Medical Monday And Something I Wasn't Quite Expecting

   In my last Medical Monday post I briefly made mention of a blood donation I'd tried to make which never came off because I had had a punch biopsy the previous week and hadn't received the results yet. Even more briefly, if you recall, I made the fly-away comment that I hoped the results of the biopsy didn't lead to a bunch more Medical Monday posts. Well, I might have jinxed myself.
   This past Tuesday, my dermatologist's office contacted me with the results. There is a spot on my left temple which has been diagnosed as a squamous cell carcinoma---skin cancer.
   I wasn't quite expecting this. My dermatologist has been treating me for the last few years for any spots on my head and face which appear to be pre-cancerous. On a pretty yearly basis, I undergo applications of Efudex, a chemotherapy cream, which identifies these spots and essentially burns them away. It's kinda like giving yourself a good sunburn! This has all become so routine that I'd really stopped giving it a lot of thought---the pre-cancerous spots were becoming fewer and farther between and less of a concern.
   There has been this new spot, however, which I initially thought was the remnants of a pimple so I just scraped it off, it bled a little and then scabbed over. The scab never fell off on its own, however, and so I would scrape it off again. Another scab formed and this became an ongoing routine.
   The week before last, I attended my usual scheduled dermatologist appointment and we agreed that all the usual spots looked good. I then told her about this one particular spot which never seemed to heal. She examined it and then decided to do the biopsy. Which then led to this week's diagnosis.
   There are three basic types of skin cancer (not that I'm an expert but I do know how to google) and they are basal cell, squamous cell and melanoma. Basal cell cancer is the least worrisome or problematic. Melanoma is the worst. Squamous cell lies in the middle and just the fact that it's in the middle and not at the bottom tends to give you pause.
   The little bit of research I've done also indicates that, caught early enough, squamous cell cancer is extremely curable. Good news! All I need to find out now is what "early enough" means! The little spot on my temple is a pretty recent development, however, so I have as good a feeling as I can at this point.
   The treatment is pretty simple---cut out as much of it as you can until you can't find anymore cancerous cells. Easy peasy. I am hoping this does not leave a large hole (definitely nothing you can see through to the other side), heals quickly and then I just get on with things (only perhaps a little more vigilantly!)
   The surgeon who will be doing this has a pretty impressive resumé and can also do reconstructive work along with curing snoring. I will simply ask him to make me handsome at the same time as he's curing both my cancer and my snoring. It'll be a win-win-win for my wife!!
   All of this, of course, is a cautionary tale about the dangers of too much sun. As an adult, I think I've paid pretty good attention to keeping the sun off my susceptible parts. Broad-rimmed hats, tons of sunscreen, regular check-ups, etc. The killer (oops!) in this case may be all the sun damage I got as a kid. Lots of burns and several blistering ones. I used to love pealing the dead skin off my ears and arms, not even remotely thinking about what this might mean as a grown man.
   So there you have it---a different kind of Medical Monday. My knee is just about back to where it once was and one of these days I will be running through the forests again and you'll see scenery instead of medical reports. Yes! 

I Am Misaligned (Maybe)

   I am misaligned. And I'm not talking liberal vs. conservative or half-empty vs. half-full or male vs. female or anything like that. No, I think my right hip is way out of whack.

I have this...

   I have occasionally had hip problems in the past but more on my left side. I'd get out of bed in the morning and be greeted by a jolt of pain on the outside of my hip. In the 
 
beginning, it was a reasonably minor type of pain that would fairly quickly disappear after walking around for a bit.
   Eventually, though, it started taking longer and longer to disappear and also became quite a bit more intense. My wife at the time urged me to go see her chiropractor. Those days, though, I was pretty leery of chiropractors so this visit never occurred.

...which could be this...

