Running Like a Girl (22 page)

2) Don't go shopping for running shoes in a short skirt with no tights.

Should you be actively seeking the attention of an eager
chap in shiny tracksuit bottoms, this is the ideal outfit: He'll be kneeling at your ankles for most of the process. If you just want to find shoes, perhaps wear something that'll make you feel a little less self-conscious while he's down there. It's best to plan ahead and wear pants or shorts or maybe something you might actually run in.

3) Allow yourself enough time.

It sounds so obvious, but as is true for many dreaded tasks, buying running shoes often ends up a result of a burst of “I'll just get it over and done with.” The staff members measuring you often like to do their job properly, and this involves a lot of chat. Just go with it. Don't give yourself ten minutes and then succumb to the small trickle of sweat wending its way down your spine as you panic about how late you are going to be for lunch.

4) Set a budget before you go in.

Running shoes come in a huge variety of prices. There is no need to spend two hundred dollars on your first pair just to reassure yourself that your feet are not going to turn black and drop off. If you want fancy running shoes, go nuts—there are plenty around. But they won't make a big enough difference if you're just planning to get to the park and back for a few weeks. Summon the same courage required for walking through the department-store beauty counters while nonspecifically aged women with tangerine skin waft scent at you and talk lustfully of promotions. Eighty dollars is a reasonable expectation. You can pay less if you are smart about finding old models online.

5) Know what to expect.

There are three main methods that running shops use to measure what type of shoe you'll need. They will either film you running on a treadmill and look at the footage of what your feet and ankles are doing; ask you to run across a heat-sensitive pad that will show how your feet are landing when you hit the pad; or ask you to run up and down the street outside the shop while they watch. Clearly, option three is not ideal, especially if you are new to running. Running twenty yards in front of a shop assistant you've never met feels as natural as having a quick baby while you're asking the pharmacist where the shampoo aisle is. Increasingly, shops have more sophisticated ways of looking at your gait, and they are usually in fairly discreet areas of the shop. Doing some online research before you head out will help you key in on stores that bear discretion in mind.

6) Understand what the diagnosis is.

What the salesperson is looking to understand is which part of your foot hits the ground first as you run, how it hits the ground, and how a pair of shoes can balance that. The most common “flaw” is the previously mentioned and hugely bothersome pronation, when your feet roll in slightly as you hit the ground. There are running shoes that can offer support in your instep so that your knees and hips are not taking the hit every time you step out. Some retailers call this overpronating, some merely pronating. Some runners will underpronate, which is less common and sees your feet rolling slightly outward. If you do neither, you will be described as a neutral runner.

7) Remember that you are a work in progress.

This is hugely important. It is easy to cling to your diagnosis, having medicalized your problem, and to leave the shop with the most expensive remedial running shoes. But pronating isn't necessarily a permanent condition. Often it has nothing to do with the structure of your feet and is simply a result of a weak bum and thighs letting your legs flop in a bit. Take the expert's counsel into consideration, but don't let yourself be bamboozled. If the sales assistant winces and points at the most high-spec shoes in the shop, simply thank him for his time and spend the extra cash on an appointment with a physical therapist. Then go back to the shop when you
really
know how badly you pronate.

8) Know your pronating from your prolapsing.

When my sister decided to reignite her running career after Louis was born, I took her to Niketown to buy her running shoes as a birthday present. I sat unobtrusively, filled with a sisterly sense of respect and goodwill for her post-baby weight-loss mission, until I felt I needed to step in. That point came when I heard her confidently telling the assistant that she didn't pronate when she had her baby.

9) Leave your issues with the color pink at the door.

Pink is a pretty color. I am as devoted to my hot-pink NARS Schiap lipstick as I am to my rose-pink negligee. But pink skipping ropes and pink boxing gloves especially designed for “lady exercise” make me flush with an altogether ragey pink. However, where running shoes are concerned, you can drive yourself mad if you try to avoid pink.
It's the accent color of choice on a lot of running gear, and these days it's popping up on men's gear too. It's just a color.

10) Try to remember it's for fun. You're doing it for you.

Years ago, women sat in kitchens drinking coffee and discussing life. Today, they cover the same topics while they run.

—Joan Benoit Samuelson

R
esearch has shown consistently that while health is the leading motivator in getting people to run, it is not typically what keeps them running. The social aspect does that. For many, joining a running club is a great way to find a community that provides motivation and may even improve your social life. For others, the thought of a running club is enough to bring on a more paralyzing attack of breathlessness than sprint training. As with finding the right hairdresser or the right husband, you often have to try a few first to find out what's right for you. Some are all about chasing time and competing against other clubs; others are about wider social movements, making running almost secondary.

The Road Runners Club of America (
www.rrca.org
) offers an amazingly useful site that provides information on local running clubs in all fifty states, as well as guidance on finding the right club for you. Most running stores arrange weekly (or more frequent) runs. They are usually free, with proper guides and a coach at the back of the pack to make sure no one is left behind. They are a brilliant starting point and a surprisingly soft touch: I had feared relentless salesmanship but found only runners who wanted to find other runners, and trainers who could answer niggling questions about technique or guide your running for the rest of the week.

Many not-for-profit organizations offer expertise and cover race costs in exchange for your fund-raising efforts. The most notable organizations are the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training, the Arthritis Foundation's Joints in Motion, and the American Cancer Society's DetermiNation.

