I've been reading Runners World magazine and a book for Women Who Run, so have this new vocabulary of running coming into my head. For some reason 'Over Pronation' -basically not being balanced on your feet, which could lead to injury and buggered up trainers - keeps entering my brain as a fate worse than death and also something that I suspect I’m likely to do since I always wear the heels out on my normal shoes at one side. It also occurs to me that I have always been quite unbalanced in my attitudes to eating and fitness - all or nothing - and I really envy people who just naturally get it right. I suspect they’re in the minority though and that most people have to put effort into not going too far one way or the other.

Over Pronation

The book says to imagine

an invisible cord is pulling you up at the neck,

holding you in a straight line between earth and sky,

your feet rolling inwards,

as your heel strikes the ground,

your arch neither too flat nor too high.

You should be a weeble that doesn’t fall over,

your foot efficiently absorbing shocks,

your shins and hips rotating in alignment,

no strange wear on your trainers or socks.

But we all shift out of balance,

have too much stress,

or not enough leisure,

workaholic days,

or overdoses of pleasure.

Stuffing ourselves with fatty food,

or on too strict a diet,

over noisy neighbours

or a house that’s just too quiet.

Running yourself into the ground,

or barely running at all.

People never leaving you alone,

or out of friends that you can call.

Pronation is something you can control,

be aware when your life’s out of sync,

and you’re listing like a boat in the wind,

wobbly as a screen on the blink.

When things aren’t quite balancing,

when the right steps are passing you by,

imagine that invisible cord

pulling you up at the neck,

holding you straight between earth and sky.