   Along came my second wife and I was still suffering these bouts of hip pain. What was different was that it had become almost impossible to propel myself forward anymore. I had been given a cane as a joke present a few years earlier for my fiftieth birthday and I now had resorted to actually using it!
   My second wife also had a chiropractor she recommended and at this point I was pretty desperate so we made an appointment.
   I then ended up having my first meeting with Dr. Zeinin Haji. Zeinin is a wonderful woman who runs a chiropractic and holistic wellness clinic here in London. She took some time to explain the concept behind chiropractic and then did an assessment on me.
   She discovered I was way out of whack.
   I then found myself being poked and prodded and stretched and manipulated and jumped on! (Zeinin is a pretty tiny woman and I swear she actually leaves her feet to get some of the adjustments done)
   At the end of all that, I was given advice on stretching, how to walk and sit properly and even how to carry my wallet! My wallet is about six inches thick and I carry it in my back left hip pocket. I spend a fair amount of time driving through work and never even thought about what it might be doing to my body to constantly have this large, leather wad pressing into my left butt cheek. She simply suggested I carry it in my front pocket when driving. Pretty easy fix!
   We then arranged to have me come back two or three times a week for a prescribed period, until my body had had the time it needed to respond to the treatment she was giving it.
   In fairly short order, the hip pain was gone. Now I'm at the point where if I start feeling any little twinges down there I simply go in for an adjustment and I'm right as rain again.

...or it might be this!

   These days, however, the pain is in my other hip. It is also more around to the front and deeper (whatever that means). It seems to pop up periodically when I am engaged in normal, everyday activity. I might step off a curb or get out of my car or be walking up steps when it hits. It feels as though it might be related to slight pivoting movements coupled with shifts in weight-bearing. It also feels as though my groin might be involved.
   Similarly to the left hip, the more I move around, the better it feels. Lately, I've had twinges at the very beginning of runs but after a block or two the pain disappears and I'm able to run normally. Yesterday, this did not happen.
   In an attempt to keep my #RunToCanadaDay streak alive, I headed out for what I thought was likely just a 2K run. I began to run, experiencing the same kind of pain but only more intense than usual. I then decided to walk the 2K but I was unable to even do that. At that point, the streak ended. It was still fairly early in the day and I thought that if it straightened itself out a touch I  might be able to give it a shot later on. This never happened.
   So. I think it's off to see Zeinin again. I am hoping against hope that this pain is also the result of misalignment and can be eradicated with some adjustments. I suppose it could also be just a pulled groin muscle and because I've been attempting to maintain a running streak, it's just never had the opportunity to heal itself. Or, at my age, I suppose I could possibly be looking at some kind of arthritic entanglement and this could just mean a trip to the family doctor.

Whatever it is, hopefully Dr. Zeinin Haji
will be able to fix it!

   What I do know is that I've had this before and it has gone away on its own, with a little rest. My plan is to give it some, have a visit with my chiro, and go from there.
   In the meantime, happy and healthy running to you all! 
  

First Blogiversary of "Strides"!

   "Strides" just celebrated its first anniversary!!
   It's now been one year since I began to describe in writing my little running "adventure". Of course, it seems as though I just started it yesterday!
   At the time, I thought I was engaged in a pretty solitary pursuit--who really knew that anybody other than me might be running and then writing about?

   Well, one day it occurred to me to hop on Google and find out if anybody was doing something like that. What I then discovered was that tons of runners were blogging. Or was it that tons of bloggers were running? Not sure on that one but the fact of the matter was there were a lot of us!
   As running bloggers, we come in all ages, sizes, body shapes and skill levels. Our blogging styles go from folksy to technical. We talk about what motivates us and what presents roadblocks (including, of course, actual roadblocks).
   As bad luck would have it, many of my posts this past year have dealt with either injury or other assorted reasons why I couldn't actually run.
   I went through a long stretch when I was recovering from plantar fasciitis. I was able to run for awhile after that but then found myself undergoing a treatment course for sun damage on my face. It has only been within the last day or two that I've been able to get back out there.


