My right foot.

Following Tuesdays outing, the small amount of foot pain grew significantly, and for the remainder of the week, I've been hobbling around. I just can't seem to get this right can I?

After a few experiments with my shoe on Thursday evening, I've worked out what it is. My shoes have this frame around the outside of the sole, designed to stop the shoe flexing too much. However, for some reason, the position of my foot in the shoe has changed so that a slightly knobbly part of the frame has been sticking into the back of my almost-arch and I've been left with a pretty deep bruise with all of the pounding.

As to why this might have happened, perhaps having been wearing the shoes for a little more than running over the past few weeks have stretched or altered their shape in some way. So, it's time to ditch the daft shoes that no-one has heard of before, and go for something a bit more mainstream.

I've been eyeing up a pair of New Balance 680s for a while, and ducked out from work at lunchtime yesterday to go get me a pair. However, on trying them on, they just didn't fit comfortably. So, next up was a pair of Asics GT2110 shoes. These have been very well reviewed and do fit comfortably - especially on my silly uber-narrow feet. They have no daft frames or cut-outs, so hopefully less to go wrong with them. Sold!

This is the second purchase this week. On Wednesday, our local pharmacy had their basic heart-rate monitor on sale for £5. It's a simple chest band and watch receiver unit showing current and average heart rates for a given exercise period. Nothing fancy and just right to get an idea if an HRM can provide me with any value before I spend silly money, and before I actually hit any form of running target.

I'm planning to run tomorrow now - my foot is nearly right and I don't want to leave it any longer. So lets see if I can get to 30 minutes in the next 4 or 5 weeks.

Mr Stumble.