For the love of...SNEAKERS!

I own lots of sneakers.

Somewhere in my thick noggin' I think I will one day come across a pair of sneakers that will magically make me fast. This will be my fourth year "running" which means it's also my fourth year buying sneakers. Saucony, Asics, Adidas, Nike, Mizuno, and Newtons. I've seriously also considered Vibram 5 Fingers but I just couldn't do it.

So this time around, I went to The Sneaker Factory armed with my history of sneakers and likes/dislikes of each. After actually listening to me, the guy came out with 3 different pairs of sneakers. The second I slid my foot into the new Asics Gel Neo33 - I knew I had found my sneaker. They are so fancy - all black with purple and lime green accents. Love!

However, I got my hands on a pair of $185 Newtons. Well, I didn't really. My mom - the other sneaker junkie - did. We took a ride to the Jersey Shore Marathon Expo since you can usually get some goods for cheap - headbands, socks, etc. Road Runner Sports had a big booth where ALL sneakers were $50 but if you bought three pairs they were $40 each. My mom can't pass up a deal...AND they had her regular sneakers so she was able to get herself another back up pair. And she grabbed the Newtons for a "What the Hell" experience.

So on one of our runs we warmed up for a mile and then she switched into the Newton's for the 2nd mile and then back to her regular sneakers. She liked them enough.

Saturdays run was my turn to give them a try. About a mile warm up in my Asics and then on went the Newtons. I like them. Lots. Like maybe love. It makes taking walk breaks a little difficult but I didn't feel the need to take as many walk breaks. I will say this though - I am a moderate heel striker regardless of what shoe I put on. My mom is sitting there going, "You CAN'T heel strike in them. They are designed to prevent that!" And then me, "Ma, I'm telling you, my heel WANTS to heel strike. A little wedge on the ball of my foot isn't going to win this battle!"
Yet the heel strike just didn't seem as harsh. I was also prepared for some sore calves the following day but that never happened! I'm going to try them a few times here & there to see how they feel.

Happy Momma's Day

To kick off the day, my mom and I ventured to Central Park to run our 2nd Japan Day four miler.
4:15am wake up, enough coffee to feel human and an easy train ride in turned bad when my digestive track decided today would be the day to go bonkers. This is not fair. I was really looking forward to running a good race and feeling a sense of accomplishment with an improved finish time. By the time I got to Penn Station and had to power walk to the bathroom I was confident that today wasn't going to be my day for running.
TWO Immodium and 3 port-a-potty visits before the race start. Not good. I completed the race but I wound up having to power walk 99% of it. The running movement jostled my insides too much and had me hunting and whimpering for a potty. I considered quitting but 1) I want the damn race credit and 2) I would still have to get all the way to the finish line to get back on the subway so...I walked it. I finished. My time turned out to not be all that bad anyway so I'll deal with it.
It's a beautiful day so I'm not going to let a little poop ruin it - that's for sure!