For the longest time I felt being a “pronator” was a bad thing. That is, until I watched a slow motion video of Haile Gebrselassie. It’s ridiculous how much he pronates. If Haile were to visit his neighborhood podiatrist, chances are he’d promptly get fitted for a pair of orthodontics. Which would be a little odd because as many runners know, Gebrselassie is the greatest distance runner of all time.
What he has, from years of running barefoot as a young child in Ethiopia, are muscles in his lower leg that actually allow him to use his pronation to absorb shock, which is why pronation is good, not bad. What’s bad is having weak lower leg muscles — when our running shoes do to much work for us.
In my mind, this video is revolutionary. Surely, pronation or overpronation is not a defect, but an asset.