Shoes

I've had to rethink all shoes I wear! I bought a pair of Hush Puppies last week and although very comfortable, they have too thin a sole so the pad of my foot feels like a hard lump when I wear them. I went to work in my Reef sandals today... and how did they look with a posh trouser suit? Hmmmm... well, hopefully nobody looked at them too closely.
So, I went to Schuh and bought a pair of white flip flops (also Hush Puppies) that have a nice cushioned sole... these will replace the beautiful shoes I had bought to wear on Saturday night when I go to the charity ball (those are a lovely wide fit but I daren't risk the heel they have so close to having the cortisone injection). I also got a pair of Fly sandals which are incredibly comfortable. I'm finding that if you look properly, there are some really fashionable wide fit shoes on the market nowadays!

The most gutting thing about this is I have about 5 pairs of shoes that my lovely nieces will inherit... last year I bit the bullet and gave them about 20 pairs of absolutely gorgeous shoes that I had to admit were no longer "suitable" enough to wear again. I remember only 2 years ago people saying to me, "I love all of your shoes... I wish I could wear them myself", and I honestly thought that if they just gave it long enough they would get used to them... how wrong was I? I am now the person who looks at shoes and thinks, "I wish I could get away with wearing them"
Age and running are sometimes nasty things!

So, after a day of wearing comfy sandals, my foot feels great. I have decided tomorrow to run on the treadmill wearing a metatarsal pad. I went to the chemists today and got the same material that the podiatrist gave me, so I shall try it out in the morning. If the run goes well then I am taking my orthotics back to my podiatrist to get them adapted with a pad. He mentioned doing this before, so I may as well do it (if it works). I have to admit that it is much more comfortable with the pad, and I have to accept that I now have a neuroma that needs managing well. If I look after my feet, it should be fine!

Tonight I did some deep water running intervals and I found the session very hard. I don't know if I am just tired today (this is the 3rd DWR session this week) or maybe I'm getting more proficient at it and am able to push myself more... who knows? Then I got home and did my core session. There was a new exercise today called "Tyr Shoulder Stretch". I found it very difficult and had to put my hands as wide apart as the broom handle would allow.

Oh, and by the way... for anyone interested, all of these exercises I do are on a website called ultrafitnesstraining.com It's well worth a look at the site as there is some really good information on there. Before I was given all of the advice I had from William and Shaun on there, I would get blisters on my toes after running only 8 miles... but I did Florence marathon with not one blemish anywhere on my foot. You heard it here first ;-)