Here goes nothing

Today, I start something I never thought I would do: A running program.


Know what else I'm doing? I'm running in the Hot Chocolate 15/5K in February. That gives me a little over two months to prepare for a race that is just over three miles so it should be easy, right? 


I don't run, I walk...well, limp is more like it, but hey, I limp a mile or two a day anyway thanks to this guy:



I've even traipsed across a thirty+ mile stretch of the Appalachian Trail in a day so running three miles should be a cakewalk. You like how I'm psyching myself up? The problem is, that one word, run.


I can't run. I want to run, but I can't. Why? I have a bone that sticks out of the bottom of my right foot. Good times. That's what I told Mary, the salesperson at a local running store. Her response: Bullshit. She told me that if I can hike several miles across uneven terrain with little to no pain then running a 5K road course should be no problem with the proper training and preparation. 


I have never stepped in to a dedicated running store. I always thought that I could get what I needed by walking in to an REI or an Eastern Mountain Sports or at the very least a Dick's. This place was loaded with nothing but running and walking gear. I wasn't so much shocked by the amount that was crammed in to this small space but more taken aback by the complexity of everything that they had to offer. Forearm shivers for runners? GPS/Heart Rate Monitor watches? Gait analysis? What the hell is that? I was about to find out.


Mary put me on a treadmill, aimed a camera at my feet and had me jog for maybe 15 seconds. All of this was to determine what kind of shoe would best serve my needs. As expected, my gait was screwed up. My left foot has a neutral pronation while my right foot has a severe overpronation. She told me that I needed to wear motion-control running shoes because of my right foot. What? My first thought was to just leave, give up and stick with my worn out Merrells, Doc Martens and Nikes. 


Then I heard that voice in my head: 

You have spent over a year in depression with no signs of getting better and now you want to give up on one of the few things that you have genuinely gotten excited about? What the fuck is wrong with you?!

I asked Mary, fully expecting to hear the response I have grown accustomed to when shopping for shoes, if they carried anything that would help me. Without skipping a beat, she listed off six different size 15 motion-control runners that she had in stock. I ended up getting these New Balance:

They even had them in my favorite colors!










If I don't post in the next few days, it means I've probably been hit by a car...should have gotten some refelctive gear while I was there.