Question for all you runners!

In terms of impact heel striking should be avoided (having said that there are a number of world class runners who are obvious heel strikers). I wouldn't necessarily agree with landing on the ball of the foot either, try going for a mid-foot strike (it's more natural and reduces impact) by shortening your stride - your leading foot doesn't extend very far in front of your body.

If you are going to radically change your stride introduce the changes slowly. Keep the runs a little shorter as your body will need time to adapt to the different running mechanics.

Personally, I found I gravitated towards more of a mid-foot strike (I was a heel striker too) as a result of running outdoors in the winter. When you're running on snow you have no choice but to shorten your stride (or end up on your butt)

First of all congratulations on starting running!

I started too a couple of months ago. It definitely got easier as I got less heavy.

In my experience a midfoot strike is the best. As timboom said, that might mean a shorter stride, but that is ok. I've found that I get tired much faster with long strides than with shorter ones, and i also find it easier on the knees.

Just my 2cts

I have just started also and have no idea about foot strike I just run with a natural gait but i have found
something that has helped me tremendously. I ordered a music file from amazon which has military
cadences (the songs they sing while running in formation) nice steady rythems and uplifting words.
I use very short strides to keep up with the pace almost running in place. I am getting better very quickly.

they've gotten better at understanding shoe design in the past ~40 years or so...

From what I've been able to gather, the extreme heel strike started as an idea to use the foot to propel the runner forward as fast as posible. If you look at sprinters, that's what they do. So running shoe manufacturers cushed up the heel, so people wouldn't hurt their heel... starting in the 70s or so. Before that, people wore what look like "old school racing flats" - they look spookily like today's barefoot shoes but with a standard toe box instead.

I started running about 20 years ago, but only started paying attention to shoes 10 years ago. About 10 years ago, barefoot running was pretty far from mainstream - in fact, as an even-gaited runner, I struggled to find shoes that simply didn't adjust for pronation (because I don't do it!). I started moving towards minimalist shoes simply to avoid the whole "stability" shoe market which started to seriously wear on my hips. Moving to those shoes naturally moved my gait from a heel strike on cushy shoes to a mid-foot strike in flat shoes (google "heel-toe drop" and check out the results). Then I discovered I was accidentally following this anti-heel-strike, barefoot trend. First time in my life I'm on trend, go figure.

Now, in shopping with a friend who pronates like it's her job, I've discovered there are distance running shoes with lower heels even for pronators (so they promote mid-foot strikes, but still provide stability). If you've got a pair of shoes that's older, even if you haven't used them much, and they've got a significant heel-toe drop, you're likely going to find it impossible to achieve a mid-foot strike, because there's just too much shoe in your way. Even if they're not older, if they've got a bulky heel, you're going to struggle. You're lucky, though, because it's now popular enough, and "we" are smart enough, that you've got tons of shoe options to help, no matter what your goal. Local Running Shoe store (NOT Footlocker or other big-box, generic "sports" store) will help you figure out what will serve you best.

At the same time, going from heel-striking to mid-foot strike is a process. It won't happen overnight. It might involve a couple pairs of shoes with lower and lower drops as you change your gait. Personally, I found it easier to play with my gait on hills - landing on the balls of my feet happens naturally on steep up-hills, heel striking (even in minimalist shoes) is virtually a given on steep down-hills. And you might find achey calves are pretty constant until those little stabilizer muscles build up and start to actually take the impacts. Anything sharp or prolonged, go see a sports medicine doctor.

Play with it. Pay attention to your body. Like learning to bowl or golf or flip pancakes - if you've never done it before, it will feel awkward, and sussing out the difference between "awkward" and "damaging" can take a lot of trial and error, be patient with yourself. Take it easy, and don't forget that just by putting on shoes (of any kind) and going out the door, you WIN!