Running Shoes Saga

The morning had me at the gym for my last intense workout before Sunday’s marathon. This training program has been the longest training I have had for a marathon and looking back may have been too long. I have been reading articles that state that the amount of training time for a marathon should be between 8 and 12 weeks. I am at the high end of that range having completed 12 weeks. The past two marathons were 10 week sessions and seemed a little better. I am not sure what this says for Sunday as I seek that elusive 3 hour and 20 minute goal to get me into the Boston Marathon. I did see that there was a half marathon that promoted qualifying for the Boston Marathon and I was unaware of any half marathons that would allow a person to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I do find that the 13.1 mile distance is much more conducive to quicker recovery (in the body sense) as opposed to a full marathon so I may investigate this a bit further.

I completed the intense session with a very good run. I have noticed that my quadriceps have been much tighter than usual. My quads almost feel like they do after a very long run and I am not sure what has caused this to happen. I did order new running shoes last month which produced the ugly blood blister on my foot which caused me to order another pair this week. This is a no-no in preparing for a marathon because the number one rule for a marathon is to NOT do anything different than in training the number two rule is to NOT wear a brand new pair of running shoes.

I remember running in the La Jolla half marathon with a pair of brand new running shoes. It was a good run but I felt this rubbing sensation on the back of my ankle all throughout that race but of course finished the race not really thinking about it so when I went to take off my running shoes I was shocked to see a huge blood stain on my sock and the running shoes. The new running shoes were rubbing into my ankle all through the race and I had a hole in that ankle when I completed the race. Yes, that is one of the reasons why a person shouldn’t wear a brand new pair of running shoes during any race. Now I am hoping to be able to break in the running shoes I just received yesterday.

I try to be an equal opportunity purchaser of running shoes and don’t really have a loyalty to any one particular running shoe company. I have had pairs of Nike, New Balance, Brooks, Asics, Adidas and the last pair I purchased was Saucony which caused the blood blisters. My feet have a very high arch which does add some complexity to my running shoe dilemma. Incidentally because of this high arch I can’t wear loafers or any other shoe that doesn’t have support; my feet just slip in and out of these types of shoes.

My high arch does call for a specific shoe and the fact that I do log many miles also narrows done this search. I tried unsuccessfully to find some of the higher rated running shoes but they were all on backorder. I did heed a suggestion and found a pair of Adidas running shoes which are successors to a pair I already own. Anyhow to make a long story longer these arrived yesterday and I have two more runs before the marathon to break them in. The run this morning did go very well and the running shoes felt great. These are very light shoes but provided the most amount of cushion I have ever felt in a pair of running shoes. Hopefully this will be the case on Sunday with 26.2 miles in store.

Today was a day of just doing what I was told. I have been given another opportunity to expand with the company I work for and I was very grateful for the opportunity. I have come to find out that there are people in this world that come into my life for a reason and it truly is the “Law of Attraction”. I have gone into the “The Secret” and the “The Power of Intention” in the past and I am a huge believer of these things. I think I do this at a more subconscious level than conscious level and to me this is how it has to be. The “Law of Attraction” is innate and can sift through those disingenuous folks. I am blessed to have some many incredible people in my life and this is all because of the “Law of Attraction” which certainly works both ways. This isn’t a one way street so the “I wish I had 10 million dollars” just doesn’t work but the living a clear positive life does work extremely well especially with recovery.