It's all about shoes!

I like shoes.  A LOT. Someday, I hope to be like Imelda Marcos (umm, but without the dictatorship, embezzling and exile) and have a whole room just for shoes.  Problem is, I have big feet.  At age 10, I could actually act my age and my shoe size.  I thought I was going to be really tall after hitting 5'5 by 11 years old, but after 2 more inches (that's what she said!) I maxed out.  Hence, my penchant for 3 inch heels; they allow me to be the height I think I should have been.  Thing is, when your feet are as big as mine, shoe shopping can be tricky.  I'll never forget when I was 10 and wanted My Little Pony sneakers.  The salesman took one look at my feet and said "oh, honey, I can sell you the boxes..." which probably ignited a lifelong desire for pretty shoes (that, and as the saying goes "you can never be too fat for a new pair of shoes", heh!) So, now all my pretty shoes come from the States as they have more variety in size Giant. For sports, I usually wear men's shoes.  I don't mind, they tend to be cheaper and don't really look that different, plus they're super comfy!

Where am I going with this, you ask?  Well, I do love me some heels, but I guess I can't wear them 7 days a week.  This week, I wore Franco Sartos heels on Tuesday, Coach mules on Wednesday and Guess pumps on Thursday.  Yeah, my feet looked awesome, but these are also days I ran 4K, 5K and 3K respectively.  By Friday, my feet were so sore that even though I wore sneakers to work I felt like The Little Mermaid---not the Disney one, the Hans Christian Anderson one who in exchange for getting legs, would feel like she was walking on razor blades.  Even watching TV on Friday night (hey there Socialite!) I had my feet elevated in an attempt to make them feel better. Good thing it wasn't a running day.

So, Saturday breaks and I have to run 8K.   Usually my long runs are the day after a rest day, and after the first K, I could already feel it wasn't going to be the best run.  It was another great day at the reservoir, sunny and a perfect 10C for running.  Boy, fall doesn't last long in Calgary, because the lovely yellow leaves I was all excited about last week are GONE, the trees were completely bare.   There were a lot of families out on bikes, and I did find myself continuously dodging small children, but I made it through without accidentally straightarming anyone.  I felt like I finished strong, but was sort of surprised at the end that I was only 2 minutes quicker than last week's 26C run where I thought I was dying.  I guess I was a bit slower overall this week, I did see a few times my pacing was slower than usual, while my feet felt better, but not 100%. I'm not trying to make excuses, because I felt pretty good about the run, but I was still surprised by my time.  Ah, well, I still ran the whole 8K plus I actually got out of bed before noon on a Saturday, so it's still another success in my books!

In closing,  I'll leave you with this video about someone else who loves shoes too!

Lesson learned..

OK, lesson learned. BEFORE you try a new training method, find out all you need to know before you end up asking for instruction mid method. In this new 'marathon training' world full of words like "fartlek" and training schedules to keep you on pace, you learn that pretty much everyone else knows more than you do on the subject of running so take as much in as you can. So if we back up to Tuesday when still not feeling 100% but wanting to keep up with the current training schedule, I get to the gym early and up onto the treadmill to do my scheduled 4km run. Felicity mentions that I should try to use the interval button because it's something we'll be doing in our training in the future anyway. I think sure, let's get ahead and start something new! I'm told which buttons to press and I'm on my way at my usual pace for the "warm-up". Once I'm comfortable and on my way I'm told to push the interval button to start this 'new' process (which I do) and my treadmill takes off at a pace that can only be discribed as a full stride run, faster than I've run since grade 10 track 100m finals or after the a group of guys got out of their car and started chasing us when we hit them mid windshield with a waterballoon! Not an easy pace to keep.. well it has to be said that when I am totally sure I am about to be thrown off the back of the treadmill because my feet just won't keep up and my lungs feel like they are going to explode, I muster enough air to ask Felic "When it will stop?" only to be told that it's up to me to stop and start the intervals over the whole run .. 'Information that would have been useful yesterday!'
Needless to say, I did complete the task and ran the rest of the 4km, only I did it with my tail between my legs trying to get my lungs back. Lesson learned: Get ALL the information about the method before starting something new.

Run for the Cure Calgary 2010!

I ran the CIBC Run for the Cure on Sunday.  Someone on my soccer team pointed out that one in nine women will get breast cancer and our roster had 18 girls, and that we should do the 5K run as a team. We ended up with a team of 22 and raised over $5000 for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and had a lot of fun doing the race! 8000 people showed up to walk or run, and the energy at the start and finish line was just incredible. Houses along the route were invited to participate however they liked, and there were probably hundreds of people sitting outside their houses cheering on the runners, their trees festooned with pink streamers, balloons and bras.  Come to think of it, bras were definately the decoration of choice! My favorite sign said "YOUR FEET HURT BECAUSE YOU'RE KICKING SO MUCH ASS!" but there were some other signs encouraging a specific runner on or reminding someone who they were running for that made me a bit teary.  Still, I spent most of the race smiling and I tried to wave at everybody as I went by; it was a great day, a great cause and a great turnout. I think I'm going to make this an annual event!



Pink Lightning 2010!! Big smiles and bad hair all around!