WAY too much opportunity to talk about THIS!

   What I found while I was off from running was that I blogged about medical stuff. I blogged about PF treatments and whether they seemed to be working or not. I blogged about my visits to the SoleScience centre at Western where I underwent a gait analysis and walked away with orthotics. And they even paid sixty bucks for my old, worn-out running shoes! I read other running blogs voraciously, looking for anything which might provide a topic for my own, seeing as how I wasn't actually running.
   More than anything, this past year has connected me with a whole bunch of other bloggers. Some of their stories and reasons for running mirror my own and some are vastly different. As a whole, though, they are very engaging and quick to offer advice or moral support. They also offer an audience and nothing's much more important to a blogger than to know that someone out there is actually paying attention!
   Hopefully, Year Two of "Strides" will find me doing more posts on how the running is going (not stopping) and more race updates as well. I know that the past year of running has left me in much better shape and the hope is that this trend continues. We also now have a gym membership (sadly unused lately) and this should also help, just need to actually go!
   At this point, I just wanted to thank you, the reader, for showing up here as often as you have! As I just stated, it's really not a lot of fun blogging if nobody's reading (although I would blog regardless) and the odd comment from y'all certainly makes it worth the time and effort! Cheers and good health to you all!
      

Weightless Wednesday

   On Wednesday of this week, I decided to stop weighing myself on a daily basis.
   I have always been a bit of a slave to the weigh scale, climbing on it several times a day. At the minimum, I weigh myself first thing in the morning and then again close to bedtime.
   What I found lately, though, is that I already sorta know what I weigh whenever I do climb on and I'm generally only out by a pound, or maybe two at the most.

Solitary scales.

   Originally, the scales were all part of the motivation thing, something in black and white, telling me what a fantastic job I was doing with the weight loss thing. Or not...
   Occasionally the scales give me good news and normally I have an idea why I have received this vote of confidence. When they give me bad news, I am also generally aware of the wherefores.
   Part of the problem, though, is that when I receive good news, I celebrate by eating a little extra. It's not part of the plan, but I give myself permission and it just happens This, of course, is counter-productive.
   After reviewing all of this, I started to get the feeling using weigh scales, at least on a daily basis, might not be an essential part of becoming healthier. They don't seem to give me any useful information that I'm not already intrinsically aware of.
   This is what has led to "Weightless Wednesday", a day of the week I picked simply for its alliterative value. Next Wednesday, I'll hop on them again and see if there has been any difference. Between now and then, I will "go it alone" and see what the results are. I will concentrate on simply feeling healthy and not tying that to the numbers between my feet!    

Baby Steps: Part Three

   We've had a couple of torrential downpours here in London in the last forty-eight hours or so and I've found myself setting off for runs either in the rain or under the imminent threat of it.
   The one time I stepped out the door and only then discovered it had started raining within the last five minutes or so. Doralyn asked if I was still going to go and I paused momentarily to ponder this.
   It then occurred to me that there were several times in the winter when I ran in the tail ends of blizzards or through rivers of slush and if I could get out regularly in that, then maybe running in the rain is really a piece of cake. So I ran.
   I still wanted to do the usual trail run I'd been doing so I headed for the woods, wondering what the conditions would be like. They were as iffy as I was concerned they would be.
   It rained on me until I got to the forest and then I was at least a little more sheltered. At some point the rain stopped, though, and by the time I was out of the woods I was...well...out of the woods, weather-wise. The sun was back out and a rainbow (or part of one) appeared.


Not fun to run through (or around).

   While I was in the woods, it was swampy. Warbler Woods is already a little swampy, necessitating plank footbridges here and there. With all the added rain, portions of it were a quagmire.
    On top of all else, my heel was twinging a bit. I'm at the point in "rehab" where I'm trying to decide if I should actually be out on the foot every day. Prior to the p-fash, I was only training every other day, running 5k. Because lately the actual running portion of my outings has been fairly minimal, I've been going out every day and run/walking the 5k. Slowly, I've been increasing the running and now I'm noticing the recovery time is taking longer so...time for a day off. Had a long day at work today so not running didn't bother me. Likely tomorrow I'll get out there again.

