Runners please advise me!

Breaking-in shoes - My road shoes initially caused a little hot spot behind the ball of my foot - they dont now. My off road shoes initially rubbed a little on the side of my ankle - they dont now - maybe it;s me that's changing but that's the kind of breaking in that I am talking about.

In other words, no need to head back to the shop just because they arent 100% the first few times you use them.

A lot of people on this forum are new to running and will get the attendant aches and pains of doing something they are not used to doing. When they ask for advice too many people on here are too quick to point to the shoes as the cause. It might be a possible cause but hey if I started weight lifting yesterday and complained about sore arms today - what would you tell me?

If she said she was sore that'd be one thing. She was having toe pain and shin pain. Both of those indicate specific problems that can be easily traced to fit and type of shoe. She's been doing this for long enough that the shoes shouldn't have needed breaking in, and she's doing a program gentle enough that she shouldn't be over training. Shoes are an obvious first step. Moreover they appear to have helped.

I agree that always jumping to shoes is a mistake, and sore muscles are part of the game; but the symptoms she listed and information she gave indicated shoe problems. At least as a first and easy to perform first step. 40 Years ago when my father went through Basic Training, they wore combat boots to run. Every man of them had shin splints, and some had worse problems. 15 years ago when I went we wore properly fitted running shoes, almost no one had any running injuries. Getting a gait analysis is a quick and relatively inexpensive first step to get started in running. It's good starting advice. The injury that never happened in the first place is better than the injury successfully treated.

OP, glad your toes stopped hurting. I agree with meercat, it's likely that the rest will sort itself in the next week or so. For immediate relief try RICE: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. Rest doesn't mean you have to stop completely unless you want to. Just take it easy for a few days and ice and elevate the leg when you're at home in front of the TV or whatever. If it gets any worse or doesn't go away after a bit, you may wish to talk to a doctor.

Sorry, one more thing. Also i was told my core is weak and my left hip is weaker than my right. I was told i need to work on my core with more planks and bridge poses.

Just wanted to give suggestions that didn't have anything to do with your shoes, although yes I think your shoes are too small.

Calm your pants dgrndancer - all I'm saying is that people are too quick to blame shoes these days when there is a more obvious cause and many other possibilites.

A biomechanical assessment would only be indicated if the OP continued to present with pain over time. If an assessment is indicated then it should be done by a qualified person to get useful results and may indeed cost some $$. Advice from the same place that is selling you shoes is hardly independent.

Also, please re-read what I have written. I have never suggested that the cause of her problems was that her shoes may just need breaking-in.

Dear OP - keep running!

@meerkat - I am glad you respect my views to point they disagree with yours.

Shin splints by any chance? I used to road run every other day, bought new shoes that were obvioulsy not suitable & developed painful shin splints! Was that bad I had to give up running all together. One leg worse than the other!! Not much you can do for shin splints other than rest & ice..once you have them you're pretty much stuck with them. I have since bought new, more suitable shoes & am able to run occasionally if I run on grass track. Good luck

meerkat - I can't help you if you can't see the relevance. I am glad you agree with me otherwise though.

Ah yes. It's me that's too thick to follow the link, obviously. :-D It's a wonder I make it through the day, really.

I don't think I *did* agree with you. But hey, not helping the OP labouring that point.

Well you *did* agree with him on everything other than the sore arms analogy. You must not have read all his comments.

I had some one-sided pain when I started c25k, I switched to a dirt trail instead of a paved one and it seemed to go away. Thing to be aware of is that, old injuries can affect your running, as well as uneven road surface or a lopsided lifestyle. I'd say if you feel discomfort, slow down, stretch, maybe change sides of the road you're on, then go on. There is discomfort and there is pain. Pain is where you should definitely stop.

When I run it always seems to burn my legs, trying to get over that part...new runner here!

Try slowing down some. If you are getting that "burning" feeling while running you are probably at or over your lactate threshold. Although there is some training that will put you at that point, it is not something you would worry about as a newbie, your pace should be relatively easy. Doesn't mean you won't have some soreness after a run, but you shouldn't have the burn during a run.