I've been a runner for over thirty-five years. During that time I've logged
somewhere in excess of 35,000 miles. Most years my mileage total makes it
slightly over the one thousand mile mark, but there have been years where
I've run more (and I believe there were three that I didn't reach a full
thousand). The most miles I logged in a year was while I was going to college
with the total going slightly over 2800 miles that calendar year (probably either 1979 or 1980).
Further, I get additional exercise by playing basketball and by hiking. One
result of all this physical activity is that I've worn out a lot of shoes.
The video embedded on this page displays some of the shoes I've gone through
in the last several years. I have a tendency to keep shoes after they're worn
out since sometimes they come in handy in various ways. For instance, if
it's muddy outside, it's nice to throw on an old pair of shoes since I like
to avoid getting new shoes extremely dirty.
The downside of running is injuries. Compared to some runners I've been
relatively fortunate in that I haven't experienced too many major injuries,
but I've still had to deal with my share of aches and pains. Further, I
limit my mileage in order to avoid injury. I do a lot of stretching and
strengthening exercises and I cross-train in an attempt to avoid imbalances
that might lead to injuries. Despite my efforts I have developed some muscle
group imbalances that I have worked hard to address during the last several
months. Further I have been dealing with compartment syndrome in my calfs,
which has been one of the most frustrating experiences I've had in my
thirty-five plus years as a runner.
In 1997 I went to a physician in response to discomfort in my groin
area. I thought maybe I had a prostate issue and so I asked the doctor to
run a PSA. The results were negative. Since then I've visited two more
doctors with the same issue and my prostate always checked out fine and they
were able to provide no explanation for my discomfort. Several months ago I
did some online research and I reached the conclusion that I had muscle
weakness in the pelvic floor and started to do Kegel exercises to strengthen
those muscles. This seemed to help, but about three months ago I realized
that hip pain that I've had since 2005 might be part of a bigger muscle
imbalance issue and so after more research I incorporated more exercises
into an overall program to fix the situation. At this point I would say that
the pelvic and hip problems are about eighty percent fixed. Not sure why the
doctors weren't able to provide information, but I suppose the moral of
this story is that if you work hard and look into a problem yourself that
sometimes it's possible to solve it yourself! (Of course, screening for
prostate issues is a really good idea in any case!)
