Rubbin is Racin!

On Sunday I went out for my long run as normal. I am getting better each week, so I hope that by March I can kick butt on my half marathon I am planning on running. My goal was to run 8 miles that afternoon. While driving home from church, I came up with a great idea for my route, something new and something that seemed really far! Only problem was that when I started running it, it was much shorter than I had hope, it was only about 6.5 miles, so that means I had to adjust it. Here is a map of what the run looked like:

I know it is hard to read, because it is very small, but the point I was trying to make is that I ended up having to run a lot of repeat paths to get to 8 miles. I took some short streets and had to double back, I took turns I did not want to take, I had to follow the curves on the streets, which meant running half circles instead of running at angles. It wasn't very fun and it was tough to stay in pace.

At around mile 4 I noticed that I was getting that old feeling of a blister coming on. You know what I am talking about, that rubbing, burning feeling you get while out running, usually from running in a new pair of shoes. I kept on plowing on. Iwas running sockless, which is something I have not had any trouble with all year! It was warm enough in Memphis to still run sock less (74 degrees), so I thought why not! well check it out:

Now the cut on the foot is not as bad as the picture may look, it looks swollen, but that is just from the angle of the cellphone camera, and the cut it tiny compared to the picture, it just looks huge! The blood stain on the shoe is very cool to me in a disturbing yet proud way!

Anyways, I managed to run through the pain, and I finished my 8 miles in 1:15. I still need to add on 5 miles to that run, but I figure I can do that in 3 months time! I am just working on building my vase, then I can try and speed it up!

It's gotta be the Shoes, Money!

Well, I made another discovery tonight while running. Jake had basketball practice, so I thought this is a great time to squeeze in a 3 mile run while he practices and I can still watch the practice (BBC has an indoor track). So I took off running, had a little concern about the feet, cause they have been a little sore, but after the first mile, I felt great. After mile 2, nothing noticeable. Mile 3, awesome.

Then it hit me. I had on different shoes. I wore my Asics to run in tonight, instead of my Nikes I have been using the last year or so. I still used my orthotics, but the feet felt good.

So, that made me think, how many miles are on those Nikes. One of the features on BT.com is call ed equipment tracker. All you do is add your equipment (shoes, bikes, goggles, swimsuit, etc...) and then you check it off when you log a workout and it will tell you how many miles you have used your equipment. So I checked on my Nikes.

I have 256 miles on those pair of shoes. Now most runners will debate on how many miles a pair of shoes can handle, but I have always gone with the 200-300 miles, especially since I have "foot issues".

So I write this to say, if you are having issues while running, check the shoes money!