Tender Tootsies

One of the great things about working at a running shop is that sometimes, I get free stuff.  As an "athlete", it's awesome, because I go through gear, especially shoes, pretty quickly. 

Last year, I got a pair of Saucony Triumphs because of a selling competition, which were awesome.  I loved those shoes, even though I'm a Mizuno girl normally.  I just really liked them.  Saucony is known for changing their shoes, and this year's triumphs are quite different, and not really my cup of tea, so unfortunately, the relationship between me and the triumphs is over.  At the staff christmas party this year, I got a free pair of Asics Nimbus, which I was was stoked about since they're pretty pricey shoes, and I love them every time I wear them around the store.  (Another great thing about working at a running shop, I can wear different shoes around while I'm on shift to test them out, see how they fit, check for different aspects of them etc. which helps me when customers come in for specific complaints or requests).  I was saving those shiny new asics in the back of my closet for when my triumphs bit the dust.  A couple of weeks ago, I decided that it was time to bust em' out, and even though I know better, I took them out on a 16 km run.  I know you really aren't supposed to wear new shoes on a long run, but since they were free, it wasn't like I was going to return them, so why not take the plunge and just go.  They felt really good, except the ball of my right foot felt a little tender near the end.  I haven't felt that since I ran my first half in Vermont.  I remember near the end of the race feeling like the balls of my feet were raw.  I kind of put that feeling in the back of my mind, and persevered through a few more runs.  Last week in Maui I went on an 18km run (which was more of a 16km run in the end, oops) and again, I got that tenderness, this time in BOTH feet.  I brought it a little more forward in my mind, taking note of distance, terrain, and socks.  (I wore different socks on purpose, thinking perhaps it was that, not the shoes).  I also have been running on my forefoot, so I thought maybe just high mileage combined with forefoot running was just making my feet tender.

This Sunday, I went on a real 18km run, and the balls of both feet were BURNING after about 8 km.  Man o man I wanted to saw off my feet and just clomp the last kms out.  (a little drastic, I know).  I felt as though I had been running on cheese graters, and they felt just raw raw raw.  I knew it had to be the shoes, and while I was wallowing in pain around the bow river, I remembered that I was wearing asics shoes when I ran the vermont half and felt the rawness.  Not the same model mind you, because I couldn't afford the nimbus then, but still, the same brand.  I decided to pop into the shop on my way home (which is conveniently a block from my house) and ask my manager what he thought.  He immediately said "they're too wide and your feet are moving around too much".  Funny, I felt tonnes of movement every time I ran in them, I just didn't really think much of it.  He said compared to my Mizuno wave riders, these were WAY wider.  Lucky for me, I can make due with the other three pairs I have kicking around until the mother's days sale in May, when I can buy a new pair of riders.  Or maybe something else!  Who knows.  (Funny side note, my feet were so swollen after the run, I tried to put on my Mizuno wave riders and they didn't even fit!  Yikes!)

Something else I noted after my long run on Sunday is that because of running mid to fore foot, my body is much less stiff.  This time last year, I had a hard time walking up and down stairs, and felt stiff and sore all the time.  This year after changing my running style, I'm fine!  I have stiff calves from time to time, and sure I feel fatigued on Sundays, but comparatively, it's like night and day!  This also could have something to do with my skipping runs left right and centre, but lets just say it is from running style, ok??

Last night I went to the swim conditioning class at Killarney pool for the first time in probably 8 months.  I have been swimming, but not as much as I probably should be, so I was a little worried about the class.  Normally, I'm the slow one in this class for sure.  When the class started, right away I moved one lane faster because I could just tell I was faster than the people in the slow lane.  After one lane, I was told by the instructor to move to the faster one again!  I stayed in that lane for the whole class, but I was the fastest in it!  Just to be clear, I really don't care if I'm faster than people, but this was a great reinforcement to me that my swimming is improving, and that my work is paying off.  It feels good to have people say "oh you go ahead" when we're at the end of the pool.  Anyway, I was really happy with the way I was swimming and it felt awesome to see improvement.

That's that!

Shoes!

I got new shoes! How fun!

My knees and shins have really been bothering me lately. So much that I have not been running at all because of the pain. It's not great. So I decided I should stop wearing flip flops around and heels at work. I got some new shoes with better support, and I'm going to see if maybe I need orthotics. I went to Gravity Pope to find something great, and they had a buy two sale items get one free sale. How often does that happen? Free shoes? Anyway enough talk, I'll show you the shoes!

