I'm A Princess... Cinderella To Be Exact

Last week my post was about the death of my shoes!

As I wrote, I thought about all of the shoes I have gone through in the past.

I have run for pretty much my whole life and had never cared about shoes (or watches, or workout clothes).  I'd just run, no need for fancy things.

I used to run in NB shoes, I don't even know if they were running shoes.  And for the longest time ran in these Nike shoes.

It makes me laugh now, because now I know that shoe is so wrong for my foot!  It is such a narrow shoe and my feet are not narrow, especially in the toe box.  Whatevs, I just ran...

Over these past 7ish years I have learned more, experienced more and tried more as I have run even more.

The more involved and experienced in running/racing I have become, the more I've become a shoe princess!

Cinderella to be exact! 

I need my glass slipper please!  

I just need the one and only shoe that seems to fit me right!  

There is no need to try a bunch of different things.  I know this shoe works!

Last year I seriously bought 5 pairs of shoes in the spring.  I had a nasty calf injury and was sure it was shoe related.  (My shoes were dead!)  I should have just bought my shoe and taken it easy for a bit.

Nope, I tried a bunch of different shoes! 

I now have an Altra running shoe, 2 different models of Saucony, then ended up going back to my regular Kinvara (3 and 4).

After running in just about everything nothing felt good to me anymore!  

I'd spend a good 5 minutes prior to every run adjusting laces and the tongue, my socks...

Blehhh!  My leg finally calmed down and I continue to run in Saucony - Kinvara.

I don't know why I tried anything different!  

Isn't that funny?  I have not had success changing shoes.  I even hesitate to switch from Kivara 3 to 4 and now to 5!  Each of them is a little different.  In fact they still carry the 3 and it costs just as much as the 5.  It was a good model!

Here are my new shoes!  Kinvara 5.  Man it feels like running on clouds!  Last week, and this, have been fab!  The position of the laces and the extra padding on the tongue feel good to me.  

I am super happy.  I can get out of my bed in the morning without wincing (achillies) and my calves are no longer sore.  It's like magic!

Here is what last week looked like for me.

I rested Thursday.

Friday I had some serious GI issues.  It really threw off my game!  I was going to go farther, but just could not!  I felt sick for much of the day.

Because of that feeling I chose to stay around the house for my long run on Saturday.

I started off easy, then started to pick up my pace.  Just around that time I ran into my old friend Nancy.  It has been SO long since we've seen each other and even longer since we've run together.  I slowed down and ran with her for a couple of miles.

circa 2005

I couldn't seem to get my pace back... and I had to stop at CVS to use the restroom!

I stopped at the house and asked M to ride his bike with me as I ran the last few miles.

I didn't fuel, and only had G-rade at mile 8.  I didn't want to irritate anything more than it already was.

I don't love my time.  I'm feeling like this half marathon next week will be one of my slowest half marathon times.  

I'm trying to keep a healthy perspective while also trying to make up lost training efforts and time.

Are you a princess when it comes to shoes?

What shoe do you prefer?