Flexibility, a Bad Thing?!

I have been running to lose the extra pregnancy weight after giving birth in January. After gaining a whopping 45 pounds with Lily, losing 20 after the birth, with another 20-25 pounds to go, I had a lot of work to do in order to return to a God-honoring physical condition. :-)

I was in need of new running shoes and I found an AWESOME store here in metro Atlanta: Fleet Feet! They conduct a foot analysis and recommend a handful of shoes just for you. I was so excited to visit their store in Lawrenceville (just 12 minutes from our new house)! I got a new pair of shoes and a warm Nike running jacket for $15 on clearance! I was pumped! They also have really great running watches from $60 up to $400! They can tell you your pace, distance, time, and even have a GPS!

I love to run! I'm no professional and I haven't ran any races but you can consider me a cardio junkie! I love to burn lots of calories and boost my metabolism.

When my feet were being analyzed the trained salesman told me that my feet are flexible. I said, "Oh, that's good." He said, "No, actually. That's bad." As he explained why, I began to understand. With a lot of weight gain the bones in your feet begin to bend and move, flattening out any arch under all of that strain. And although you lose the weight, the bones in your foot do not recover and the damage is permanent. This can cause foot, knee and hip pain for the rest of your life!

Who knew that flexibility was a bad thing?! I might be singing that song about "My Orthopedic Shoes."

So having learned that, I know how much more important it is for me to remain disciplined while pregnant and avoid a lot of weight gain.

Jeramy and I have both gone over to Runner's World online and found some great knee strengthening/stretching exercises that have helped us out tremendously.