miles.

I decided it was time to replace my walking shoes with running shoes. At first I planned on stopping by Marshalls and getting a great deal, but then I realized I knew absolutely NOTHING about buying a good pair of running shoes. It was time to contact a professional. I found a running shoe store walking distance to my house called Movin. I had no idea what I was in for. The thorough and patient gentleman at the store had me not only try on shoes, but also run across the parking lot outside in each pair. He watched each short run and helped determine the best pair for me. This turned out to be the Asics 2140

I am really excited to begin the journey to becoming a runner. I don't really care if I am ever able to run a marathon, but I sure would like to no longer be afraid of running. It would be nice to feel like that is something I can do instead of having it in a list of things that scare me- along with spiders, clowns and rollercoasters that drop straight down.

I may sound like a crazy person with an irrational fear, but the last time I ran a mile was in the 7th grade when my gym teacher humiliated me. Running was always really difficult for me. I always had an abnormal amount of trouble breathing and pain in my heels from a condition where my heels have tiny cracks in them. The blood circulation to heal the tiny cracks gets disrupted when I run and the continuous pounding causes pain. This almost never bothers me now, but as a kid when you are expected to run more often, it was quite a bit more painful. I was the tiny middle school girl running almost 12 minute miles. Weird since I found out later that I can walk one in 14 minutes. Since my miles were so slow, my gym teacher made me run them by myself until I could do it in 9 minutes. I think the 8th grader she had timing me finally felt pity on me and may have fibbed a bit. After that, I got a note from my doctor and became a permanent member of the "walking team". And apparently I stayed on the "walking team" until now.

Well...I am not afraid anymore. Slightly cracked heels be damned! I will learn to run! I know I will be starting out slow. Maybe even a block at a time, but the good thing about my new shoes is I can walk in them too. I guess in fitness, as in life, a walker is not always a runner, but a runner is most definitely also a walker at times too.

Coming soon:
A fitter me
A fear-conquering me