Week 5: Long Run plus New Shoes
Chicago was plagued with high heat and high humidity
this past week, and this trainin' Mama felt it.
All four runs this week were brutal --
hard, I sweat gallons,
and I realized that if I had to run in this every day I might not like running.
But, I don't, so that's good.
Got me some new shoes this past week.
Has anyone ever told you that running shoes
are QUITE expensive?
Did a very informal poll on Facebook and while quite a few recommended Fleet Feet,
I opted for Road Runner.
And let me tell you.
It was QUITE an experience.
You see, for whatever ridiculous reason,
I was VERY nervous about getting new shoes.
I got several private emails about shin splints and other foot issues
when people got new shoes and weren't fitted properly.
And that freaked me out a tad bit.
And I just know that I can't afford a setback in my training
if I'm to ROCK my South Carolina half marathon in October.
The night before I went to spend a gazillion dollars on new shoes
and VERY pricey running socks,
I actually had a terrible nightmare that
when I walked into the store it was a bunch of minimum
wage teenagers helping people
(nothing wrong with that but this Mama just needed
some experience and background in shoes, ya know?).
And when I got on the treadmill to run so they could "analyze my gait"
they all started laughing at me.
My self-analysis of this dream:
I'm very self-conscious of the fact that I'm painfully slow,
and my athlete from decades gone by,
is embarrassed about the shape of my body.
And this is just a really hard venture to be on.
I'm not natural at it so it feels awkward and scary.
Make sense?
So, after much consideration of where to go for my new shoes,
I opted for Road Runner because of my marathon running friend Eric.
Thankful that I know him will enough to know that if
had any reservations at all,
he would have told me so.
(And not that the Fleet Feet recommendations weren't awesome, too.)
In I walked,
armed with my old shoes,
the socks I wear,
my overweight BUT getting slimmer body,
my 7-year-old son,
a portable dvd-player to hook up to any available socket in the store
so that I could concentrate on making the big shoe purchase without
child interruptions.
child interruptions.
I think I even came armed with a snack bag
and Jackson's water bottle so that under
NO circumstances could he bother me.
Sometimes you've gotta do what you hafta do.
Can I get a loud PREACH IT SISTER?
So here's where my mind was blown.
This place was TOTALLY high tech.
Huge screen tv where we touched the answers to all sorts of questions like
"What are you training for?
Do you wear your shoes only to run in?
What sort of socks do you like?
How much do you weigh?
NO, IT DIDN'T ASK ME THAT.
HAD IT, I WOULD HAVE BURST INTO TEARS
HAD IT, I WOULD HAVE BURST INTO TEARS
AND RAN OUT THE DOOR.
WITHOUT MY CHILD.
Tom was my helper and he was amazing.
He took 3d images of my feet.
He filmed me running and we watched in on the big screen.
{I could have SWORN my legs looked better than they did. Boo.}
He custom made inserts for my shoes because of my high arches.
This is what high looks like. Who knew?
We figured out that I needed stability shoes.
{I think that's what he called them. Details make me crazy.}
And then, he came out with all sorts of options.
I told him that Nike never EVER work for me.
Since I was in high school.
Does weird things to my ankles.
He brought out a pair just to try and sure enough,
I put them on and they slipped up and down on my skinny little ankle bone
(the only part of my body that is truly SKINNY. I'm proud of that.)
I popped on these bad boys and they fit like a glove.
We both just knew.
It was meant to be.
It was meant to be.
And how lucky am I that they just happened to be a fun color
like turquoise with a splash of lime green and pink.
(Truth be told, I really wanted a bland, off-white pair
because I truly don't want to draw one OUNCE of attention to
my running self when I'm, well, RUNNING.)
BUT, if they had to be color, they are the PERFECT color for sure! EH?
Come to find out, as I was checking out, Mr. Tom, my helper,
happened to be the store manager.
Score for expertise. Degree in kinesiology and physiology
and all those other ologies
that deal with running and the bod.
I was so thankful for his help.
Highly recommend him.
Go there.
Ask for Tom.
Tell him I sent you and maybe
he'll throw in a pair of over-priced socks for you.
{Not his fault they're expensive. That's just the price of non-cotton socks.}
And apparently you really need non-cotton socks when you're a runner.
And since I'm a runner now, I bought them.
Now my feet shall never, ever sweat again.
Or so they say.
And when we got home,
Jackson, Coco and I played a rowdy game of Headbanz.
We're fun like that!
And in other news:
Week 5's long run was 7 miles.
IN THIS HEAT.
BRUTAL people.
BRUTAL.
It was my first long run that I actually had to stop.
Stopped several times.
I'm not even going to TELL you about
the necessary bathroom stop
that couldn't come soon enough.
One word: explosive.
This running world is a whole new world for me.
And of course, at that hour of the day
(in the morning fives)
there was nary a bathroom open on the lakefront.
Oh MERCY!
Close call is all I'll say.
I was very, VERY thankful that I had run 7.4 miles the week before without stopping.
So that's Week 5 in a nutshell.
New shoes.
Long run in the heat.
I hate running in the heat.
And I know I'm not supposed to say hate and running in the same sentence
any more but just keeping it real.
So there.