Hi, everyone! 

I've been walking and weight lifting for fitness since 2008-09 (quit smoking, too) and started running in late April of this year when I saw a flyer for a 5k at my local Y.  I thought, why not?  I only had about 4 weeks to train and ran it in 33:24, not bad for a newbie!  Unfortunately, I didn't stretch after the race and had a recurrence of tendonitis in my left ankle so I wasn't able to do anything for the rest of May/early June.  I've been pretty consistent about running during July (I always run outdoors on our gravel road or on pavement) and had been having problems with my toes going numb somewhere between mile 2 & 3.  I went to a running store that does video running gait analysis and found out first that my pretty running shoes were too small, not letting my toes move as they need to.  Second, I overpronate in the right leg so I needed more supportive shoes.  Lastly, I thought I was making a lot of noise on their treadmill while I was jogging at a slow pace, kind of like a stampeding herd of elephants, and sure enough, I was landing on my heels.  So now I've fixed the numb toes problem, have a good shoe for my overpronating foot and am trying to learn how to land mid-foot.  I first tried running with a shorter stride; it felt good but I was as slow as molasses.  Then I ran barefoot on a treadmill and did ok, just couldn't go very far since my calves were hurting at 1/4 mile due to the change in muscle usage.  Later, I did intervals of walking with bursts of running and realized that when I really run, I was running correctly!  Yippee!  I do know how to run properly!  Well, sometimes.  Now I'm trying to run that way and get my speed and endurance back.  Any suggestions, ideas, or tell me it's just going to take time just like it did in the beginning?

Thanks!