Running Log 2012

Monday, December 20, 2010

Living Dangerously

The local running store here in Columbia is run by a really great group of people. I kind of feel bad because I've never actually bought anything there. But they make their money timing races and running training groups and other things so the store front is just a little adder anyway; a lauch pad for there various activities. They also organize free group runs a few times a year. Sometimes it's a course they map out around the town, sometimes a trail run, sometimes a preview for an upcoming race. But they do a really nice job with the support and make it a nice social thing and if you go you get to meet a lot of nice people from various parts of town.

So I went to 13 mile fun run this Saturday morning. Man was it great! Got lucky with the weather. Had warmed up to almost 40. Slight mist but the real rain held off. Hooked up with the first group that went out and that was good because they set the perfect pace for me and they were folks that I recognized but had never spoken to before so it nice to meet and talk and what not.

The folks I was running with were curious about the Piranhas. I was curious about the Brooks Ghosts two of them were using. On the thirteenth mile coming down the hill into Five Points, I was kind of envious of the Ghosts wearers. The feet were getting just a tad sore; not to mention my calves and hip flexors. I had seen in the store that they had some of last year's Ghosts on sale so I made a plan to check them out.

I sat down in the store and pulled off the Piranhas and slipped on some of the try on socks and took the Ghosts out of the box. The guy who runs the store and who organizes these fun runs says something like 'you looking at some new ghosts?' Just friendly talk. They don't really work at selling at this place. 'yeah I'm thinking I might want something with a little cushion to it.' He looked at the Piranhas with their worn out outsoles and asked 'you mean you just ran thirteen miles in those? That's a little bit dangerous.'

Dangerous? Could be I suppose. Fun though. But I can see were putting in too many miles on some worn out ballet slippers could lead to some problems. The calves were definitely sore the next day. I could be right on the edge of over training all those little muscles and tendons that run through the feet and ankles up through the calves and shins. The Ghosts didn't fit. Tried on some other shoes and couldn't find anything.

I would like to find a shoe that fits as well as the Piranhas or my beloved MT100's but that has a little more substance to it but not too much if you know what I mean. Just something that I can use for some of my miles and some longer runs so I can run and not worry about if I'm going to come up with tendonitis in my peroneal or whatever. Guess I'll keep looking. And I'll try to be careful in the meantime.

5 comments:

  1. Have you looked at the Nike Free Run shoes? I bought a pair and while I have yet to run in them...I might do that soon just because, they are wicked light, and come with their own video. Do you remember the "Run Supernatural" YouTube video Nike posted? Very funny, and PG-13. Good luck on the shoe hunt. You could always ask CatChowder1 where to find VFF's.

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  2. I've never tried on a pair of Free's. Tried on a pair of Lunar or whatever they're called and they seemed to have a pretty good fit. I just ordered last year's Pearl Izumi Streak on clearance. Fit good in the store and I liked the last pair of Pearl Izumi something else I had a couple years ago.

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  3. i think the "something else" would make an excellent shoe name. God knows they're going to run out of names soon.

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  4. Is this the shoe you run in?
    http://www.runningwarehouse.com/descpageMRS-APRNH3.html

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  5. Yep. Except I'm still in the SP2. And I've got a new pair of SP2's tucked away for when I hit 1000 miles on this pair or when my feet fall through the bottoms; whichever comes first.

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