Yes! I just started running myself, training for a half-marathon in December. I did eight miles this week (and literally until six weeks ago I hadn't run more than three steps since High School).
I discovered this thing called ChiRunning. It was developed by a guy named Danny Dreyer, who is a tai chi master and an ultramarathoner. It involves bringing tai chi concepts to running, and using gravity to pull you forward. I'm finding it challenging to learn, but I can knock down the miles like anything.
Dreyer says that the cause of most running injury is heel-striking impact. He wants you to land mid-foot. Not the ball of the foot either, unless you're sprinting. He wants you landing on the soft middle section of your foot, and landing it directly underneath an aligned column of foot-knee-hip-shoulder-head, that's all leaning slightly forward. Then your stride goes out behind you.
I'm finding this to be VERY gentle and soft-footed. There's none of the bang-bang-bang-bang that I normally associate with running, and recovering from even my weekly "long" run is fairly painless and easy. I say "long" in quotes because this week it was only three miles.
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