I got new shoes…again.

I know everyone says they’re busy and no one likes hearing about how busy other people are, but I’ll say it anyway: I’ve been really busy.

Besides some random stressful things that I’ll talk about one day, school has been kicking my ass the last two weeks of the semester. The instructor doubled-up some writing assignments and back-loaded most of the quizzes while we’re also supposed to be working on a 20-page annotated bibliography (because that will help us in life). I can’t wait to write the end-of-semester evaluation for the class because I’ve got a whole page of “recommendations” already written out for that mofo.

Anyway, enough about that. More importantly, a new shoe purchase was made.

Those are the Nike Air Zoom Vomero 10’s and so far I mostly like them. They have a raised area in the heel that feels a little weird but my speed runs in them have been pretty good, so maybe I’m just not used to it? Either way, I think they’re cute and looking cute is important to my vanity. I’m not sure if they’re good for distance yet, but I’ll find out next month when half marathon training starts.

I also tried out the Hoka One One courtesy of my running wife.

I highly recommend running wives. They buy new shoes and let you try them for free.

The Hokas were nice and cushy but rubbed my pinky toe a little. Not enough to hurt but maybe it would if I ran a longer distance in them? My legs are definitely not used to the 5 mm drop because my calves were already getting sore at the end of a mile. I can say, if I decide to go to a lower drop shoe, it would be these. I like lightweight shoes without feeling like I’m running on bare pavement.

Even though I bought new shoes, I’m still considering buying another pair. I’m deciding between the Brooks Ghost 7 and the Mizuno Wave Rider 18’s. I used to like the Ghost 5’s but the new models are heavier which I don’t like. The Wave Rider 17s caused my hip problem so I’m apprehensive about the 18’s. So to sum this up, I have shoe anxiety and I’m never happy. The end.

 

BDR is now TBD

Well, my hip pain is back and I think I found the culprit.

Those shoes have since been spit on, humiliated in public, and tossed in the fire.

I was wearing those when my hip pain first started. It was only a two mile run and because I didn’t know if I stepped wrong or it was the shoes, I stopped wearing them. Once my hip was better, I ran in my other shoes – the same model, just a different color. Everything was fine and I didn’t have any issues. A little over a week ago, I decided to run a short distance in the coral shoes to see how they felt. I ran three, extremely slow miles and felt good. I thought the pain was caused by my stepping wrong, which wasn’t out of the question because the tread looked fine and they have the lowest mileage of all my shoes.

I decided to wear the coral shoes for my 10-miler last Saturday instead of putting extra miles on my black race shoes. The first six miles were fine. The last four were not. I basically had to be dragged back to my car.

Since then, I’ve been back where I started. Last time, it took three weeks until I was able to run. I was two weeks from race day when the pain started again which means I’m not sure if I’m running Best Damn Race on Saturday. While it’s getting better (I only limp and notice pain sometimes instead of all the time), I’m not sure it’s getting better fast enough. I’m stretching, doing hip exercises, and taking ibuprofen but it just seems doubtful the race will happen.

Now I need new shoes that don’t hate my hip. I hate testing out new shoes because they never work out. But because I’m a glutton for punishment, I bought a new pair of Adidas Adios Boost to try.

I’ll buy black laces for those. White is so meh. I wore them to Crossfit on Friday and they’re pretty comfortable. I’m not sure if they’re good for long distance running though. I’ll test them out when I’m feeling better and if they don’t work, I’ll exchange them for something else. (Story of my life.)

There’s a race at the end of March I’m considering running especially if I can’t run BDR. Although, I’m really disheartened because my speed training was going SO WELL. I don’t really want to be out for three weeks, do a little bit of training, and then half-ass a race. Or run a race that has the potential to be really hot because…FLORIDA. I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. In the meantime, feel free to diagnose my hip problem or tell me to stop whining.

Shoe Drama

Shoe drama. I gots it.

I’m sure some of you knew this post was coming. Running shoes and I have always had a dicey relationship. I think I’ve found the perfect shoe but then it gets discontinued. Or I seem to find something wrong with the shoe, even if there might not really be anything wrong at all. Like my Brooks Ghost 5, for example. They are probably the shoes I should stick with because they never gave me a problem, they wear right in the middle which may mean I’m heel striking less, and they even lasted a crazy 700 miles.

I just can’t stand the sight of them.

Ugh. Denim blue. The worst. Those are dying to be worn with some khaki Bermuda shorts and a fanny pack. (Sorry, to those who wear these. I’m sure you look beautiful in them. Especially this girl.)

Lately, I’ve been alternating between the Brooks Glycerine 12’s and the Mizuno Wave Creation 14s. The Glycerines feel good and I like the look of them a lot.

But man, the flexibility is not there. They feel so stiff after six or seven miles like I’m in a pair of clodhoppers, so I’m hyper-aware they are on my feet. Do people still use the word clodhoppers? We should bring that back into common rotation. Try it. 😉

The Wave Creations are decent, but they wear on the inner heel so I’m probably heel striking more. They make my feet look more gigantic than they already are but they’re cute so I forgive them.

Also, after about 11 miles, I feel like I need more padding in the forefront of the foot. These aren’t anywhere close to minimalists, so I’m not sure what that’s all about because I never had that issue during the two years I wore the 12s.

So basically, I can run shorter distances in both the Brooks and the Mizunos fine but they will not do for marathon training. So, I’m going to do what I do best: buy shoes I don’t really need right now but have convinced myself that I do.

Say hi to the Mizuno Wave Rider 17s (and to your mother) for me.

