When I first began my transition into distance running which has been less than a year (July 2011 if I had to pick a specific period) I was bothered by leg pains and shin splints mainly due to my technique. I remember I used to take off my shoes for the last 2-3 miles of my runs and it seemed to significantly reduce the impact and improve my technique. Somewhere along the line I stopped running barefoot and I began to notice (December through current) that I started to become more sore and take more time to recover. After reading Born to Run I have began to run barefoot and relearn my technique in order to prevent injury and lessen recovery time from long runs. After the first few runs I have noticed different muscles (namely calf at this point) have been more sore and my knees seem to have been taking less of a beating.
I leave you with two great quotes from the book Born to Run:
"There are two Goddesses in your heart: the Goddess of Wisdom
and the Goddess of Wealth. Everyone
thinks they need to get the wealth first, and wisdom will come. So they concern themselves with chasing
money. But they have it backwards. You have to give your heart to the Goddess of
Wisdom, give her all your love and attention, and the Goddess of Wealth will
become jealous, and follow you." --Joe Vigil
"If it feels like work you’re working too hard" --Eric Orton
