I've been running in "neutral" shoes for a really long time. I've talked to so many women over the years about getting the right shoes and never even looked at what I was running in. I guess it's because my average weekly mileage has always been pretty consistently under 30 mpw. Outside of a little soreness, I've never really had problems. Never, that is, until I started training for the marathon. As soon as the distance started geting above 7 miles, I started having some pretty severe knee soreness. It's not like it feels like its injured, I just have bad soreness from the back of my thigh, around my leg to my knee and then into my calf. It goes away in 24 hours.
I had the marathon coach take a look and he gave me some stretches, but it didn't really seem to help much. Then, I accompanied my friend Julie to our local Road Runner Sports store for her first pair of running shoes. I was so fascinated with their analysis of her gait and running pattern that I just had to get analyzed too. Lo and behold, I'm an underpronater- especially on my left leg! And guess what? They told me that I was likely getting this soreness on the longer distances because of the outward roation of my left leg. They even showed it to me on their cool computer screen!
Of course, it was the perfect hook - and just the excuse I needed to get new running shoes. Man, these guys knew what they were doing...AND I finally got out of the Nike buying habit. I picked up a pair of sweet Asics GT-2130s with a nice high arch and MOTION CONTROL! I haven't done a long run in them yet (that will be on Saturday), but I'm really curious as to whether or not I'll come away from the upcoming 10-miler with the same old soreness.
For now, my shorter weekly runs are much more comfortable, so as far as I'm concerned, you guys at RR Sports are geniuses!
