Sore Ankle

Question
I am a 62 year old female runner. I have been running for 3 years and I started training for a half marathon and as soon as I hit 5 miles my left ankle gets sore on the outside. No a severe pain but it aches. Also my leg starts feeling numb on some runs. Could you tell me how to correct this problem. Thanks in advance.

Answer
I'm sorry this is happening now Linda! The first thing to know is if the pain depends on the position of your foot. Try a different foot strike. Visit http://barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/4BiomechanicsofFootStrike.html and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jrnj-7YKZE try a different foot strike. If this fixes your pain then continue working on these, but start slow. The way your foot is hitting the ground now may just cause a force through the outside of your ankle to pinch a nerve. If foot strike doesn't change it let me know and I'll have more suggestions. This is the most likely and easiest fix, so start with this.

Good luck and don't hesitate to follow-up with any more questions.