I'll never have to number my shoes again!

Seriously, how awesome would that be to never have to keep track of pairs of identical pairs of shoes in rotation by marking them in some way? At one time I think I had 3 pair of my NB 902s going at once. And because they aren't a white shoe they never really look all that different from fresh-out-of-the-box to ready-for-retirement a few hundred miles later.

One of the colorways (those gorgeous, garish blue ones) of the women's Nike Lunarglide+ went on sale via Nike's online store this AM...so, of course (duh!), I pulled the trigger. If I love them I will let RRS fulfill my pre-order when they get them in early next month. If I don't like them I will just cancel that order.

But I hope I will like them. Sure would be nice to not have to ration those remaining 3 pair of NB 903s...a shoe I don't even love, but about the only shoe I've tried in the past year that fits my foot well enough for distances beyond 8 miles. That seems to be my limit for shoes that are not a really good fit in terms of upper or support under my foot.

I read somewhere that Nike planned to put out 4-5 different colors of the shoe (not including those custom NikeID models that a person can order for extra $$). I found a few versions online. Not sure if these are all planned for US production or if some are only for overseas markets. Those insane purple ones were on a Japanese site:

I could run for an entire year (easily) without having to repeat colors--and by then Nike would surely come out with the Lunarglide+ 2. Those orange and pink ones are so sweet...I have a running skirt that those would match perfectly (though I hope to lose enough weight so that the skirt no longer fits...unfortunately it's not a color combo that RunningSkirts.com carries in their line-up anymore). I would wear any of those colors...I may not be fast, but at least I can blind the competition!

Is it fate?

I have been pretty disenchanted with every danged shoe I have tried since my beloved NB 902s were discontinued over a year ago. My very last pair only has about 20 miles of life left in them, so they are no longer used for anything more than 4-5 milers.

I wore their replacement (903) for the Bayshore Marathon back in May, but do not love this shoe. The fit is not bad, per se, but it's...weird. It's kind of tall in the toebox and feels floppy, even though it is neither too long or too wide. But I know a shoe is not perfect when it is noticeable on my foot. 26.2 miles of noticing one's footwear is a long time to be mildly annoyed. My feet didn't cramp during the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon in my 902s (even when everything else was), but they did in my 903s. I always feel a little like my feet are working to stabilize the shoe on my foot...like my toes are curling. I know others found this shoe to not fit as well as its predecessor, too.

And the replacement of the 903, the 904 (yeah, needless to say...NB cannot leave well enough alone, it seems) is just plan a bad bad bad shoe for me. Poor fit and feet screaming by 9 miles into a long run. Not good. Can't even think about that shoe for a half marathon, much less the full.

My Mizuno Elixirs are an OK shoe, but a bit firmer than I like, a hair too narrow (I get blisters between my toes on longer runs, even with BlisterShield powder in my socks), and the damned forefoot dots that make up the outersole are nearly worn away to the white midsole in a couple of spots--cripes, the shoes only have 80 miles on them. Even if I loved the shoe I'm not sure I could justify dropping $90 on them every 150 miles (when I am guessing the dots will be gone enough to hamper wet traction). I would be buying a new pair every month at that rate (just ran that mileage this past month, and this was not a high mileage month for me).

So I pre-ordered a pair of the upcoming Nike Lunarglide+ based upon descriptions that have it sounding like exactly the shoe I need (of course, the ultimate factors will be fit and function, but it sounds like it might actually work well for duck feet from what people who have tried them on are saying, heh). The shoe is not due to ship from US stores until early Aug., but the men's version is already shipping directly from Nike.

The color Nike was showing for women (when it becomes available) had been the white + orange midsole. Kinda cool...for a white shoe. This is the color I had pre-ordered from Road Runner Sports, but if they become available from Nike before that I may order a pair sooner, then decide whether or not to cancel the RRS order.

Anyhow...tonite I was checking Nike.com to see if the shoe is yet available for women and I saw this...

