Plantar Nerve Pain

I've been getting a bit of plantar nerve pain on both feet lately. I quickly blamed it on my "worn-out" shoes because, hey, who among us wouldn't want an excuse to buy a fresh, new pair of kicks? (I've been eyeing those new Saucony Guide 3's for a while now...)

But alas, during my run today, it occurred to me that the nerve pain and muscle tightness might be due to excessive heel striking. So, although it was a quick run, I kept consciously trying to shorten my stride and work on keeping my knees above my feet on each step.

I'll need to test this hypothesis more to make sure that my overstriding's the real problem. In any case, the nerve pain went away. And even though I felt like my increased stride turnover was slowing me down, I still ran the 2.5 miles at a decent 7:41 pace. Rejoice!