soul searching

It's been a funny old week.

I visited Peter just over a week ago. Following my giving him my account of the Abbey Dash he requested that I take my running shoes and socks to my next visit. I went for my 4.30 appointment with quite a spring in my step since I had enjoyed the previous Sunday's race so much and managed a great session at club the next day.

Examining my Nikes really closely, twisting and turning them, Peter declared that he had once purchased a pair of Nike shoes, run 3 miles and put them in the bin! Astonished I declared that these particular Pegasus model were the third pair of said make of shoes I had had due to owning the Nike sportband, I had wanted the shoes that allowed me to place the sensor for the sportband under the sole in a purpose made 'well'. He urged me to look back to the time when I had not had Nike shoes and to think what make I had previously purchased and when my injury problems began. I began to cast my mind back to the first pair I had bought, then the second and finally these I wear today. If my memory serves me correctly the first time I ever suffered any kind of injury was when I moved from Mizuno to Nike. Peter said that any kind of numbness as I had suffered in the latter part of the Abbey Dash was not good, each time I saw him my ankles were swollen, he counteracts it with massage and then the next time I see him it's back again. This he concluded was down to my shoes and circulation, ditch the socks and get thinner ones and get some new shoes, Mizuno if possible, flexible ones and make sure they are not tight, don't lace them too tight and have a week off running all together with a view to be wearing new shoes the next time I do run. I have done much soul searching over the past week - just how much more I can take I don't know, being put on the bench again has really dented my enthusiasm and I fear this could become the norm as I fail to summon up not a drop of disappointment that I don't have to run.

I'm now well over a week since I have run, not may I say due to my own decisions but more due to the weather and partying, my brother's 60th Birthday and a farewell get together for fellow runner and dear friend Lisa as she moves to Spain to start a new life. At least 7 inches of snow has fallen in my garden meaning I haven't been able to get to the running shop to purchase the new shoes. So at the mercy of the weather I live in hope that some time soon I will indeed be able to make that all important visit and put an end to my soul searching, if, that is, there is an end to it.