Pick up your feet!

   In the meantime, happy and healthy running to you all and here's a pic of the nasty little root system I was telling you about earlier!
 

The GAiT-way Explained And The News Is So-So...

   This afternoon I made my way back to SoleScience at the Fowler Kennedy clinic so that I could sit down with Dr. Colin Dombroski and discuss the results of my 3D GAiT assessment.
   Fortunately, Colin loaded the results of the assessment on to a memory stick so that I could sit down at home and more slowly go over all the info and what it meant.

   In his office, though, he was able to explain to me that out of the three main areas of my lower body which work together to make me run--the knees, ankles and hips--the most problematic one of them was the hips.


Dr. Colin Dombroski

   This didn't take me entirely by surprise--prior to the onset of plantar fasciitis, if you'd asked me what the most dysfunctional area of my body was I would have said my hips. There have been times in my past when, in the morning, my one hip would not actually propel me across the room anymore. My wife begged me to go see her chiropractor but, being a man, I waffled mightily.
   Eventually, though, the pain became so intense that I finally acquiesced. I have never been so glad that I did. Several adjustments later and I was right as rain. Occasionally I go back when I feel it's necessary. Lately, I've been feeling it's about time so it was really not totally surprising to find that the GAiT assessment indicated the hips as a problem area.


Low numbers are bad...

   Colin went ahead and gave me a set of exercises to do to strengthen my hips, this by way of e-mail so that it can be accessed quickly. In about six weeks, I'll return for another follow-up and see if the exercises, in conjunction with the orthotics, have made a difference, both with the p-fash and the mechanics.
   On another interesting note, when Colin first met me he took a look at the wear pattern on the Asics I'd been running in and said he'd never really seen one quite like it. Because of this, he actually offered to waive the assessment fee, if I turned them over to him! Which I did!


The offending wear pattern

   Well, off to do some exercising...
   

The GAiT-way

   Today, I underwent my much-anticipated 3D GAiT assessment at SoleScience in the Fowler Kennedy clinic at Western University.
   The assessment was carried out by Lyndsey Carey, a Masters student and assistant to Dr. Colin Dombroski, head of SoleScience. The GAiT assessment is part and parcel of the treatment plan, involving orthotics, which my plantar fasciitis has made necessary.
   The GAiT assessment arrived at Western via the University of Calgary, and it was developed by Dr. Reed Ferber, after many years of research. As its name implies, the program's infra-red cameras and its attendant software provide a 3D look at an athlete's gait and are more able to pick out his or her risk factors for lower body injuries. It can also predict which part of the lower body might be more prone to an injury than another. This allows an athlete to direct the proper resources toward strengthening that particular area of the body.

Me, trying to look like I'm running...

   The assessment begins with having reflectors attached to strategic areas of the athlete's body. At left, I am on the treadmill with all the reflectors attached to the back of my knees, calves, waist, ankles and shoes. The trio of cameras behind me, on the right, pick up the reflectors as I walk and then run and transfer the data from them into the computer. The software takes over from there.


The camera setup.

   What you end up with is a plethora of bio-mechanical information demonstrating pronation and supination as well as "movement patterns in all 3 dimensions (flex/extension, abd/adduction, and rotations) for the ankle, knee, hip and pelvis". And, hopefully, when I sit down with Colin this week to discuss the results of the assessment, the previous sentence will take on some kind of meaning for me!
   All in all, it was a fascinating experience and I can hardly wait to see what it all tells me. 


Lyndsey, compiling my data.

The screen, little bits of me all over the place!

