The continued prayer is, “Lord keep me focused. Keep my mind stayed on You. Help me to bring You praise. I know You believe in me. Please help me in my unbelief. Amen.”
We were supposed to get rain on Christmas so I wanted to be sure to get a decent run in on Christmas Eve. It was really nice. Such a beautiful day! The rain is a bit of a drag, but we can’t complain. The rest of the country seems to be getting pummeled by snow and wind. Travelers are stranded all over the globe it seems.
However, for the folks living in SoCal, the day was glorious and perfect for running. I didn’t have any distance goals today, but a timing goal. I was going to do an out and back route for 40 minutes total. It was all the time I had before I had to get home, make holiday wreaths and clean the house before my In-laws started showing up for the Christmas Eve hoopla which we were hosting this year.
There wasn’t anything remarkable about this run except that I had been having some muscle pain and sciatic issues for several days and it wasn’t going away. As soon as I laced up the Asics and took that first step, all the pain was gone! I’d waited 5 days for the pain to subside before I decided to just run through it. Turned out, my body was reacting to the inactivity much more negatively than it did the activity.
The first mile was as usual. Just terrible. I wasn’t sure if I was going to do the full 40 minutes, but once I worked the kinks out, it was a nice smooth, easy, relaxing run. The first half was a bit of hill work, so the coming back was excellent.
A great gift. Speaking of great gifts, on Christmas, I got a copy of “Runners World – Complete Book of Women’s Running” by Dagny Scott Barrios from my Father-in-Law.
What a good guy! I have been reading bits of it every chance it get, which is not really as often as I’d like with the husband, kids, work, church, home, skin & hair care, the reading of other great books and of course workouts. But I’ve enjoyed every word of it so far and I can’t wait to share anything that is particularly helpful.
One thing I was really interested in learning is whether or not I’m in the right shoes. I learned that I overpronate so my foot collapses inward too much upon landing. I knew that, just didn’t know what it was called and it seems that I am actually already in the correct shoes and use the proper heel cups to alleviate the pressure on my arches.
Guess my father was right when he said common sense was one of those helpful tools. I was a little disappointed because I still have aches and pains when I run. I was hoping I would learn some mystic secret of the running gods and would find the Shangri La of footwear and be able to run like the wind with zero discomfort if I could only find the right shoes.
Turns out running hurts sometimes. Deal with it. Even the pros get stiff and achy. Blast!
Ah, well…. My father also told me that anything worth having is worth working for. And being awesome is *so* worth working for.
Did you get your shoes fitted?
ReplyDeleteI actually went to a running shoe store and they put me in a neutral pair of shoes and looked at how I land and all and recommended me some that will address my pronation.
I didn't pay an arm/leg for my shoes either. The first pair I got was an Asics and the second is a pair of Brooks. They were between the $90 and $110, which really, isn't too much to pay to be able to run injury-free.
Hey Christina! I went to Dick's Sporting Goods and they recommended Asics as well as the Super Feet Green insoles. There is a RoadRunner near by. I think I'll run over there this weekend to get a recommendation from a more specialized store.
ReplyDeleteIf it's worth it, I'll make the investment. Thanks!