Foot pain

March has been an interesting month...to say the least. I feel incredibly lucky that nothing has gone terribly wrong, all things considered.

Right now I'm attempting to ice both my right knee and my right foot at the same time. It's harder than you might think.



Nature's Path Pumpkin Granola is the best thing ever. Buy it in bulk at Costco now. You will not be disappointed.



Same with Naked Juice's Green Machine. I started buying this in bulk too since I am way too lazy to make a green smoothie.



This flavor of Yoplait was okay...if you like high fructose corn syrup. I won't buy it again. My local grocery store doesn't sell greek yogurt. I have to travel to get it! :(



And Cuties! I buy these in bulk too. They are great!



What I am really excited about...my new Brooks Ariels!

I got mine in Gray at a local running store.

It was such a great experience that I wanted to share my story with you. Recently, I started training for my first 5k (as most of you know.) Training is going okay but I struggle with pain in my right knee. Slowly but surely the pain in my right knee needed a friend and my heel started hurting as well. I chalked it up to plantar fasciitis and continued to run with my $40 crappy running shoes. Eventually after talking to Mari about it, I decided to go find some new shoes.

The lady at the running store had me walk barefoot in the store while she watched me. I didn't mention my heel or knee pain and she looked at me and told me to sit down.

"You favor your left side. Do you have any trouble with your right leg, knee or foot?" She asked.

Then she had me try on about 3 different pairs of shoes before having me run with them on. She watched me run and suggested the Brooks shoe because they can help with my motion control issues.



I also got the shoes in a giant size. 9.5!!! I usually wear 8.5. She explained that the biggest size would be better and showed me how much toe room I should have. It was nice to be able to talk to someone who knew a ton about shoes, running and foot pain.

And yes, I still pain on seeing a doctor if the shoes don't help. Andy and I ran outside today and I felt great until the last 1/2 mile. Now my right foot hurts along the arch. Lovely.

Andy and I will be running the 5k on March 27th. My dad is running the half marathon beforehand and it will be nice to cheer him on while accomplishing one of my 2010 goals. I am worried that my 5k time will be really slow (I'm thinking 42 minutes. Not even kidding.) So promise not to laugh when I post my results.

Runners: Do you remember your first 5k? What was your time? Did you have to train for it or not?

What kind of shoes do you run/walk/workout in?

Question for all you runners out there

I have to hurry off to school (I'm subbing first grade for the 2nd day in a row) But I have a few questions for all of you.

I asked it on twitter this AM, so I apologize if this is a repeat for any of you.

1. When I run on the treadmill, should I run at an incline? I'm training for my first 5k, which will be outside and I really haven't had a lot of experience with running outside.

When you run outside, where do you put your keys and cell phone?

Any other tips for a treadmill-only runner who is trying to transition to running outside?