Sisterly Visit

Ok, sorry for the delay. I may not be right on top of getting the blog entries up in a timely fashion, but at least I have not been slacking in my training. I have now completed a 12-mile week. Next week will be a 13-mile week. Not bad for having only started back in January.

First things first, last weekend my sister came to visit. During her visit, my wife and I went to OKC and got ourselves some new running shoes. We went to a store called The Runner. They measured our feet, watched us do some walking in the store to see how our feet work, and then gave us some shoes to try on. For me, because I have a wide foot, they only had two styles in stock, a pair of New Balance (I don't recall the model number) and a pair of ASICS Gel Fortitude 2. They had me put on one shoe of the New Balance and one of the ASICS and let me go for a run out of the store. Let me say this blew me away. After living in Connecticut for ten years, I can tell you they never would have let you run out of a store with new, unpaid sneakers on your feet. I ran to the end of the parking lot and then returned to the store. The salesman asked me what felt better. It was tough for me to answer because I have been a long standing New Balance person and I had to swallow my pride and go against that. I told him the ASICS were better. So, he gave me the other ASICS shoe and had me put that on and go for another run. Once again, I ran out the door and down to the end of the parking lot and back. I was happy with this pair. My decision was pretty easy, unlike my wife, whom had to try out I think four pairs.

In New Balance I have always worn size 10-4E. In the new ASICS I am wearing a size 11. Also, when I asked about wether I overpronate or over supinate I was told that I do pronate, but not severly like my wife and other family relatives do. My arches I was told are about normal.

While my wife continued to work on her selection of shoes I explored the rest of the store. I picked up a two pair of running shorts that had an internal lining to replace the need to wear underwear. This was important because I can tell you that running in boxer shorts is not fun. Hey, if my sisters and wife can talk about their sports bras in their blogs it is only fair for me to mention my underthings. I had been on a search to find some boxer briefs I could wear, but I came across these shorts first. Along with the running shorts, I also found a pair of running pants. In addition, I also decided to pick up an experimental pair of Injinji Socks. Injinji socks are unique in that they have seperate compartments for your toes. They are like a glove for your feet as opposed to the mitten-style of a typical tube/crew sock. I had read about them in this months edition of Runner's World magazine in an article reviewing the top 10 running socks.

My most expensive purchase however was the GARMIN 205. The GARMIN 205 is a runner's watch equipped with GPS navigation. The watch will keep track of my running time, pace, calories burned, and not only the distance I have traveled, but where I have traveled through the GPS. A benefit to the watch is that at the end of a run, I can download the information from the watch to my computer and analyze the run, including cross-referencing it with past runs. This was a purchase I am finding was definitely well worth the expense.

With my new purchases in hand and my wife having hers we set out to find her an my sister some new sports bras, but you will have to check out their blogs for those details because I stayed out in the car reading up on the GARMIN while they did that shopping. Later in the day I did pick up some boxer briefs so I may give them a shot and won't always have to do laundry everyday or wear dirty running clothes. We also made a stop at Barnes & Nobles where I picked up a few books: The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer; The Courage to Start; and 4 Months to a 4-Hour Marathon. While shopping at B&N I wore my new ASICS around the store to begin breaking them in before my first run with them.

The next day, last Sunday, it was time to put things into circulation and see how everything comes together. First, my sister had me eat a PowerBar about fifteen minutes before we made our way to the local high school track. At the track, with my new ASICS, running shorts, running pants and GARMIN on I did my long run of four miles for the week. This was the first time, with the help of GARMIN, I had a time for a 5k. I did the 5k in 48:20. Altogether, I did my four miles in 1:01:15. Being on the track provided me the first time that I had easily recognizable distance references during my run/walk. I also took this opportunity to actually do some running. Following a 1-mile warmup walk I introduced the running into my workout. I would run a quarter of the track, walk a quarter, run the next quarter and then walk the last quarter to complete a lap. I did this twice and then followed it up with a full lap of walking. The next four laps I would run half the track, walk a quarter, run another half lap, walk another quarter and repeat until I had completed four laps. I then finished my workout walking until the final 100-meters when my sister was supporting me to "finish strong." Hearing her voice I kicked it up into a comfortable run until I crossed the four-mile mark and did two walking laps for cooldown.

Upon returning home I loaded the run into my computer from GARMIN and it was really cool to see the run in graphical form. I could see where I picked up speed and where I slowed down. I also could see that my stability in pacing needs some work. My overall pace was good, but throughout my workout my pace fluctuated up and down drastically. Despite the fluctuation in pace, I felt great. My new shoes felt great. And I was excited to get back out there for my next run.