Sports for Eve: Customer Spotlight

Customer Spotlight
Kathy White improves her stride with new shoes and the natural running clinic

by Kathy White

I have been reborn! Dramatic perhaps, but pretty accurate. See I was what most would call a "slow plodding runner." I would like to blame my bad feet (some bone and nerve issues) but really it was only half the problem. If you were to run near me, you would think someone was dragging a tire behind them...a series of slapping sounds agonizingly followed by a series of scraping sounds. Yep, that was my stride...and it never changed --because I didn't change. I kept focusing on all the wrong things. I thought "you run how you run, that's just the way it's going to be!"

Thanks to some less-than-gentle prodding by the fine folks at SPORTS for EVE, I made my big move. I tossed aside my clunky rigid orthotics and decided to let them help me get back to the basics of running. Risky? No. Not really. Because D'Lynda and the gang took the time to find me the right shoe for me, the Brooks Cadence (followed closely by the Brooks Grit for trails, two of the shoes in the Pure Project Line) and I haven't looked back. I also haven't had any foot pain which is worth it's weight in gold.

This was already a success story, but to make my experience full circle, I attended the Natural Run Clinic one Saturday morning. We worked on drills to improve mechanics, shorten our stride, incorporate a bit of a lean to name a few, and I'm still doing them...the best part is they actually work! My time per mile is dropping, as is the amount of effort I put in at that pace. Talk about a win-win!

Many thanks for being such a great resource to the women's sports community, and for always taking the time to help us make some positive changes, even if we are moving a bit slowly!