I am one of those "I hate running" folks too. I have hated it since the mile run in boy scouts. I suck at it. Nothing about running feels natural to me and I usually end up with knee and lower back pain. Probably because I plod along, up and down, poor posture, etc. etc.. My breathing has no rhythm, like the rest of me, and I am usually out of breath after a short jog.
I really want to get better at running, but it seems to be a skill that is destined to remain a mystery to me. I have no idea how you find out your "gait", let alone fix it!
That being said, several years ago some friends and I did a Spartan Sprint at the Whitewater Center and loved it. We tried a Warrior Dash as well, but the enjoyed the Spartan more. I was using the New Balance Minimus 10 Trail shoe that worked great, but they apparently don't make anymore.
Just this month I tried starting jogging again and it is ugly. I've been doing about 2.5 miles, 6 days a week and VERY slow. I went to Run For Your Life here in Charlotte and the watched me "run" in the store. Then recommended some shoes that seem ok. I still get the knee pain though. Maybe I will try out the Fleet Feet shop and see if they can help.
To top it all off, I found out I actually broke my pinky toe about 8 months ago and two different docs missed it on two different x-rays. So I have been making it worse while trying to "suck it up and just work through the pain". smh.
What stretching are you doing before running? Or was it the strawberry shampoo stretching that was helping?