Shoe Shopping and Taking Them for a Spin

I did a treadmill session on Tuesday (April 10), but my legs were hurting so bad I was beginning to wonder if my spiffy new compression capris were actually to blame (the pain in my shins started where the capris ended). Hubby talked me down from my little mini-crisis and told me that he gets pain there when we walk too fast at Disney.  Okay, good, it's not the clothing's fault - it's still me...

I've been battling leg and foot pain for a while now. PF (Plantar Fasciitis) has been with me for months and months (even before I started on this journey), but the leg and knee pain were relatively new.  I decided that I had to make getting a new pair of shoes a priority.  No more treadmill til I can get to the store for professional gait testing and new shoes.

I suffered through the rest of the week, my legs and knees slowly getting better and when Friday night came along, I checked and double-checked that my sneakers were ready to go for my trip (back) to the mall.

I got to Fit-2-Run about 5 minutes after they opened and there were like 5 tiny, college-age kids with no body fat all hanging around. They all worked there. I wandered over to the sneakers, while (I'm assuming) they all played rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock to see which of them loses and has to help the fat girl. A cute blonde apparently lost and made her way over to me. I described my problems (legs hurt, knees hurt, supinate, PF, blah blah) and she grabs an Asiacs for me to try on. She takes me to the coolest treadmill where I can see my feet from behind and sets the treadmill for 4mph while she watches me go for about 30 seconds then played the video back in slo-mo.

Turns out what I've been doing is landing on the outsides of my feet (what I thought was supination) to compensate for the way my ankles roll inward (over-pronation).  Over-pronation is much easier to shoe, so she brought me three different pairs of sneakers to try on.  Two Brooks and a Saucony.  I thought that the Saucony was very cushy, but when I tried on the pink Brooks, it was like the heavens opened up and angels sang.
 

 So THIS is what a good sneaker feels like!  I tried on one Brooks on my left foot, then the pink Brooks on my right and got back on the treadmill. Both shoes fixed the over-pronation and it was a very tough decision - one was cushier, but one offered better stability.
  

I asked the dreaded question - how much are each of them?  The cushy ones were $130 and the pink ones were $110.  I tried to not focus on price but what each shoe would do for me and came to the conclusion that I need stability right now, until my feet learn how to run. She took them to the front register for me and told me they would be there, and feel free to browse!  I browsed for about two minutes and finally went to pay for my super-de-duper technologically advanced supersneakers.

Ouch.

I took my bag of hi-tech sneakers with me on a trip around the mall, honestly just wasting time until Long John Silver's opened at 11.  I went looking for the Champs sports store, but when I got to where it used to be, it was a Coldwater Creek. Hmm, I guess it's been a while since I've walked the whole mall!  The directory said it was on the far other side of the freakin' mall, down near Lane Bryant, which I had earlier talked myself out of going to.  Irony - if I'd gone to LB, I would have found Champs.

Long story short, I got to Champs and the new store was about 1/4 the size of the old store and I didn't see a single item for women in there. Granted, I just kind of slowed up as I walked by - I did see women's shoes, but seriously, WTF?  I guess next time, if I want to browse girly sports stuff, I'll have to go to Sports Authority, down the street.  Waste of time!  I decided to walk around Macy's since I was down that way, and then remembered why I never GO to Macy's, pretty much as soon as I stepped into the store. However, they do carry Dooney and Burke, so I may need to keep that in mind!  Macy's comes out with some good sales and coupons every few months, so I could possibly score a cool Dooney for a great price.

I left the mall and headed over to LJS, where I got the Sampler basket - 1 fish, 1 chicken, 3 shrimp, 2 hush puppies and Diet Coke (of course!!) I ended up only eating the proteins and the hush puppies; LJS has changed their fries and they are not anywhere near what they used to be.  Also, I didn't request crumblies like I usually do (even tho they are my crack), so no extra calories there. All in all, my lunch was only about 650 calories.  Not TOO horrible for a fast-food splurge! Luckily, there is no LJS close to my house, so I don't eat there often. I didn't feel guilty in the slightest for eating all of that! It was so gooooood.

Anyway, I did my Walmart and Publix shopping pretty quickly and headed home. I got some laundry done, some dishes done and some quality veg-on-the-couch time.  It was a good Saturday.

Sunday, I woke up and did my usual routine - take hubby to work, then curl up in bed to watch some DVR'd tv shows before getting out of bed for real.  I read my email and my Facebook, waiting for my daughter to wake up - I don't feel comfortable leaving the house for a run while she's asleep. By 10:30 I was ready to go jump on her bed to wake her up, I was going stir-crazy, wanting to go for my run!

However, she was up by 11 and I headed out the door.  I had already mapped my run (LOVE mapmyrun.com!) and had a pretty easy route to follow.  The majority of my 3 miles was on sidewalks, but one leg of it was a nice greenway with benches and water fountains. I definitely plan to hit up that greenway more often, even if I just go back and forth to get my miles in!

I rounded the last corner and headed for home. It had gotten very hot outside and I was sweating like a pig! I ran the last block to the house and clicked my stopwatch off at 52 minutes!  I just did a "5k" in 52 minutes!! (It was actually 3.01 miles, but who's counting?!?)  That is a 17 minute mile!  Only 1 minute off of the required 16 minute mile for Princess.

My goal for Susie's run in 2 weeks is to NOT FINISH LAST.  That's all I want.  Judging from other 5k results I've seen, 52 minutes is last. If I can get down to 50 minutes, I will feel more comfortable, because I know that the competitive spirit in me will give me the extra oomph to be second-to-last!