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For the runner, who's not a runner, but is trying to be a runner...

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Whole Foods Thanksgiving Samples

Ladies and gentlemen,

Last Friday, my wife and I went to whole foods to buy some ingredients for a small dinner party we were throwing. Much to my delight, it was Whole Foods Thanksgiving Sample day! DOUBLE RAINBOW, ALL THE WAY! What does this mean?

It means there is such thing as "free lunch." And I had it. Turkey with two kinds of gravy, delicious stuffing, creamed spinach, sweet potato puree, apple pie (there were more things to try, but I decided to be half hog instead of being a whole hog).

But it also means that the Turkey Trot 5k is right around the corner. So I figured I'd share my running schedule with you for the next week in anticipation of the race.

Wednesday: No run (practicum and class)
Thursday: Afternoon 3 miles
Friday: 6 miles
Saturday: 3 miles
Sunday morning: 3 miles
Monday: No run (practicum and class)
Tuesday: No run (class all day)
Wednesday: Morning 3 miles
Thursday: Race (5k)

I don't have a choice about the schedule...sadly when I'm in class, I'm in class. BUT I think this will work well because I'll have a chance to exhaust my legs, then rest them. And the Wednesday run next week is especially important so I'm not running the race on overly rested muscles.

Friday, November 12, 2010

My Trip to Marathon Sports (Part II)

I asked Marathon Sports Anthony how often we should change our running shoes and he informed me that conventional wisdom on the subject suggests we should toss them between 300-500 miles. I did the math and had put about 425 miles on the orange "Inspires." If you're wondering if it's time to swap out the shoes, Anthony told me you kind of have to "feel it," but a surefire sign that you need to replace your shoes is if they are cracking along the outside of the cushioning at the bottom.

Here is an article with more info on the subject.

www.sportsmedicine.about.com/od/tipsandtricks/a/replaceshoes.htm

One final recommendation about your new shoes-- if you consider yourself flatfooted or if you have a history of running related injuries, check out "superfeet." For all the money that running shoes cost, they come with almost no internal padding for your feet. It's like buying a winter coat that has no insulation. But for 30 bucks, you can buy an insole that will help with the pounding your bones take on each and every running step.

Though you won't be "gellin' like a felon named Magellan," you will be doing the running equivalent.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

My Trip to Marathon Sports (Part I)







Today, I went with my brother-in-law J to Marathon Sports to get a new pair of running sneakers. This was my first purchase at Marathon Sports, and I expected that the experience would mimic my trip to Jack Rabbit in New York. Truth be told, they were quite different, but the results were close to the same. I bought a pair of Mizuno Inspire...except mine are blue. I tried on a pair of similar Sauconys and Brooks. I probably would have been happy with any of the three, but stuck with Mizuno because the last pair worked well for me. Plus Mizunos fit my foot shape just slightly better. I think Brooks are for a thinner foot than mine.

I worked with a guy named Anthony, and he seemed to know his stuff. He took me outside and had me run in all three pairs of shoes in order to see how my feet pronate. As I knew from my last experience, my right foot pronates more than my left, which requires me to have a more supportive shoe. But because my left foot is normal, I want a shoe that is supportive, but not overly supportive. This cheesy video explains pronation. It's helpful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h0BrkOeFbk

Marathon Sports has a fine selection of shoes and expert advice. The main difference between Marathon Sports and Jack Rabbit is that Jack Rabbit actually films your feet while you're on a treadmill in order to diagnose your pronation. While I trust that the experts at Marathon Sports know what they're doing, I think it's easier to walk out of Jack Rabbit with an understanding of why you bought the shoes that you did.

I don't give too much advice on this blog, but this is one of the times that I'm gonna. So suck it up.

I wish that I had gone to one of these stores a LONG time ago. If you don't have a professional look at your pronation style, you're way more likely to get injured and not understand why. I've learned that I need a light weight, supportive shoe. If I don't have that, my right ankle will get injured, which leads to knee and hip tightness-- basically old man syndrome. For others, the wrong pair of shoes can lead to shin splints or even stress fractures. The mind blowing part? After you get your style checked out, you'll probably buy a cheaper shoe.

Stay tuned for Part II tomorrow when I'm going to talk about insoles (Oooo La La!) and my first run in my new shoes.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Long Runs, Future Posts, and New Shoes...OH MY

A couple of you seemed confused-- I did not run the marathon yesterday-- my entry is for the NYC 2011 Marathon. Road Runners (the NYC nonprofit that organizes the event) makes you run 9 races to get automatic entry into the FOLLOWING year's marathon. So I'm in, but not until 2011. When I run this thing-- you will know. Hopefully, you will be out there to watch.

That said, I did do my first long run in a while this past weekend. I ran 7.5 miles around Lexington (in giant figure eights). At this point, I think it's official that I'm slightly banged up: my right achilles tendon gets a bit tight when I'm running and I feel it on stairs. Historically, all of my longer term injuries start with that one, because I compensate with the rest of my legs. I'm not sure what caused the tightness, but I did do the math and realized I put 400 miles on these "new" shoes. That means, it's time to retire them. Shocking.

I've spoken to a few of you about this blog and what types of posts you enjoy reading most. I had a couple of requests for more discussion of "gear" and the process of going to buy new shoes. As a result, I'm going to incorporate pictures onto the blog for the first time and do a photo documentation of my coming trip to Marathon Sports. I'm pretty sure I'm just going to buy the same shoe again-- it really worked for me. But for the sake of entertainment, I'll let them give me a couple test drives.

For those of you who did run the NYC Marathon yesterday-- congratulations! I hope your recovery is smooth and quick.

T-365 days.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Running is my Yoga

Yesterday, I submitted an application for an apartment in Jamaica Plain. Gentlemen, picking an apartment for you and your wife without her there is high pressure. I don't recommend it. But I remembered to look for closet space, so 10 points for me.

Jamaica Plain should be the best of both worlds for the 2 of us. I'll have lots of great running spaces and G will be surrounded by the Vegeletariet (voting block of vegetarians). I see JP as Boston's Hippieviille. Actually, more luck Hippie-Yuppie-ville. JP is for the Hippies and Yuppies who think and act like they're Hippies. It's AWESOME.

It shouldn't be too hard for G (G is my wife) to find yoga nearby. She got into Yoga at the same time that I started running. I venture to say it has changed her life. Go look this one up on google images-- it's only a matter of time before she's in the Scorpion pose. She can already do a headstand. BADASS. Meanwhile, I can ALMOST touch my toes.

It's kind of a running joke that I won't ever try yoga. But I'm finding my own ways to meditate while running. Since the move to Boston in August, I have not once run to music. I've been running to the beat of my own drum. What I've noticed is without musical distraction, running provides the best time to step back and evaluate what's on your mind. I'm embarrased to admit that during roughly half of my runs, I'm thinking about sports, sports news, fantasy sports, fantasy sports news...sigh. I need to get a life.

Fair warning-- the next paragraph of this post is nacho cheesy.

But recently, I've been thinking a lot about G. She's a trooper. She's the one who got me into this running thing in the first place. A year ago, G is the one who reminded me how much I liked training for the 2006 Brooklyn Half Marathon. And then she reminded me again. And when my initiative for signing up for the first race was roughly equal to my initiative for cleaning the bathroom, she's the one who went on the website with me and made me do it. She's the one who came out in the middle of a sub zero January race to cheer me on (though we didn't see each other at the finish line). The New York City Marathon is on Sunday. One year for Sunday (knock on wood), I will run this race for me. But I would not be there if it wasn't for her.