It turns out that the heel counter on my right shoe was off about 3/8 inch. Larry Frederick, the previous owner of Run For Your Life in Charlotte, heard my story of last month’s injury and asked me to bring my shoes in so he could check the heel counter. I did so the next day, and although Larry was not present, a staff member looked at the shoes, “Right foot hurting, correct?” she said, after looking at the shoes. Sure enough, it was out of alignment. She gave me a new pair of the updated model of my shoe on Friday, I raced in them Saturday…almost no discomfort at all in the injured achilles/calf for the first time in a month.
I’ve been limping around for a month with this problem, and here it is three days after a half IM (39th on the run split, BTW, thanks PowerCranks…I mean, I’m not known as a long-distance runner…but, I’ve certainly improved leaps and bounds since using PCs…a couple of weeks ago I had the fastest run split in my AG in a sprint duathlon…while limping along!) and my injury site feels fine.
Mr. Frederick and his staff may have saved my season with their astute observation. I recommend them to anyone in the area.