Just one of a pair of really awesome running shoes, the Saucony pro grid, Ride 4, in the brightest colors I could find!

by Ann Votaw, CHES, MA, Inwood Resident

I have a confession. I am a forefoot striker, something I learned yesterday at Jack Rabbit Sports.

After watching me run twice on one of the store’s treadmills, my salesperson/angel (whom I will call Brad) said, “Interesting. Most people are heel strikers, which means they land on their heels first. You run on your toes.”

Brad re-played the video in slow motion. Embarrassed, I admitted that I point my toes and roll toe, ball, heel. In essence, my running style is a series of mini jetes or leaps, carry-over from my years as a dancer.

Kindly, Brad explained that I should concentrate on a shorter stride. In other words, don’t be Baryshinikov!

Brad, who was just super nice, asked if I had running goals this year. I pretended he was my un-paid therapist, disclosing that I am a later-in-life athlete who as a teen performed in The Nutcracker (as a giant mouse), covered her face when confronted with softballs, but who competed in karate championships in her early 30s.

In short, I am late bloomer who has yet to hit her stride. I would love to run a 10K and some silly races involving costumes, like the New York Road Runners’ Coogan’s Salsa, Blues, and Shamrocks.

“Running without a costume is really boring,” I explained, “but running in a hat really gets me going.”

Brad sweetly hooked me up with the brightest pair of shoes we could find that provided lots of cushion in the instep. He also procured Beginner I and II class information without making me feel like my gawky pre-teen self, the one who trudged through PE in a retainer and a regulation blue jumper, purchased from the now defunct Family Fleecewear Section of Belmonts, in my Indiana hometown.