Why Be Normal?

Noticed yesterday I still run funny.

At the local YMCA there are two equipment rooms, one upstairs and one downstairs. I almost always use the upstairs room but all the treadmills were occupied yesterday so I was forced into the catacombs of the Y to the downstairs room. There was one treadmill available which I greedily hopped onto as fast as I could. As I started getting up to speed I realized I was facing myself in a mirror which hasn't happened in the upstairs room. With nothing else to look at I started watching my gait and I realized that I still run funny.

About 5-7 years ago a trip to the doctor complaining about knee pain resulted in trips to physical therapy. At physical therapy after a fairly lengthy evaluation process, I was asked to walk back and forth across a room while multiple therapists marveled at my strange gait. It was then after some brainstorming amongst them that they decided to measure the length of my legs. Yup, my right leg is almost an inch longer than my left leg. Thankfully the solution was simple, a lift insert that I put in the left heel of whatever shoes I'm wearing. The effects were almost immediately noticeable and the knee pain pretty much resolved itself.

When I was a kid my brother used to tell me I ran like a duck. And although it was upsetting at the time, to some extent he was probably right. To compensate for the discrepancy in leg length instead of bending at the knee normally when I walked, I would kick my left leg out and around. Very subtle but noticeable if you were looking. Anyway, I noticed yesterday when I first started running that I was still doing this a bit but the more I ran the more "normal" it got. And as long as there's no discomfort associated with it I don't mind if my gait is a little off; it goes along with the rest of me. And besides, why be normal?