New Shoes and a 20 Mile Run!

For the last week and a half, I have been seeing Dr. Zimmerman, at Zimmerman Family Wellness in Cornelius, NC. We have been trying to figure out why my left leg always gets injured. I have been going to appointments every couple days and he gives me adjustments from my head down to my toes. He thinks that one reason is that my left foot does not have enough dorsal bend and he is working to correct that. This would lead to my calvese becoming tight from running. Since I have been seeing him, my leg has not hurt, so I am pretty happy with that! Last week I was able to run twice, 4 miles each time. This week I was able to run 4 days and I even got in my 20 mile run today! If I was not able to get that in, I would have been very nervous about getting through the NYC Marathon.

I went to Try Sports on Friday and got fitted (for the first time ever,) for new running shoes. Jinnie Austin fitted me, and I was VERY impressed with the detail they take in their fittings. She started with going over how much I run, my current shoes I run in, how long I have been running in them, and my goals. She then had me stand on a machine that measured my feet and my arches, then she put me on the treadmill to video my running form and analyze it. The next steps were to try a few different running shoes and walk around in them to see how they feel. I liked the feel of the Mizuno Inspires the most, they felt very light weight and a wide toe, which I need. I then ran on the treadmill with these shoes and she again analyzed my pronation and form with the shoes.

Jinnie pointed out one thing that I think is brilliant, and I am surprised that no doctor, or anyone has ever talked about this with me before. She pointed out that since I am in sales and am in my car, driving most of the day, that my left leg may be weaker because of this. Thinking about it, it makes total sense. When I drove home I paid attention to my left leg. The right leg is always engaged since it is the leg pushing the gas and brakes. My left leg always just flops over to the side in a comfortable position. It is never upright. I tried to keep it upright on the way home, and it was something I had to concentrate on, and not so easy. Jinnie did recommend to put a yoga block in between my left leg and the door, and I definitely plan to do this moving forward. I can't believe how much sense this makes, and how I have never thought of this before!

The Mizuno shoes correct my over pronation on my left leg, which was more than my right leg. Hopefully this will help. It also doesn't hurt that these shoes are pretty!

As for my run today, it went great! Chris got up at 5am to run a couple miles with me before I met Lauren Tilton, Siobhan Havlik and Holly John. Lauren and Holly are also running the NYC marathon this year. We were able to get in a little over eight easy miles in mostly complete dark! We picked up our chips for the Lung Strong 15k and then I met up with Emily Barrett and Jessica Bilbrey to run the 15k at an easy pace.

I am happy to say that my leg never experienced any pain! As soon as I stopped across the finish line, I got very tight and am pretty sore, but that is expected since this is only my 2nd 20 mile run, EVER. The last was two years ago. So I am happy and optimistic for the NYC marathon!