Running 10Km in less than an hour
I've always liked running medium distance, but had to quit many years ago because my knees acted up. I tried to start several times but had to bail out every time. Last year I went to a specialized shop where they scan your foot pressure patterns in order to fit a shoe. That improved things a bit but I still had to bail around 5km every time.
A couple of weeks I decided to give it another go (stubborn). But ended up with blisters on the inside of my foot, so I figure the insole is worn down. I take my shoes to the original shop and ask the guy if they can get me a new set of insoles. He takes a look at the insole and says 'wow that's definitely not good'. I said I knew, that that was why I was there. He looks at me and says 'no, not that. The wear pattern is all wrong, you run on the outsides of your big toe. Your foot isn't even touching the insole. Put your feet on the ground'.
He looks at my foot, and says 'yep, your arches are higher than normal. You need custom insoles'. I hear custom, so I think $$$, but I figure I might as well cough up if I want to run. I know I'll give in eventually just for the small chance I can keep running. So he disappears into the basement for 15 minutes and comes back with standard insoles, which he had modified with extra shock absorbing material in the places he determined based on my old ones. Only 5$ for the pair!
I try them 2 times and they seem to work great. Better than before. So today I quit work early (because tomorrow is going to be a very long day) and decide to go for a quick run. I hadn't eaten yet, but that it how I prefer to run anyway. I start running laps on the track, but lose count. I just click the button on my stopwatch every time I pass the gate. I kept a slow pace to make sure I didn't run out of breath. Eventually I discover that I'd run 8 km already. So I just kept going at the same pace until I finished the lap that brought me to 10 k.
I quickly added my lap times, and discovered that I'd run 10 km in 58:44!
10 km has always been my target, with the goal being to eventually do that under an hour. Today I reached both goals at the same time. I am a happy man! :) I haven't run 10 km since I was 21, so at 36 this isn't bad. Granted, at 21 I ran faster, but still I am really glad because now I know I can keep running regularly. All these years I've been running with wrong insoles, and it gets fixed with 5$.
Today is a good day :)
