My feel GREAT moment from last night!

lazyjk

I usually keep a lot of stuff close to the vest, but I felt like sharing what happened to me last night. If nothing else, I'm putting it in writing so that I can have something to look back on should I ever need a pick me up. Maybe my little tale will provide some inspiration to make a small change that you've been meaning to do.

I experienced one of the happiest hours of my life last night. Since at least college and maybe before I've had shin splints that crop up whenever I have to walk/jog/run at anything past a medium paced walk. I would try quick little fixes here and there like stretches and insoles but nothing really helped and so I just used the shin pain as an excuse to not do things that would require moving at a faster pace. Starting last month, I decided I was going to start moving some more and bought a fancy pants fitness tracker (step counter) to help me track my goal of 10000+ steps a day. Up until last night I'd been successful in adding several miles of walking to my daily routine, however; I was stuck at a pace that I was unhappy with (Avg 22:00 minute mile or so). Stamina wise I knew I could do better, but picking up the pace brought the shin splints back on. A couple of my favorite Aunts had recently suggested getting some better shoes to walk in, but per my usual MO I kept procrastinating. Yesterday I finally went to Scheels to look at shoes. The salesman did his job and showed me the high-end pair first. I put them on, started walking, and my life changed. The way I describe it is that it must be how the angels feet feel when they walk on clouds. I didn't even look at another pair. I put them on in the parking lot and then went to Wal-Mart. While I was pushing the cart into the store, I broke out into an involuntary brief run because it just felt like I should be moving faster. At that point I couldn't wait to use them on my walk. When I started my walk, I immediately pushed my pace into shin splint territory to see what would happen. Nothing did. I felt some slight tightness but the pain was gone! Part of the way into my walk, I started jogging on a short downhill stretch. Again, no pain! So I jogged a longer distance and it felt like it was the easiest thing in the world. At that point I broke into a huge grin that didn't leave my face for the next few hours. Before last night, even jogging across an intersection to beat a light could cause my shin pain to flare up. Now, the only thing holding me back is just my general poor fitness but that seems like small potatoes now. I'm not very prone to emotional moments, but during that walk/jog/run, I did break down when I realized that something as simple as a good pair of shoes was all it took and that I wished I had realized that fact years ago. I'm still catching myself smiling like a fool this morning because it just feels good. The best part was, when I got back, I checked my splits from my walk and I had cut almost 5 minutes off per mile and 20 minutes off my previous best time for that route. All because of the proper footwear!

The feeling of joy will eventually fade, but I hope that when I need it, I can refer back to the memory of last night. So, if you have something small that you have been putting off whether it is health related, financially related, or simply life related, I'd encourage you to take that step. You might just have a light bulb moment too!

americangirlok

That's awesome! I'm so happy for you. It's wonderful that something that's been hurting you for so long was such an easy fix! Finding a solution is a win, but finding one that's so simple and manageable is a double victory!