So how bad is it?

I'm partway through my first week of training. I'm trying to stick to the recommended minimum of three runs a week, and am following the 10k running plan on this website. My fiance brought to my attention the fact that my running is a bit...peculiar, by which he meant I have quite a pronounced medial heel whip. I couldn't sense this myself when running so I asked if he'd come out with me again and film what I look like when running, and he obliged. For lots of people, seeing themselves on film can be uncomfortable, but especially so when you're in the early stages of learning something new.

Watching the video of myself running was really quite shocking. The heel whip is VERY pronounced, and my legs seem to have a jelly-like quality as they thrash around beneath me. A few years ago I was given a word-a-day calendar with old English words that are no longer in use. One of those words was 'shail'. If I remember correctly it meant moving as though your bones are not sitting in their sockets correctly. I laughed at the time trying to imagine such a thing, but seeing the footage makes me suspect the original users of the word 'shale' had runners like me in mind. You can watch me run in the video below (my fiance even recorded me in slow motion, so I look extra weird).

So my initial response was, 'well, that's not normal'. Thankfully I am working my way through some corrective exercises in a book that I'll review in a future post, but I think it's pretty clear my running form needs some work!