And the crazy continued...

The first few weeks of my Couch to 5k journey were tough.  After that first week of celebrating the fact that I didn't die on my runs, my muscle pain seemed to get better.  I still felt like I was going to die, but at least my legs weren't feeling like they were going to fall off anymore.  By the end of week 3 though, my knees were killing me.  It was about that time that I started to learn a little more about this whole running thing.  I started to ask questions (my few running friends on Facebook were a godsend!) and also joined an awesome group on Facebook.  A friend of mine happens to lead our local chapter of Moms Run This Town, and the ladies there were so helpful.

The general consensus from my running friends and MRTT ladies was that I probably needed new shoes. 

What???  I just bought new shoes!  Running shoes even!  And they were highly rated on Amazon!

Yeah, they were great shoes...just not for MY feet apparently.  The pain in my knees was so awful that I really wanted to quit.  I got to the point where I knew I needed to make a change, or I would never finish this program (and therefore all of those haters/doubters who thought I couldn't hack it would be right).

Remember how I said I lost my mind when I started running?  Prime example, coming right up!

Since the show started, I've been a Grey's Anatomy lover.  So much so, in fact, that when my daughter was overdue I made the statement, "I don't care when she comes out, as long as its not on Thursday.  I can't miss the Grey's season premier!"  The season finale this year was May 16th.  Do you want to know what *I* did that night?  I loaded my husband and 5 kids into the Mommy-van and we drove to Grand Rapids to get me some new running shoes at Gazelle Sports. 

Let me repeat that.  I SKIPPED the Grey's season finale TO BUY RUNNING SHOES.  Totally out of character for me, and definitely a bit crazy.  To date, I still haven't seen that episode, which I find a bit annoying but I haven't had time to sit down and watch it on my computer. 

Anyways, the guy who helped me at Gazelle's was awesome.  He checked my gait and informed me that I overpronate pretty severely.  I had googled that term earlier in the week, so I actually knew what he was talking about!

Overpronation  - occurs when the foot rolls inward too much and doesn't get the proper roll during the toe off. This puts more strain on the ankles, shins and knees.

According to the shoe selling guy, this is common in people with flat feet...like me.  Go figure!  He hooked me up with some (very therapeutic looking) Brooks Addiction 10's. 

I was hoping for something neon or cute.  These didn't quite fit the bill in that regard, but they were comfortable and my foot felt really supported, so I went with the expert recommendation and bought them since my first shoes were a big fail.  I'd also heard good things about running with compression socks, so I splurged and bought these bad boys as well.  I had to get some color in there somewhere!

Aren't they CUTE!?!?  It doesn't take much to make me happy.  These pink socks did the trick.

I don't know if it was the shoes, or the socks, or the combination of the two, but the next time I ran I hardly hurt at all!  It was incredible! 

Wait a minute, did I just refer to something running related as incredible? I think I did.  And I know I raved about the difference to my husband...who nodded and probably thought something like, "Those $50 socks are going to be such a waste.  I know she'll probably wear them like 3 times before the novelty wears off."  Don't worry, I proved him wrong in spades.  Those socks are my favorites.

We are almost to the middle of my c25k program already at this point.  And it only took me 2 blog posts!  I'm certain that if I had started this 8 weeks ago, you would have had to read a ton more.  Probably lots of whining and crying about how hard it was, and maybe a little bit about how with each run I completed, I felt more and more confident in my ability to do this thing.  I was starting to feel empowered when I was able to persevere and finish those runs, even if they were hard.  I still wasn't sure that I'd be able to do something like, say, run 20 minutes without stopping on week 5 day 3, but I took things one run at a time and I started to almost enjoy it.  Almost, but not quite.  I wasn't all the way insane yet at that point.