The resemblance between that shoe and my pretty 902s is striking, wouldn't you agree? Like they could be bright blue siblings. Oh, I really hope this is the case. Perhaps I am just destined to always be happy in blue shoes.

I'll probably order the white/orange as my trial pair, then if I like them go for the blue. My first marathon was run in blue shoes...perhaps that should be my signature race shoe color. Some people have lucky socks or a specific shirt they always wear for races. Maybe I should just stick to a lucky shoe color. It makes it easier for my fans to find me on the course, too. How many (slow) people wear bright blue shoes?

Cool, glorious cool!

Wow, what a difference 30º makes! A week ago I was slogging my way through runs in near 90º heat, but today it was a maximum of 60 cool, damp, breezy, overcast degrees...ahhh...running Nirvana! 8 miles felt nearly effortless...had to rein it in a bit, since today was a scheduled easy run. I will do a 6 mile tempo on Saturday before heading over to my MIL's for 4th of July festivities.

Today's run was otherwise quite ordinary. Though I did encounter a skinny, young, fast runner who I have seen a few times in the past couple of weeks while running and driving through the adjacent town. She is one of those runners who LOOKS like a runner (as opposed to me...I look more like a busty couch potato, regardless of what my running log displays. In my dreams I am built like that). Her build and gait remind me a lot of my HS classmate who has run in the last 2 Olympic marathon trials -- smallish, leggy, lean, efficient. *sigh* What I wouldn't give to look and run like that. I could lose 30#s and still not run that well (damned short legs and oversized hooters). My ancestors (Vikings) swung clubs and axes, raped, pillaged, burned villages...didn't need to run fast, since we had superior weapons and trans-water transportation skills.

This gal came up onto the paved rail trail off of a little side path from out of the woods. After that I only saw her back. Maybe a mile-and-a-half later she was returning. As we met I waved and said hi. She was quite obviously going out of her way to avoid making eye-contact or a return of my pleasantries...OK...one of those runners. She looked to be all of 20. I guess it's not cool to acknowledge a fellow runner who is nearly old enough to be one's mother and carrying at least 30#s more, huh? I make up for runners (and cyclists) like that, as I am always happy to exchange waves and hellos to runners (and cyclists) of all ages, including those who are in their 50s and 60s and old enough to be my parents. Different strokes.

Back to it...

So it's probably been a good 6 weeks since I last did ANY ab/core work. I could feel it over the past 3-4 weeks...toward the end of longer runs and races my lower back started feeling sore and weak...then my posture/form would suffer. The sort of thing that is just begging for an injury. Today marked day 2 of my 3rd round of marathon training (woot!), so I'm back to more consistently getting in my strength work. I think I want to start working on my floppy chicken arms, too. Hopefully it won't be too hot for the remainder of the Summer, since working out in an un-air-conditioned house isn't real pleasant and I'm likely to skip these cross-training workouts if it means being miserably overheated--our big, new TV puts out a surprising amount of heat, too (I thought LCDs were supposed to be so much cooler than old CRT tube sets...huh). But without my Cathe DVDs I'm likely to skip reps and sets...um.

Yesterday I ran an easy 4 for recovery after my 15k the prior day. It felt really good. But today I definitely had the doldrums that seem to come 2 days after a hard workout or race. I have really just wanted to curl-up in bed with a cat or two. Probably doesn't help that it's markedly cooler and less humid today, so my body feels just generally relaxed and craving curling-up under a quilt for a cat-nap.

Race Report: 2009 Muskegon Chronicle Seaway Run 15k

One of my favorite races is almost always one of my worst...and I'm OK with that

Today marked the 3 year anniversary of my first road race ever--the Chronicle Seaway Run. The first year I ran the 5k in a blistering 31:13...and was bitten HARD by the race bug.

Ever since then I have done the 15k. First year the miles were not well-marked (they still aren't--rather than signs they have someone at each mile-marker with a stopwatch calling out times. I would much prefer a visible reference, since I am usually too spaced-out to notice random people yelling along the sides, regardless of WHAT they are yelling), so I sandbagged a lot, not knowing where I was on the course and how much further I had to go.