   It also afforded me my first opportunity to be on a working treadmill. You may find this hard to believe, but in all my sixty years I've managed to totally avoid the thing. Much of my time was spent just trying to maintain my balance and not fall off. Once used to it, though, the running stride became much more natural and less strained. Hopefully, this produced better results.

Lyndsey in her workplace.

   Tomorrow, I return to sit down with Colin and discuss both the results and how the orthotics seem to be working. I've quite quickly recovered from my run the other day, both the heel and shin have come around nicely. I find this encouraging and hope it's a trend!
   Many thanks to Lyndsey (who is now bemused with the possibility of being famous) for graciously consenting to stay past closing time so that my work schedule could be accomodated and we could get this assessment completed before my appointment tomorrow. Also, many thanks to Dr. Colin Dombroski for allowing me to document the whole procedure. It was fun!
  

   

Run. Stop. Run. Repeat.

   Yesterday I really wanted to avoid another one of those days when I only got out there for a long walk. Due to the p-fash, it had been about two weeks since I actually ran in anger and I decided to give this another go.

   I started off walking my normal 5K route with the hills. I walked pretty strenuously as a warm-up. When I got to the 1K mark I started to run. Co-incidentally, this is the part of the route where the hills kick in so whether this was a good idea or not, I'm not sure. I managed to make it through this not too badly and then I stopped running at the end of 2K, walking the rest of the way in.
   Back home I stretched and iced again and, all in all, felt pretty good.
   Later on that afternoon, however, I was out running errands and the heel was hurting like hell. Not only was it hurting but there was also this strange new strained sensation down the right side of the front of my shin. It felt somewhat like a light sprain. Walking on my heel alleviated the shin but aggravated the heel. Walking on my forefoot alleviated the heel but aggravated the shin. Not a good situation to be in.
   As per usual, I tried to analyze the source of this new pain. None of the likely suspects raised their heads but the wildcard in all of this was the new orthotics. Yesterday was the first time I'd actually run in them and it seemed likely that the subtle change they presented might have been the most likely cause of this new painful sensation. By the end of the day the pain had lessened somewhat and once again I found myself waiting til morning. It was hard, though, not to be just a little discouraged last night.
   Today---slightly better news. There was very little unmanageable pain in either the heel or the shin. As far as the shin goes, the new exercises Dr. Dombroski has me doing might also have partly affected it. He has me doing a range of motion exercise which involves carving out the letters of the alphabet with my toes and forefoot. This helps stretch the plantar fascia. It also serves to provide a bit of a workout to several other tendons, ligaments and muscles down there which normally might not have received this. It has occurred to me that the shin discomfort might have had something to do with my whole foot being asked to do things it wouldn't normally be asked to do.
   Tomorrow I go in for my rescheduled GAiT assessment at SoleScience. I got a bit of a taste of what this was all about last week and I anticipate a pretty interesting blog post about it. Later this week, I've got follow-up with Dr. Dombroski wherein we'll discuss both the GAiT assessment and, basically, how the new orthotics are working out.
   It was nice to be out running again yesterday, even if it was only a kilometer. With the warmer weather (finally!) there are runners out there everywhere and I sure want to be joining them on a regular basis as soon as possible!

My Little Chickensh**t Walk (And A Couple Of Other Only Mildly Interesting Things)

   I had hoped that by today I would have a blog post ready describing the 3D GAiT assessment I was scheduled to have yesterday at SoleScience here in London. Unfortunately the appointment needed to be re-scheduled to next week, so THAT post will have to wait a little longer.
   Today, I had been thinking that I would go out for my first run in two weeks. I'd been following (fairly closely) the at-home regimen Dr. Dombroski had recommended for treating the p-fash which has been my close companion for over a month now. The heel was feeling great and as I was walking around today it felt perfectly normal. Dr. Dombroski had even suggested giving running a try as I now had my new orthotics. Evrything pointed to giving it a shot--- and then I chickened out.
   The heel felt great, the new shoes felt wonderful, I wanted to run--but I still chickened out.
   I'm not totally sure why I did this. More than anything, I think it might have been the fact that, because the heel was SO good, I didn't want to risk taking a backward step. I felt that the psychological impact of going from no pain back to pain might have been more than I was prepared to handle at the moment.

