Sometimes runners experience injuries like plantar fasciitis or Achilles tendonitis. These and other injuries have been shown to sometimes stem from running on flat, hard surfaces such as pavement. This may be an issue of the runner’s gait, but more often it is due to the same, repetitive stress placed on the heels and balls of the feet. Changing your running terrain is a great way to avoid this repetition and keep you from developing injuries such as tendonitis, shin splints, stress fractures, and a variety of other running injuries.