That race was a big factor in my Garmin purchase a few months later.

Last year it was SUPER humid AND hot, plus I was in the middle of knee crap. I was just happy to finish alive and still able to walk.

This year I bettered my time from last year by over 2 minutes for a course PR (1:29:47), but not a true PR. My 15k PR is over a minute faster...and on a MUCH more difficult course. But it's also in March, which means perfect humidity and temps and minimal allergy/asthma issues.

Every year I slowly chip-away at my time from the previous year. And this year I was not last in my age group...I was still 11th, but 11/12. Did I mention this race attracts a lot of speedy people? Usually I finish races right in the middle of the pack or at the back of the big pack, but I am always pokin' along at the rear of this event. One of these days I'd be happy to finish in the top half of my AG...think it's gonna take droppin' 20#s for that to happen.

RIP Michael Jackson & Farrah Fawcett

Icons of my youth...

Michael was such a mess for the past 20 years or so...but he still created a lot of music that I really enjoyed and was a big part of the soundtrack of my childhood. I just could not bring myself to buy any of it--I could not support his potentially pedophiliac behavior. Today I downloaded a sort of "greatest hits" album spanning his entire career off of iTunes. At least now I feel sort of like my hands are clean, since there are kids who may benefit from purchases of his work.

My favorite MJ video...in large part due to the Herb Ritts direction. It's like many of his still photos put into a motion picture:

Just beautiful.

To pick a favorite song would be more difficult. I love some of the early Jackson 5 stuff, as well as some fairly recent solo work. I think I like some of the stuff off of "Dangerous" best. That was the album he released during my first year of college. I have a lot of fond memories of watching MTV (back when they still played videos) in our dorm room.

The first 2-3 miles almost invariably stink

Yeah, no one ever told me this about running....

How many times did I start and stop regular running before it finally "took" 3 years ago? At least twice that I can recall. Looking back it's so painfully obvious why running was, uh, painful. I was going about it all wrong.

First of all I was under the impression that I should be able to go out and hammer away at 2-3 miles from nothing. Looking back I see how ridiculous this assumption was, but my earlier running attempts were all done prior to the Internet and the venerable Couch-to-5k program. I never thought to pick up a book for beginner runners, either, and never considered the fact that as a runner in high school and jr. high I still had the benefit of regular PE classes, so I wasn't starting track seasons on no base.

I really have that Couch-to-5k program to thank for the 2 marathons and countless shorter distances that are now under my belt. In 2 days I will be celebrating 3 years since my very first road race just a few weeks after completing the C25k program--the Muskegon Chronicle Seaway Run. 3 years ago I ran the 5k, but ever since it's been the 15k for me. I don't really care for 5ks.

And here is why...and the crux of what I (and so many others) have learned after completing a beginner's running plan and continuing on: the first 2-3 miles are absolute crap. This is true for me at least 90% of the time. Occasionally I will have a run where I feel unbelievable badass and light on my feet from the first step. But this is definitely NOT the norm. Most of my runs start with 2 miles that are little more than plodding misery. Sometimes they are somewhat painful, but mostly they just feel stiff, slow, and clumsy.

Nowadays the only way I will sign-up for a 5k is if I can get in a mile or two of warm-up BEFORE the gun goes off (and if there isn't a longer distance available). Otherwise I don't waste the entry fee. 3.1 miles is miserable if I spend the first 2/3 of the race just working out the staleness in my legs.

Luckily it's not often more than 2 miles, but there have been the occasional run where it takes me 3-4 miles to feel "warmed-up." Rarely I will have runs where I never find my groove. Those really stink...especially when it's a run of 10 miles or more. Those runs are LONG and usually invoke some 4-letter words spewed-forth in grunts and moans.

Over the last 3 years I have been finding myself telling each and every person I know who is considering taking up running not to lose hope when running feels very hard at first. I wish someone would have told me this. I always assumed that if it stunk at 1 or 2 miles in that it would only get worse, which is the opposite of how running works for me...and for nearly every runner I know.