I can’t decide which color. Help!

I wore the 15s for awhile but they were a bit too narrow and rubbed on my pinky toe to the point where I was limping after a race. I’m willing to give the 17s a chance since they were completely redesigned and are freakin’ adorable. Adorable is important. When you look like I do after a race, it’s important to keep something looking good.

The 17s go on sale on December 4, so expect me to be bitching about them around the 18th. If they don’t work out, I’m giving up and going back to the Brooks Ghosts. Hopefully the 6’s didn’t change too much from the 5’s because I need this vicious cycle to end so I can go back to spending my money on less important things like rent and electricity.

 

The Right Shoes

Here we go with the shoes again. They always seem to be an issue with me. I’ve been running in my new Mizuno Wave Creation 14s a lot lately. I love them. Or, at least I thought I did.

Bunny inspection.

During my past couple of runs, I could tell my foot strike was different. It feels like I’m hitting the ground on the outer edge of my foot and it feels all kinds of weird trying to correct it. If I stop thinking about correcting it, then I go back to the weird strike, which is pretty much what happens with my short attention span.

I decided to check out the wear on my old pair of 11s. This pair has 600+ miles on them and all the wear is on the edge of the heel.

While my 14s don’t have that many miles on them yet, I can tell the wear is starting on the edge of the heel just like the 11s, so it makes sense that my foot strike is different. (Maybe that’s why I was put in stability shoes when I first had my gait analyzed?)

I also checked the wear on my Brooks Ghost 5s, which have about 400 miles on them. All the wear is right in the middle of the shoe and nothing on the heels.

So, I thought there was something slightly off when I ran in my Brooks at first, but it was just because I had a better foot strike and wasn’t used to it. I guess it took getting back in the wrong shoes (and spending my life savings on them) to realize I was already in the right shoes. Of course, now I need to buy new Brooks because mine are getting worn. Who needs to retire? I’m just going to buy mass quantities of ugly shoes since the cute ones never work for me.

I don’t even know the point to this post. If you think you love your shoes, let them go and if its meant to be they’ll come back to you?

Yeah. Let’s go with that.

A New Pair

If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you know running shoes and I have a dicey relationship. First I think I love them then they let me down and I write bitchy posts about them. I was in Mizuno Wave Creation 11s for over a year and they worked for me. Since my current pair have over 450 miles on them and are discontinued, I thought I’d look for something new. I considered the model up (Wave Creation 13s) but I had 4 different sales people at 3 different locations tell me that they don’t recommend them.

That was fine with me because the Creations aren’t cheap and I’d hate to cut into my redneck Bud Light budget. In the meantime, I’ve tried the Brooks Trance 11s, Nike Lunarglides, and the Mizuno Wave Rider 15s. All of them hated me. So much.

Tuesday night, I tried out my Brooks Ghost 5s for the first time. When I bought them, the guy said that they would allow an easier transition into the Saucony Kinvara 3s (which I also bought and picked up yesterday! Boom.) After he said that, I thought the Brooks might have a lower drop so I looked it up online. Nope. They are 11 mm just like my Mizunos and Asics. So, I didn’t really know what he meant but thought I would give it a shot anyway.

Well, I only ran 3.5 miles and I can tell they’re definitely different, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It feels like the shoe forces me to land more mid-foot than my usual (beloved) heel strike. I thought only minimalist shoes did that? Anyway, now I think I understand what they guy was talking about. I gonna stick with the Brooks for awhile and see how it goes. Plus, I don’t have the energy to keep trying new pairs.

Does anyone else wear the Wave Creation 13s? I have this weird feeling that I should have gone with them all along.

Today, So Far

I had to get up early this morning (7:50am). I know. Life is rough without kids. Sorry moms and dads. Anyway, we had an appointment to have new internet set up that’s going to be faster and save me $50 a month. Since we had an 8-10am technician arrival window, I killed some time by actually cleaning the house.

Hub’s allergies have been acting up lately, so I decided to do a really good vacuuming. This means, de-furring the bunny first because she molts like a mofo for several months out of the year and you can literally pull clumps of hair out of her.

That picture was taken when we were done. There were 3 other piles just like that.

After the de-furring (which she is not a fan of), we rewarded her for good behavior with a new cardboard box. Nothing but the best and most expensive gifts for Pants.

The diva wanted her picture taken today. I love that curious little face.

The new internet was set up without problem. We also had a new data outlet installed and that went well too, which I thought was unusual. Something always goes wrong no matter what I have set up. After the technician left, I even mentioned to hubs that it was weird it went so smoothly.

After our internet provider was switched, I headed back to Fleet Feet and went through the same process I did a month ago. I had my gait analyzed and ran in a bunch of different shoes. The lady that helped me this time told me that the shoes I bought probably have too much stability. She also really reminded me of Marnie from True Blood last season.

So Marnie recommended ones with minimal stability, which I thought was what I had already with the Brooks, and said I should stick with the inserts. She also told me my calves are super tight, which I knew. I’m just too lazy to move from the couch to the floor to foam roll them most of the time. This time around, my feet chose the Nike SuperFug Lunarglide 3.

I’ve always wanted my size 10 boat feet to be the absolute center of attention and now they can be! I haven’t ran in Nike’s in years, so we’ll see how these go. They were over $30 cheaper so I got some money back, which was nice since I’m going to look like an moron in these.

Oh, and as I’m writing this blog post, our internet is running at dial-up speed. The guy gave us the wrong modem and they need to come back out. Yeah. That sounds about right.