Monday, December 19, 2011

The Ugly

The worst thing about running in races is the race photography. Swear, eight of the nine races I've done have had professional photography, and there isn't a good photo out of ANY of them. I always look like I want to die. I'm lucky that no one caught a picture of me at a moment of extreme disgustingness during the Cinci Half - I finished a Chocolate Gu and then had to blow my nose. I used my sleeve to blow my nose, and then ended up having to spit the fuzz out. When I spit, a long disgusting string of slimy chocolate-colored saliva ended up all over my pants. Totally nasty.

This is about how I felt.



The worst was probably when I saw myself on video during the interview I did for the Pig last spring. I wanted to crawl into a hole. I like to imagine myself as graceful. I've mentioned my Running Buddy's Gazelle mantra before - some people can totally pull it off and look like a true athlete when they run.

Me? Well, this about sums it up.


Thursday, December 8, 2011

Major Shoe Fail

So, remember how excited I was to take the next step toward minimalist running? And how excited I was about the New Balance Minimus shoes that I was going to transition to after Air Force? Well, I finally pulled them out and took them for a spin. The result? Well, it was less than winning. In fact, it was brutally painful. Literally.




That's not decorative trim, it's blood. I noticed the rubbing on my heel about a mile into what should have been a 5-mile run. By the time I hit the 2-mile mark, the slight irritation had turned to full on skin-shredding. Ow!

I went home and gingerly removed the offenders. I couldn't bear to leave the run unfinished, so I threw on my trusty old Kinvaras and hit the pavement again. Fortunately, the profile on the Kinvaras is much lower, so there was no further damage. Unfortunately, I got blood on my Kinvaras, too :(


The culprit was a stupid seam on the inside of the heel.



It's raised, and in just the right place to catch your heel with every step. Husband was convinced I was just unlucky, until he took his out for a mile and had the same problem. Sad face, I really wanted to love these shoes.

The shoes went back. It's nice to have a local running store who really wants you to run your best - they took them back and helped me pick another pair to meet my needs. Thanks, Running Spot!

So what did I get? I'll save that for another post. It's been too long, anyway.