New Shoes :)

I love new shoes…more on that later!

The fun weekend is almost upon us.  Eric is on his way home from work right now as I write this, and we’re going to be lazy tonight I’m sure before I head home and wait for my parents to arrive tomorrow.  They’re coming down, we’re going out to eat with my mom’s friend from years past, and then we’re heading downtown for the Red’s game.  Saturday we’re waking up early, they’re heading back to Indy, and Eric and I are heading up to Centerville to partake in some 4th of july festival action, and then go to a cookout and fireworks at his sister’s house.  Sunday morning I wake up early to go participate in my first Olympic Distance Triathlon!!!  Ahhh.  I hope I’m ready!  This will at least give me a good excuse not to gorge myself on food at the cookout on Saturday.  There’s nothing worse than digestive problems during an athletic event!

This morning I headed out for a 60 minute run.  I got the full 60 minutes in (which equaled out to about 5.5 miles), but my left knee was bothering me.  At first the inside of my knee was giving me trouble, then the pain moved to the area right under my knee cap, and then I felt a bit of pain in the area where my IT band connects, and I immediately started walking.  I walked for a minute or so and then started back up as slow as a turtle, and it seemed to be ok.  The pain under my knee cap was still there…but no IT band pain.  It was a good reminder that I need to stay with the stretching, foam rolling, and hip exercises….which I promptly did as soon as I returned home.  I did the 30 day Shred today, but I modified it majorly so I didn’t use my knees too much.  It still got me sweating!

After showering and such, I headed out to the running store up by Eric’s house.  I’ve wanted to check it out, and I need new running shoes, so I stopped by.  After my experience there, I do feel like the two running stores I’ve gone to before this one do a much better job of figuring out what shoes are good for your feet, but the salesperson was very knowledgeable at the store up by Eric’s and she seemed to know what she was talking about in relation to IT band syndrome.  Basically, I ended up walking out of the store with these:

New shoes, Yanks, and a visor.  The shoes are Nikes, and I was a little wary about since I’ve never bought Nikes for running, but the salesperson said they are doing great things with their shoes and they are the the widest shoes on the market (which I need for my wide toe area).  So, I’ll give them a go on Saturday during my short run and if I like them, then I’ll wear them for the triathlon on Sunday.  If not, then they go back to the store. 

I also picked myself up a visor for the run portions of my scheduled triathlons and some yanks.  Yanks are replacements for shoelaces that you just have to (you guessed it) yank to tighten.  They cut down on transition time needed to tie shoelaces. 

Well, Eric’s home now and we’re going to head out to run some errands.  I’ll take lots of pictures this weekend and post if I have time!