In April, 2009, I had just returned from my vacation in India. Little bulkier, I started running in Mamzar for my usual 11 km loop. It was my second or third run. I had not crossed even 3 kilometers, all of a sudden I felt sharp pain on my left foot.
Since then, I couldn't run or train till quite recently. I tried running several times in between, when the pain had subsided a little. But, it was temporary. The pain would resurface every time I would stress my foot. For a regular runner such a long gap is unacceptable.
As it is common with most runners, I refrain from going to doctor. At the sametime not many people trust doctors in Dubai. Specially, from my past experience I have seen a general orthopedic surgeon doesn’t understand the reason for sports injury and sports medicine practitioners are not covered by my health insurance policy.
I kept treating my foot with ice, ointments and rest. In the meantime, in my mind I was consistently analyzing my injury. Why this injury occurred at the first place? I looked at running websites for the clue. I checked on forums where people had complained about similar injuries. I found in most of the cases rest was recommended as most common remedy.
Once, while looking at http://www.runnersworld.com/, I ventured into shoe and gear section. Curiously, I entered the make of my shoe - Saucony Jazz, in the space given. The result was astonishing. I was using wrong shoe. This model is recommended for light weight runners with neutral foot. On the contrary, I am a heavy and overpronated (flat foot) runner.
This was shocking. I felt so stupid. How many times do we buy our sports shoes after researching enough about the technology and our foot type? Not many. We simply go to a sports shoe shop, may be flex the shoe a little, ask few question to the sales person who may not be trained about the foot mechanics and purchase a pair of shoe.
I further investigated and found I should wear shoes that provide stability and motion-control to overpronated runners. From there, I printed long list of shoes with stability and motion control features. I chose to stick to Saucony and Mizuno because of their cost effectiveness. Out of more than 18 shoes, the local dealer had only one model- Mizuno Wave Nexus 3. Fortunately, it had very good reviews on the website as well.
Now I have started running back again. After resting enough and with my new shoes on, I do not feel any pain. I am now good to run.
Yes, now I am looking forward to run my 4th run marathon this year. I am sure I will do better than last year, with my new shoes on.
Since then, I couldn't run or train till quite recently. I tried running several times in between, when the pain had subsided a little. But, it was temporary. The pain would resurface every time I would stress my foot. For a regular runner such a long gap is unacceptable.
As it is common with most runners, I refrain from going to doctor. At the sametime not many people trust doctors in Dubai. Specially, from my past experience I have seen a general orthopedic surgeon doesn’t understand the reason for sports injury and sports medicine practitioners are not covered by my health insurance policy.
I kept treating my foot with ice, ointments and rest. In the meantime, in my mind I was consistently analyzing my injury. Why this injury occurred at the first place? I looked at running websites for the clue. I checked on forums where people had complained about similar injuries. I found in most of the cases rest was recommended as most common remedy.
Once, while looking at http://www.runnersworld.com/, I ventured into shoe and gear section. Curiously, I entered the make of my shoe - Saucony Jazz, in the space given. The result was astonishing. I was using wrong shoe. This model is recommended for light weight runners with neutral foot. On the contrary, I am a heavy and overpronated (flat foot) runner.
This was shocking. I felt so stupid. How many times do we buy our sports shoes after researching enough about the technology and our foot type? Not many. We simply go to a sports shoe shop, may be flex the shoe a little, ask few question to the sales person who may not be trained about the foot mechanics and purchase a pair of shoe.
I further investigated and found I should wear shoes that provide stability and motion-control to overpronated runners. From there, I printed long list of shoes with stability and motion control features. I chose to stick to Saucony and Mizuno because of their cost effectiveness. Out of more than 18 shoes, the local dealer had only one model- Mizuno Wave Nexus 3. Fortunately, it had very good reviews on the website as well.
Now I have started running back again. After resting enough and with my new shoes on, I do not feel any pain. I am now good to run.
Yes, now I am looking forward to run my 4th run marathon this year. I am sure I will do better than last year, with my new shoes on.
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