I recently had a friend of mine post on facebook how she was home visiting her mom and went shopping. Strange part was that she wasn't shopping for sports related clothing or equipment. She was shopping for "normal" stuff most women buy.
I couldn't even tell you the last time I purchased clothing that was not intended for athletic endeavours. I'm not sure how I feel about that. The last "non athletic" shoes I bought were a couple pairs of flats (Bare Trap - super cute and comfy!) for work, think I got them sometime in March or April. Only purchased them because with all my running I just couldn't wear heels anymore (even a tiny heel) and I was getting stink-eye from coworkers from wearing my running shoes in the office. So I bascially bought nice comfy shoes that may or may not resemble fancy slippers.
Last week the balls of my feet were sore. Now, my feet are tweaky anyways, but this wasn't normal. I thought it could be residual soreness from my century ride, but it had been nearly 10 days since the ride and my feet were still sore. So after my 10 mile run on Saturday, I figured out I had put 271 miles on my shoes since March, which meant that I was probably close to needing a new pair. I was a bit bummed they were done so early, which meant I likely needed to switch from my beloved New Balance 76X series to something more durable.
Changing shoes always makes me nervous. Two foot surgeries and a broken foot make for very nervous feet.
My brick on Sunday confirmed things - I needed new shoes. Didn't want to draw things out, so I trundled over to Luke's Locker to see what the options where. Sarah looked at the bottom of my shoes - worn almost all the way to the base under the balls of my foot. She had me run around barefoot to judge my gait - asked if I was purposely running fore-foot. Nope, that's just how I run. (or I suppose that's how I run. barefoot through a store with people watching me. not exactly normal conditions....) She thought I had a bit of life left in the NB's but agreed that I needed a shoe that was more durable. We tried on some Brooks Adrenaline GT10s. They felt cushy under the balls of my feet, were narrow enough in the heel so my very narrow heels stayed put, and had plenty of room in the toebox. Even though my feet are very narrow, I prefer normal width shoes and a generous toe-box. Something about I don't like having things rubbing against my two outermost toes, which were the ones that I had surgery on. They're fully recovered, but still, I don't like stuff on my toes. Weird. Then I tried on some Asics. Eh. Then Sarah got a gleam in her eye and whipped out the Newtons. Asked me if I was game. I told her that I was intrigued but never had the courage to try some one. I tried on the Modus ones, which are the stability model. Very funky. But intriguing. I'm all about ugly/crazy/shiny so of course I had to get them. And I decided to get the Brooks as well, for a "daily runner".
I can't wait to try them both out. I will have to be patient with the Newtons - they recommend only running 1 mile (just one!) for the first few weeks, and then you can build your distance by 10 minutes. My coworker ran 3 miles in his Newtons on his first time out and he's been limping around with a strained calf for 10 days. But he's a boy and a bit on the crazy side, so I think I will be wiser and smarter. Still, only running a mile is weird. I guess I will run 2-3 miles tomorrow in my Brooks then swing by the house and do a quick transition into the Newtons for a mile. I hope that since I was already running forefoot (based on the wear pattern on my NBs) that the transition should go ok. We shall see.
Its weird - I'm actually EXCITED to run. Never in a million years would I have thought I'd be excited to run. Very cool stuff.
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