Part of the route. Looks flat. It ain't.

   I opted instead for a 5K walk, following the hilly route I'd been running to prepare myself for the Uxbridge 5K trail run in two weeks. I chose to walk it as fast as I possibly could, so that the heel would get a decent workout without as much fear of reinjuring it. I even Garmin'd it. My virtual running partner was "on" and was set to a running pace. Very quickly my virtual partner outdistanced me and disappeared from the screen (I had visions of him on my front porch, waiting for me to show up...) but this didn't bother me. I completed the walk in about forty-five minutes and enjoyed the mild sweat it caused. I re-stretched, massaged and iced and will see how things are in the morning. If I'm still feeling good, I will repeat the same thing but will add perhaps a kilometer of running to the mix and see how that goes. Assuming it goes okay, I will very gradually increase the running.
   Now for the Only Mildly Interesting stuff.


My plantar fasciitis killers.

   I now have orthotics. So far, they feel great and I really hope they help prevent further p-fash episodes. Fingers crossed there. In the process of removing sock liners from various pairs of shoes the past few days in order to slide in the orthotics, I discovered something quite interesting. Well, it was interesting to me, a fairly new runner, it may actually be old hat to other, more seasoned runners. When I removed the sock liner from the left shoe of my new Air Pegasus+29's, I discovered a funny little foam tab. My wife then got curious and removed the foam tab. This left a plastic hole, or well.
   I couldn't for the life of me figure out what this hole was for and why only in the left shoe.



Above, plugged. Below, unplugged.

   Quickly I went to Google and discovered what it was. This is the built-in spot for your Nike Sensor. The Sensor is a wireless transmitter which will send running data (times, laps, pace, calories burned, etc.) directly to your iPod nano, iPod touch, Nike+ SportBand or iPhone, so that you can view it, as you are running.

Nike Sensor
 

   Okay, this was pretty cool! Not sure if I'll ever get the Sensor but it was still good to know.
   At this point, it's several hours since my strenuous little chickens**t walk and the heel is a little more tender than it was before. I'm not too worried about this, I'll find out in the morning if there's been a major setback at all. My new mantra has become time will tell and heal as well! Cheers!
  


   

  

 

Those that can't...blog!

   It's a little hard to maintain a running blog when you're not actually running. The p-fash has stopped me in my tracks (literally) and I'm busy investigating and lining up medical treatment for it. I've also been doing the stretching and icing thing, along with some exercises Dr. Dombroski suggested. But I am not running and, apart from wearing my brand-new Air Pegasus shoes around the house, it's a little hard to consider myself a runner these days.
   One of my biggest fears in taking this much time off from running is that the weight would slowly start to creep back up. Frankly, I was almost panicky about this a couple of weeks ago. To my relief, I've found that the weight has stayed at pretty well what it was when I stopped running. Not sure why this has happened as I don't feel as though I've compensated for the lack of running by cutting back on the calories too much.
   Okay, I think I might need to revise that last statement. In retrospect, I think running made me hungry and that I ate extra to squash that hunger. Now that I'm not running, I don't feel the same need to replace carbs or fluids and so I'm probably not eating as much as before and I'm guessing that this is likely why there have been no major upward weight gains.

   With all this non-running time on my hands, I have resorted to simply reading about it. I've had a couple of running mags cross my path lately and I've also discovered how popular a blog topic running is. I had no idea that so many blogs dedicated to running or some aspect of it actually existed until just lately. Some of them are pretty technical. Others, like mine, are more for the "lay" runner--people who have discovered running and the different things it means to them. They tell stories about the role running has in their quests for weight loss, personal and spiritual fulfillment, travel plans and social outlets. Like pretty well any human endeavour, their stories are filled with pain, loss, triumph, confusion, enlightenment and much introspection. Running seems to have filled a void for many people.