Mothers can visit
seeMOMMYrun.com
, a walking/running group for moms of all ages. Also, many races offer free group training runs to those who register. Visit the race website to see if they organize training runs.

I'm a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.

—Thomas Jefferson

T
here are entire books written about how to achieve the perfect running style. There is no perfect running style. There is a technical ideal, but those who have broken records or inspired millions are rarely the ones using it. The debate over what constitutes the perfect gait remains almost as controversial as the question of whether barefoot running is a fad or the right and natural way to run. It is impossible to dictate what is best for everyone, as our individual biomechanics are so different. I would no more presume to dictate how to run than to prescribe one specific dance style for womankind.

The single most important thing to remember is that we can all run. We instinctively knew how to run as children, and despite spending our adult lives in front of the computer or telly eating carbs, we are able to increase our stride in cases of
emergency. There is no “I can't run.” If you have functional legs and lungs, you can run.

However, those years sitting curled up on sofas or wedged into unsatisfactory train seats, as well as our own personalities and attendant neuroses, will have an effect on how we run when we go beyond fifty meters. To try and straighten these out from day one, or at least to give you the confidence that you're not doing yourself actual harm, you can follow some basic guidelines.

When I began running, I tried very, very hard to do two things in order to show as much willingness as possible: to bounce up and down springily and to reach out with my heels. I interpreted both actions as indicators of serious commitment to my sport and huge signifiers of great athleticism. I could not have been more wrong.

The ideal part of your foot to land on is not your heel. This is a myth perpetuated by cartoon runners, who spring into action with a fully flexed foot, and the huge aerated running shoes of the 1980s and 1990s. Barefoot runners believe that those big squashy shoes are responsible for making us all run incorrectly, and that we should be aiming for footfalls on our toes. In the absence of any conclusive research proving them correct, or indeed correct for modern, western runners, it seems the truth lies somewhere in between: We should aim to land in the middle of our foot—not right up on the balls of our toes but an inch or so lower, so we can give ourselves a bit
of leverage as we leave the ground, without having to roll over the entire foot from heel to toe.

If we were to emulate the perfect running style, it would be the 1960s cartoon character Penelope Pitstop's. She has a lovely (if extreme) wide stride and lands correctly on her feet, even if she is wearing rather impractical white leather go-go boots.

I was wrong about the bounciness as well. It seems obvious, but it takes as much effort to springily trot along as it does to run with a more elongated stride, à la Pitstop. Aim for the latter, although perhaps not exactly like the latter. After all, we don't have Hanna-Barbera to sort us out in case of injury.

You need your arms for running more than you might think. Try a spin to the end of your street and back with your hands shoved in your pockets, and you'll realize just how useful they are. Don't overthink it. When you're running, try to keep your shoulders down and let the natural momentum of your arms propel you. The best way to imagine them working is to think of the effort going into powering them backward, so that the swing forward is both relaxing and propelling. This feels counterintuitive at first, but once it clicks, it seems alarmingly obvious.

“Arms run hills” is one of my dad's favorite nuggets of advice, and reluctant though I was to admit it, he is right. This is where the arm swing is reversed as the gradient of the ground beneath you changes, and you need to push forward to help yourself up the hill. It feels as if you are punching the air and makes you thankful for those press-ups you've done.

Don't let yourself get too tense. Clenched fists with gripped
thumbs or arms swinging wildly across your body, rather than loosely at your sides, will not help you. These actions will only transfer tension up to your neck and shoulders and leave you wondering how on earth a sport performed with your legs is making you want a neck massage.

Heads are heavy—don't leave yours lolling around. It sounds daft, but if you spend twenty minutes running with your gaze directed at your toes, the weight of your head will drag you down and put a great deal of pressure on your neck. Of course you need to check where you're putting your feet from time to time, but try to keep looking up and forward so that your spine is straight and you can see a broader landscape.

This too is something that I did incorrectly for months. Even after I got rid of my bizarre heel strike, I continued to reach forward with my knees, as if dragging my body behind them. You do have to run with your knees reaching forward, but it feels considerably easier when you imagine yourself being pushed from behind. Focus on your leg kicking up as you leave the ground, while your bum and the backs of your thighs are pushing you forward. This makes the biggest difference when you start to get tired and feel your body sagging. If you visualize a kindly (or perhaps just fanciable) chap giving you a shove from behind, you get a surprisingly large boost.

No runner should just run. Part of achieving the perfect gait should also be about giving it a break. Should you get into running a few times a week, aiming to run a certain distance or in a certain time, you'll need to start doing a bit of work beyond your running to strengthen and support key muscles and guard against picking up any bad habits or mechanical imbalances that might ultimately cause you pain.

If you do some simple abdominal, arm, and butt exercises, you will reduce your risk of injury and feel significantly stronger. Pilates is also excellent for this. Go swimming, go for a long walk, or spend an evening in front of the television doing some stretching. It all counts.

If you are terrified of running, your body will recognize that and produce adrenaline and tension. Try to relax and remember that you have chosen to do this. Warming up properly will help, as well as some key stretches afterward. You took time out of your day to enjoy your run, it won't last forever, and your body will thank you for it. Keep your shoulders down and your eyes up. Be proud of what you're doing: That is the most important element of any running style.

“Man, this hurts, I can't take it anymore.” The hurt part is an unavoidable reality, but whether or not you can stand any more is up to the runner himself. This pretty much sums up the most important aspect of marathon running.