First, some simple shoes. I dig em.

Second, some pumas. They're mostly like this but where the picture has grey, mine are black.

Thirdly, some birkenstocks. They're this style but a silver/white/grey colour.

I feel like a rock star kind of. I mean, how often do you get THREE pairs of shoes in ONE day. Bliss.

And all in all it was under 200$. Fabulous. My mum was going to get me some birks for my birthday, so I was trying to get something different, but since there were so many sales, there weren't a lot of shoes left in my size. In the end I didn't have much choice in the last pair. Either way, they were free, so I couldn't really go wrong.

Shoes!!

I moved!

It went really well. I packed EVERYTHING before moving day, so when it came time to pack up the truck, it took no time at all. The time consuming part was the putting away in the new place. I had lots of help but it still took forever. The new place has significantly less space to put things, so we're still trying to figure out where everything needs to go. It will come, eventually.

I need to upload some pictures of the hair. I haven't done that yet.


I just got a new (and FREE!) blackberry pearl and it's a little bit confusing to figure out, but I'm getting there. First thing was first though, and Matt got me two (FREE!) ringtones, so when he calls me is MIA paper planes and when anyone else calls me is that song by Estelle featuring Kanye West that I really like. It has a cool black and white video and it makes me dance a little bit.

My first Stampede as a volunteer came and went. I had fun and wore cowboy boots and a hat every shift I had. About five people came up and asked when I was in the Stampede Show Band because my cowboy boots, which are the red uniform boots that I conveniently forgot to give back when I left the band. I was only in the band for a couple of months, but I never gave back the uniform and they never asked for it, and now they have a new one so they don't care. The first time I wore them I told Matt that I bet people will know that I have stolen Stampede Band boots, and he laughed at me and told me that NO ONE would ever know, so it made me laugh every time someone recognized them.

It was my sister's birthday on the 11th and I didn't even post a happy birthday post. I am a horrible sister. I just had so much going on, though that is no real excuse. I post happy birthday's to so many other people and I didn't even give one to her. I did call her and sing happy birthday when she was at work, so it's not like I forgot it was her birthday, I just forgot in the blogging world. I'm sorry Kristen. Do you forgive me? She told me I could get her a spread the net net as a present, but I feel like as much as it's a good cause, it's a smidge boring for a BIRTHDAY present. Maybe I can get a net plus something else. Now don't go judging me for not having already gotten her a present. I wanted to know what she wanted, and since I was moving it all just got delayed. (Is "not having already gotten" right? Maybe "having not already gotten" is better? I think the second one sounds better.)

After having so much time off for moving and Stampede I now have to work a bunch. It's a tough life, only having to work half the month. I don't know how I'll ever go to having a real job where I have to work EVERY week day, ALL day. Barf.

I think I need to attempt to get back to a real schedule by going to bed. I've been working red eyes to and from Montreal and Calgary for the last four days. Working all night and sleeping all day gets normal after a day or two, but now that I'm finished, I'm all mixed up. I've only been awake for about 9 hours but it's already 2:00am and if I want to actually DO something tomorrow I should probably try to force the sleep thing. I need to find a little tiny book reading light so that I can read in bed without bugging Matt. On an unrelated note, does anyone know if dry cleaners give away hangers for free? We are in desperate need of more hangers.

Leaving, on a jet plane

Not that this is unusual for me, since I regularly leave the city and it's generally on a plane. I'm leaving tomorrow and stay in Montreal two nights and Winnipeg one night. Unfortunately, Vanessa is making a trip out there on Thursday, the day AFTER I'm there... and even though I'm there twice, Tuesday and Wednesday aren't generally huge nights out, even in the party city of Montreal. I'll see some friends and chill out, which is probably a good idea since I had a pretty rough weekend.

Today I spent all day at the mall looking for shoes, either runners that I would wear out when I'm away, or work shoes that I'd wear out when I'm away. I can't afford the space in my suitcase to bring both work-out shoes and regular wear shoes... After MUCH looking I found a pair of Pumas that will hopefully cut it for working out. I'm not a polished black shoes with jeans kind of girl, and I couldn't find ANY black work shoes that I would wear just casually. So hopefully these will work for me. If not, I'll be mad I spent money on another pair of shoes since I have about a bazillion.

That's all I got. Sorry.