   Many running bloggers took up running as a weight loss solution. The smarter ones not only run but also have made other lifestyle changes, many of them including diet. Quite a few also happily include recipes and pictures. In light of this, I have decided to post a picture of a delicious meal I recently made for myself. I'll let you take a look at it for a bit and see if you can guess at the ingredients. It was yummy! I don't know that I'd necessarily recommend it as part of a healthy diet but I did really like the colour combination. Very pretty!
   So I'm hoping that I'll be back hitting the bricks sometime soon. Orthotics arrive the day after tomorrow and then a GAiT assessment a couple of days after that. I may just wait to get both of those behind me, listen to what the doctor has to say, and then head on out. There's a race I need to run in three weeks from today and I'm a little leery of how much conditioning I might have lost the last little while. Normally I would ratchet things up a bit to get caught up but I'm guessing that might be a touch counter-productive to helping the p-fash continue to heal. Time will tell (and I understand that it will also heal!)

P.S romaine, bacon, cheezies, lemon poppy seed dressing
  

The Science of Sole (My Good Monday)

   Monday was a great day for running!
   Well...I didn't actually run but I did have my first appointment at the Fowler Kennedy clinic here in London to see if there was anything they might be able to do about this now-recurring plantar fasciitis (p-fash) I've been struggling with for over a month now.

   I had an appointment scheduled with Dr. Colin Dombroski, a certified pedorthist and the only one in Canada with a PhD in Health and Rehabilitation Science. He is also the founder and head of SoleScience, a group of professionals who specialize in pedorthic and kinesiology services. SoleScience operates out of the same building as and is affiliated with the Fowler Kennedy sports medicine clinic, one of the most renowned in the world.
   Once I got over the part where I couldn't remember the name of my work's group insurance provider and then had to be sent back to my seat to fill out the reverse side of the questionnaire they give new patients, the appointment went very well.
   I was greeted right on time by Colin, who took me back into the assessment area. He was very eager to hear about my problem and quite interested in analyzing my own personal feedback on it. He then went on to examine both my feet and watch me walk back and forth across the room. In short order, both his affability and knowledgeability made me comfortable that I was in good hands.

   He also took a look at the old pair of Asics I'd been running in since the summer. He was amazed at the unusualness of the wear pattern on them and then offered to buy them from me, so that they could be used for teaching purposes! Pretty cool.
   It was determined that orthotics would be helpful in my case so he set about taking a mold of both feet and I'll be going back next week to get them. Excellent turn-around time!
   As part of the whole procedure, one of things they'll have me do is a 3D GAiT profile. This is procedure which produces a much more accurate picture of how a person actually walks or runs, better enabling adjustments in style which would then optimize performance and/or help prevent further injury.
   Later on that day, I spoke with Colin and told him about this blog. I suggested that it might be interesting to document my SoleScience adventure and would it be okay to take pics next week. He was more than fine with this and even suggested videotaping the GAiT profile. So next week on "Strides" might be pretty entertaining...


MUCH brighter in person!

   To make my Monday even better, "running"-wise, I found out I was able to pick up my new Nike Air Pegasus+29 run shoes from the Running Room. The glow-in-the-dark neon yellow ones. These shoes are so bright yellow that when I'm wearing them around the house it looks like I'm walking on giant fireflies. My initial reaction when I saw them was nope. Then I looked at them a little longer. And a little longer. And fell in love with them! No further need for reflective garments when running at night! So far, I have only been wearing them in the house and will not likely actually run in them til the orthotics are ready. On top of everything else, the heel still hurts, so I'm happy to wait for a bit.
   So that's the story of my great Monday for "running"! Knowing that the p-fash is being tended to by experts and that the weather is finally looking like it's turning around and that I've got great feeling shoes to run in has me excited for a whole new beginning!