Minimalist or Maximalist?

Most running stores these days are zealously advertising the benefits of minimalist shoes, such as the Vibram Fivefingers. Shoes as such are supposedly going to "make your foot healthier by allowing it to move naturally and freely."  This idea of barefoot running largely gained popularity from McDougall's book, Born to Run. A fan of the book myself, I was definitely intrigued by the minimalist movement - the success stories from runners, the scientific research - in theory, it makes sense. 

But there is always an exception. 

Back in 1996, at my very first cross country practice, one might say I dabbled in minimalist running.  I threw on a cheap pair of Nike shoes that had about as much support as a training bra.  After four hellacious miles, my body felt as if it had been mangled by a combine (we had lots of those in the country, obvi).  Thus began my journey on the road to figuring out the perfect combination of support for my Forrest Gump appendages.



Dear Mom and Dad: WTF?!

Although I vaguely remember being in corrective shoes as a toddler, I'm living proof that the only thing those braces corrected was my curiousness.  And I'm sure my parents felt at ease having a two-year-old who was unable to get herself into much mischief due to her inability to run around with normal baby legs. 

Yes, somewhere along the way, a doctor noticed that my feet severely overpronated, a term I would not fully understand until twenty years later, when I found myself working at a speciality running store.  You see, in order to run virtually pain-free (or with as little discomfort as possible), one's foot needs to land in a neutral position.  For someone who overpronates, support is needed in order to achieve this. 



Medial posting = support

Support can come in many forms.  Some shoes have built-in support.  This is indicated by the gray area, otherwise known as "medial posting," on the side of the shoe.  The more gray, the more supportive the shoe is.  People refer to this as a stability shoe.

While some suckers can get away with only needing the support of a shoe, others (such as myself) need to double-up.  I'm talking about orthotics + a supportive shoe.  When I get the combination of orthotic and shoe correct, I am able to run long distances without much pain.  However, if my support is even slightly off, it gets ugly.  My knees hurt from too much support.  My hip hurts from not having enough support.  High-heels are my shoe of choice because they give amazing arch support.  Too bad I can't run in them... 

So when it comes to minimalist shoes, I'm not jumping on the bandwagon.  I am a maximalist, through and through, and no matter how much I try to "train" my feet by sauntering around the city in flip-flops during the summer, it always ends the same way - at my chiropractor's office.  Therefore, I'll keep my orthotics and thank my parents for trying to "correct" me at a young age.  Perhaps some things were never meant to be mended after all.

"A" is for anemic

Anemia: A condition that develops when your blood lacks enough healthy red blood cells. 

In other words, a lack of iron. 

I found this out the hard way, during my freshmen year of college when my weekly cross-country mileage superseded my iron consumption.  Of course, I was 100% at fault for declining to eat the mystery meat served up at the cafeteria.  But seriously, how could I argue with an all-you-can-eat smorgasbord stocked with cocoa crispies and pickles?! 

Although I'm not one to point fingers, I can guarantee you that growing up in the Midwest did nothing to teach my young self about proper eating habits.  I grew up in a household where we had a separate freezer for meat.  Like an entire cow's worth of meat.  And there it sat, wrapped up in matte white paper, ink- stamped with phrases like "T-bone steak" and "ground chuck." 

So that famous catch-phrase, "Beef: It's what's for dinner" was indeed my family's motto.  Almost nightly, my mother would whip up some part of that deep-frozen cow.  Beef and noodles with mashed potatoes?  Hell yes.  Spaghetti with meat sauce?  Bring it.  Minute steaks?  Yeah, I got a minute for one of those bad boys. Pass the A-1 sauce, please. Add in a tall glass of two percent milk and I swore my hands were somehow transforming into hooves. 

However, despite all of my meat consumption as a child, college brought on a new week night dinner special.  Ramen noodles.  They were easy, cheap and could be consumed in my hot-pot in the comfort of my tiny dorm room.  It was awesome.  Until one day, it wasn't. 

High mileage and little consumption of iron-rich foods had me feeling like Hester Prynne, only the "A" I bore wasn't noticeable to anyone but myself.  Iron supplements and some force-fed cafeteria "meat" finally cured me - or so I thought.

Since college, I have not once been tested again for anemia.  But, I'm quite certain that b*tch is back.  Don't get me wrong - I've tried to have blood work done.  Problem is, my veins are too small to extract any blood.  And the thought of going to the hospital to wait hours on end to be poked and prodded has not sounded appealing on any of my days off from work.  So instead, I've been trying to eat iron-rich foods.  And meat. 



Taco Salad Success!

 This poses a problem.  One, cooking with meat scares me.  I'm always unsure if it's "done."  Plus, if I cook meat, I'm stuck eating it for days.  And after all those days of eating meat, I'm sick of it.  So then I take some time off and anemia continues to invade my cells. 

With that being said, I'm really trying to make conscious choices when I eat.  For example, I do, on occasion cook meat.  And sometimes I even get super creative and make taco salad.  Actually, I've only done this one time, so I took a picture as proof.  Not only is the salad meaty, it's got lettuce (full of iron) and avocados, which I read somewhere are a "good source of fat."  I'm not sure where I read that, but I'm sure it was a credible source, like a T.V. commercial or something of the like. 

Yes, I need to get my iron levels checked, preferably before I start bustin' some ass training for Chicago.  Food recommendations would be awesome.  Making me food would be even more awesome.  Just sayin'.