Day 177-180: Get Me a Pair of Running Stilettos

Blogging only every two or three days is harder than I thought it would be. I still have to journal about my day because I know I’ll forget the details. But I suppose it doesn’t take as much time since I’m not publishing it. That way I don’t stress about typos or sentence structure. Till later anyway. 

Before I get into my recap of the past few days, can we talk about running shoes? I took my slipper-like Sauconys back to Road Runner Sports. (Isn’t their 60-day trial awesome?) I just couldn’t get past the slapping sound of my feet on the concrete. It just didn’t sound or feel right.

Saturday night, the evening after my 5-miler, my back hurt, and now I think it was from the shoes. On Sunday, I couldn’t complete my 3-mile run. I had to stop at 2.5. Sure, I didn’t feel 100%, but that’s never stopped me before.

It’s as if the shoes were trying to correct the way my feet hit the ground. Perhaps, they were trying to make me run on all of my toes instead of just my big freakish toe and the one next to it, which is what Road Runner’s Shoe Dog said I was doing.

And, keeping on the topic of shoes, has everyone seen this study that was in the news a couple of days ago?

It says that running shoes can put more strain on joints than high heels. Did I miss all the conversation already? How is this study supposed to help us? I read it and I was like, so what are we supposed to do?

Of course, it says running barefoot is best, but then says that that’s not possible given today’s terrain (asphalt and concrete). At the end of the article, it mentions that the doctor who conducted the study has patented and is making a better shoe. OF COURSE! So this is a press release not a study, right?

Anyway, it frustrated me, if you couldn’t tell.

Did you read it? I’m curious what you thought. Leave me a comment and let me know!

DAY 177
Sunday was supposed to be a rest day. But it wasn’t raining, T Junior was down for a nap and I felt like running. I started off on the dirt trail and then turned down the sidewalk, which circled through the main intersection in our town. Then I ran back into the neighborhood.

The trail part, all half a mile of it, was good. Every step on the sidewalk was not. I felt like my legs were barely moving and as if my feet had cement blocks on them. The Sauconys clomped, clomp, clomped. My back hurt. A blister was developing on the knuckle of my left “big freakish toe.” Still, I wasn’t sure if it was the shoes, me or that I wore my thinner socks.

When I got home and was trying to explain to Mr. T that over the next few days, I was going to go for runs in different socks and then wear my old shoes with the same socks and take the same route so it would be a true test and…

“Stop trying to make them work and take them back,” he interrupted.

I shrugged. “You’re right.”

1/10/10 – 2.57 Miles
Total time: 26:52
Average pace: 10:27
Mile 1: 10:28
Mile 2: 10:03
.57 Miles: 6:21
DAY 178
Monday, T Junior and I went back to Road Runner with the Sauconys. First, I tried on a size 10 – maybe they were just too big. Nope. Not it. Then, I tried on my second choice, the New Balance 760s. They felt good. But I put on a pair Brooks, just in case, but I thought I already tried them last week. I like them, but I could feel the edge of the arch support or something under the ball of my foot. That didn’t seem right. I put on one NB and one Brooks and ran down the middle of the store, while T Junior wailed, “Mama go?! Mama go?!” That just hurt. I felt a sharp pain in my left quad. Weird.

I kept trying to explain to the guy who worked there what it was I didn’t like about the Sauconys. Not really knowing what it was, myself, made that difficult. Finally, I think I figured it out. I like feeling that there is a shoe there. Maybe running in slippers is a bad idea for me. I need to feel some support, that the shoe is actually doing something.

Finally, I left the store with the 760s.

I didn’t run Monday because it poured all day. I didn’t want a repeat of Day 175. Besides, I went Sunday and it still counts even if I couldn’t finish and it wasn’t that far. Right? Right?

DAY 179
On Tuesday, it was back to work. But I was excited to go to the Secret Gym at lunch. I wanted to try out my new shoes, even if it was on a treadmill.

Wow, though, what a sucky run. Yes, sucky. There’s no other word to describe it.

In the gym, the treadmill is directly in front of a window. I ran for about 5 minutes when I decided I wanted to open the blinds because I was bored. I stopped my Zune and the treadmill, leaned over the front and twisted the rod that opens the blinds. I started running again.

After about 5 minutes, I was dizzy. The horizontal lines of the blinds combined with up and down movement of me running was messing me up. I stopped again and closed the blinds. Better.

I also was way too hot on the treadmill, though, and my run was hard. Afterward, I noticed the fan had not been on, so that could be one reason for overheating. Another reason: capris. Maybe I will give the running skirt I got for Christmas (I KNOW!) a try next week. And, still, another reason: I didn’t drink enough water (nor did I bring any with me – dumb!) and I was my stomach was growling.

And, guess what else? There were TWO people in the Secret Gym with me. One was someone from my office (not the co-worker who first shared the secret of this gym with me) and another was a young woman I’d never seen before, which isn’t saying much since I’ve only seen one other person (other than my co-worker, of course) in there ever.

DAY 180
Today, I had an appointment to meet with the personal trainer at the Secret Gym so she could demonstrate the equipment, especially the giant weight machine. There are so many different lifts you can do on that thing!

When she was done, I asked her to show me the BOSU and she was really excited to! It’s her favorite. She also showed me the resist
ance bands and I told her about marathon training. She said more reps with light resistance would be best, especially for hips. Good to know! She also offered her expertise any time. Just give me a holler, she said. Very cool.

After she left, I got on the stationary bike. Ugh. But I wanted to get in a little cardio and a little strength. I only had about 25 minutes left. So I read Bitter is the New Black while I biked with the thing set on random.

I was going along just fine when the resistance went way up. I could barely cycle! Thank goodness, it went down again. My goal was 15 minutes and I made it. Afterward, I did some tricep pulls with the stretchy bands and some bicep curls. I also did some hip moves with my right leg (there I am in the picture above), but I ran out of time to do my left leg!

UP NEXT
I’m looking forward to a morning run on Friday, a trail run (hopefully!) with Heather at Almost Running and a date night with Mr. T on Saturday and heading to the dog show on Sunday with T Junior to see good friends we haven’t seen in a while as we watch all of their boxers compete!