So, today's run had a bit of an epiphany to it. Started off innocent enough. An easy lunchtime run in my normal shoes, on the normal route, no real reason to hurry, just go along... I had my shoes tied a little looser than normal, which turned out to be a good thing. I was having some issues with the metatarsals in my left foot (the one I had surgery on in mid-2008), and consciously spreading my toes on that foot seemed to relieve it. Maybe the shoes ARE too narrow? Or maybe the configuration of the midsole is causing them to crowd up a bit? Anyway, that's not the epiphany.

About 3.5 miles into the 4.5, I just felt like upping the pace. And what happened is that my cadence jumped up a LOT. And the midfoot landing felt absolutely natural. Effortless. Didn't have to think about it at all. It was like those days back in high school running in spikes on the cinder track.

So what is the epiphany? Cadence. I've been reading a lot about changing to midfoot strike (even though I initially made this change in 2005), but this particular run just drove it home. More important than concentrating on landing the foot properly, more important than relaxing the foot, more important even than pace... Cadence.