Day 25

I jogged for twenty minutes in my modified shoes yesterday and it was promising. It was relaxing and my foot felt fine. I will probably saw down the grooves a little more once the shoes dry off. This experiment has made me think about foot strike a little differently. I've been reading various articles and looking at various pictures of barefoot v/s shod running. One of the postural differences is the location of flex in the foot: in shoes, the foot usually flexes upwards at the ankle whereas without shoes, the toes flex and the ankle remains pointed down. For whatever reason, there has to be some flexing motion in the foot region prior to hitting the ground; if the sole doesn't permit the toes to flex upwards, then the entire foot flexes upwards, and the heel hits the ground before the rest of the foot has a chance to land. Maybe. It's said that the increased heel cushioning in some running shoes and the resulting higher heel profile promote heel striking. I suspect that the stiffness of the sole has a great role as well. Fortunately, it's not my job to figure out the mechanics save for my own, which I can suss out by feel. Flexible soles, truly flexible soles (meaning I can bend the shoe in half) feel much better and seem to prevent injuries. The stiffer the sole, the more quickly I get injured.

As for the foot issue, now and then I feel an ache, but it seems to be getting better. I've decided to skip running today and tomorrow in preparation for the big jog on Sunday.

In general, I'm feeling a lot better. It feels like my iron levels are still a bit low, but I think they've improved already. I'm still a bit sluggish at times, though I haven't needed any naps since cutting out wheat; I generally have more energy and I'm not getting that post-meal narcolepsy anymore, thank goodness! I've been taking 60-90 mg of iron a day and probably will get my iron tested again in two months when I return to my nurse practitioner.