Wednesday, November 07, 2007

it's the shoes, stupid

After spending the past few months attempting to get back in shape, mainly through running, I have now come to a conclusion. Shoes matter. Yes, they do. Granted, I was out of shape and hadn't run in many moons when I started circling my neighborhood early in the summer, but for some reason I got shinsplits right away. Bad ones. I was running in a pair of Nikes, which I admit I bought in order to get in on the new idea. But after three months or so of recurring shinsplints and a knee problem thrown in, Pat (MP's wonderful mom) bought me a pair of Asics. And for the past two mornings I have run two and three miles respectively with virtually no pain at all. I haven't even felt the shins acting up one bit. Call me a convert.

Of course, this change could be because I "ran through" the splints and strengthened my legs rather than just getting new shoes. Perhaps it's a little of both. But after doing a bit of research, I think it's possible that I was running in shoes that were bad for me.