Today I realized....

...That I have flat arches

...That I have 2 very weak gluteus maximus muscles

...My shoes are too narrow

...My IT Band is being overused

It was about damn time I realized these things. My meeting today with Kate Reid of CBI Health was quite enjoyable, I loved meeting everyone at the clinic.  My hour of physio flew by and Kate's knowledge paid off in spades.

She assessed that I have flat feet and I should be wearing shoes with more support.  This lack of support is likely aggravating my IT Band, and the fact I can barely trigger my gluteus maximus on command plays a large role in my IT Band tightness and overuse. I put my shoes on to show Kate how I think the shoes that were sold to me by someone who will remain nameless. Lo and behold, she agreed with me...the shoes were far too tight for my forefoot.  Hurrah, a second opinion that agrees with me.

I went out tonight and bought myself a brand new pair of running shoes and seeing as my running club has a partnership with New Balance, Matt (the worker and fellow teammate) and I thought it was time I turned to the dark side. You really can't complain about a 25% discount on shoes....

The shoes felt much better and I took them for a quick spin on the store's treadmill. I couldn't wait to get home to try them out on the roads, and when I got home I did just that. I ran 7.2km in 30 minutes and felt absolutely zero pain in my toes and as I write this blog post, well over an hour after, I still feel no discomfort. I think the shoes will solve the toe pain.

Now to address the stupid IT Band pain.  Hopefully the shoes address some of the wear and tear, but I fear more physio is in my future and hopefully next time I can get my gait analyzed.

On another note, I always thought that since I have flat arches I should get shoes that were 'flatter' in the arch so that the shoe fit my foot properly. I blame blisters I used to get in supportive Asics shoes WAY back when for giving me this horribly flawed view on shoe fit. It turns out that if you have flat feet, you get shoes with arch support to help raise them up. Duh! Don't make the same mistake as me.