I'm a runner?

I am. No really. How come the ???

I've been injured. Again.

Shin splints again. Plantar Fasciitis. I was good. I backed off and stopped running. And then this little thing called the Ragnar Relay reared it's head. I had to do it. You know I did. And it was worth it. I had a great time running, laughing and hanging with Van One.

But.

Since I hadn't been running, somehow running 16 hard miles didn't agree with my calf. I pulled something and had to take another couple of weeks off. I wouldn't have done anything differently however. 12th overall and 1st place in our division was worth it! I'm still smiling to myself about the whole thing almost two weeks later.

So I've been biking while waiting for the calf to heal, the shin splints to settle again etc etc. Yawn. It doesn't help that it is gorgeous trail running weather.

The big change I've been dealing with is I finally decided to ditch my orthotics about a month ago. I got them way back in early 2004 and I thought they were miracle workers. My foot pain left, my knees felt better and my running suddenly got so much better. I have super high arches yet my feet overpronated so much that I got placed in the most controlling shoes to help my floppy feet stay put. It worked and I loved the orthotics both for running and at for work where I'm on my feet a lot during the day.

And then, something changed. I've been having lots of little lower leg and foot injuries. I do what I'm supposed to do. I strengthen, I stretch, I ice, I rest and it keeps on happening. I realized that my favored orthotics were forcing me to run on the outside of my feet (supination) and that could cause as many problems as the opposite problem (overpronation).

It's pretty scary ditching my security orthotics. Today I went to a running store which could watch and record me running on a treadmill. What is the verdict? In their (non doctor, non professional) opinion, do I need the extra control of my orthotics?

The verdict: no.

I'm an efficient, mid-foot striker.

I'm a runner.

The calf is healed and I'm starting back to running without the huge chunks of plastic under my arches. It is an experiment and we will see what happens.