It's cold here in SE Texas. "Cold," meaning it's 40 degrees or so.
I've been cold all day long -- in my office, in the restaurant where I went to lunch, in the band hall while I was waiting during Kyle's trombone lessons. The thought of actually RUNNING in this weather seemed to be more than I could bear.
But I needed this run today. Needed it. I have been in a crappy mood all day for no particular reason and I needed to run.
So after I fed the kids, I started layering. I had on my new Under Armour running tights (I am an affront to humanity in them, but they are comfy and warm), a long-sleeved shirt, a short-sleeved shirt, a Nike Dri-Fit hoodie and an A&M sweatshirt, then a hat and gloves.
About half of that was unnecessary. I dumped the hat after the first half-mile, and wanted to dump the sweatshirt. But with all the layers and my Ipod in the armband and all that, it was more trouble than it was worth.
I will remember this tomorrow night, dress in less layers and freeze my ass off.
'Cause that's how my life goes.
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My running shoes are dead. As I was tying them this evening, I noticed a hole in the upper, probably where my big toe rubs against them.
They were just getting good and broken in, too.
Back a few years ago when I was running, I replaced my shoes every three months. I was tallying up a lot of mileage and that was the "rule."
In the interim, I read "Born to Run" by Christopher Macdougall. He discusses that all the padding and stuff in the modern running shoe actually does our feet more harm than good, and that at the point where we toss the running shoes is likely just when they're the best for our feet.
I had planned on keeping these shoes for as long as possible, and apparently six months is that.
Sigh.
I think Macdougall is full of it. I started running three years ago and the pain in my knees was incredible, just searing, not to mention debilitating. I was wearing a pair of Adidas shoes that Pam had brought from work. I went to FleetFeet and they had me run up and down the sidewalk for about 30 seconds then told me to buy a pair of Asics (under $100 too). I literally limped into the store and walked out. I quit running soon after because I was just too fat to do it, but I still have the shoes. I'm getting close to running weight and I'll have to buy new shoes.
ReplyDeleteI went to less structured, less padded shoes for running and I love them. It was an adjustment because my feet were used to being straight-jacketed into shoes, but after a week or so, they got used to them. Read the book; it's very convincing. He doesn't just come up with this on his own. There are tons of studies and he actually goes to where the Tarahumara -- the best runners in the world -- live. There's also a good anecdote about how in the early days, Nike provided an early pair of running shoes to the Oregon track team. They came back a couple of months later and the team was back to wearing their old shoes. The Nike guy asked why and the track coach said that they had never had any problems with plantar fasciitis or those types of injuries until they started wearing the Nikes.
ReplyDeleteThat was, of course, before they sold their soul for ugly football uniforms.