Runners help me!!!! Ow! Ow! Owwwwwww!!!!!!!

[MoreSpamThanGlam]

Ok. I am overweight, but a non smoker and until I started back at college in September I used to play tennis 2 or 3 times a week.

I decided that the gym is not an option and running would fit in to my lifestyle.

So I went and got fitted for some good running shoes as I have quite wide feet.

But EVERY BLOODY TIME I start running I end up with severe cramp like acheing pain in my feet within 15 minutes Am now back after tonights limp back home and my left foot tonight (ouside edge) is killing me all the way up my leg.

Please tell me what I am doing wrong. I started off running but it was sooo painful, so now I am walking v v fast in the hope that I can build up, but this is strating to demoralise me.

Someone pleeeease help

It sounds like you have the wrong shoes. Where did you get them fitted? My experience is that not all professional running shops offer the expertise they claim to. I got fitted in a running shop, where they wired me up to a computer on a treadmill, measured my gait and everything, and still got sold the wrong type of shoe. I ended up quickly getting an injury ( plantar fasciitis ) and couldn't run for 4 months. I'd say get a second and even a third opinion, and perhaps think about going to a running sympathatic podiatrist. You may need orthotics, or you may just need a different type of shoe. I can manage with a pair of decent motion control shoes as I overpronate badly, whereas the guy in the shop told me my feet were neutral. It was my physiotherapist that I went to with my injury that helped me diagnose my gait and trial and error found me the right shoes.

Other than that, make sure that you start of very gradually, maybe walking for two minutes, running for one minute to start with. Gradually and consistantly is the key.

Thanks Sundays. I thought it might be that as I have very flat feet .

But I used to get this when I first started to play tennis too...after a while it stopped. Could it be that I am going for it too hard too fast?

I really cant afford a really expensive pair of running shoes and the person that fitted mine came highly recommended by a few people...

I really want to run and get that elusive buzz that knowing runners talk of...

how are you running; have you gone from nothing to sprinting? your feet need some time to get used to it, and you need to check the surfaces you are running on. concrete pavements not great.

If its not the shoes, I'd suggest the following:

try and find some grass/soft surface/asphalt at the worst, but stay off the pavements if you can.

try and start with interval running: walk for a minute, run for a minute, sprint for a minute. keep this up for 20 mins.

make sure you do a nice cool down walk at the end and some stretches. You can also do some calf raises and foot flexing/circling to warm them up/down.

hope you get it sorted as running is fab!

Ok, I dont do any form of stretching because I figure Im not going far yet...is that bad?

I do run on the pavement..is that bad too?

Do I need to stretch my feet? How the hell do I do that? Walk, run, sprint...ok, will try that too...but what if this damn cramp thing keeps on popping up?

Is it because I am just too heavy?

Have a look at the runner's world website. There is lots of info on stretching, starting out, injury, shoes - it's all there, plus a good forum too.

Just a thought but perhaps you are lacing your shoes too tight? I know from experience that if I lace mine too tight (usually when I get a new pair of trainers) I get a pain down the outside edge of my foot. As soon as I loosen the laces the pain goes. Good luck

I;d take them back to the shop to be honest. and see what they say.

or just try running to this podcast and see how you get on. he takes it very gently, you may have been overdoing it?

(my hero rob, managed to get me out of my chair last year and I now do 4km three times a week)

Thank you fellow runners...great tips and I hope to be panting along with the best of you by this time next year!!!