Momma's Got A New Pair Of Shoes

So, just in case you felt the earth stop, I think I should explain. I signed up for a 5k.

I own what I am.  I am a gym girl, not a runner.  I have never understood the joy of running- I am that girl that would feign some sort of foreign illness during gym class when you had to run the mile just to get out of it.  I have often said that my own version of hell would be me, the devil and a treadmill.  So why, might you ask, am I doing this?

Because I can.

Ooooo- yes, I understand that I am testing the universe by saying that, by recklessly throwing out there that I can do this, but hey, I like to live on the edge.

So, I have been following a good training program, and asking (aka stalking) anyone that I know that has done this before for any words of wisdom or advice because I am basically winging it.  Which is fine until race day, and then I feel like a fish out of water, or at the very least a girl out of her element.  I have received some great feedback, but one that I keep hearing is that you have to get a good pair of shoes.

Shoes, you say?
Yeah, I think I can handle that.

So off I went to Big Peach Running Company- it was awesome!  Not even purchasing my best pair of pumps was the experience this detailed.  It started very general; how long have you been running, what distance, surface conditions you run on, etc. Then they got all technical and ran a whole biomechanics analysis including my gait and pronation. I didn't even know what those meant let alone I had one.  Then Josh (best sales associate ever!) walked me through what all of these characteristics meant, and what I should be looking for in a shoe to best meet my needs.  Then the fun started- trying on the shoes! I can't tell you how many pairs they brought out, but it was a shoe wonderland!  Brands I knew- Nike, Adidas, New Balance to some I have never heard of including Saucony and Mizuno.  Josh had me running in each pair- both inside and outside the store- comparing and contrasting each pair, then putting a different shoe on each foot, whittling it down until I finally went with these beauties:

I wore them for the first time yesterday, and wow what a difference!  They are so light you can barley tell you are actually wearing a shoe, but you can still tell what great support they provided.  My two mile run is tomorrow, and dare I say, I am really looking forward to it.  I am finding that (gasp!) I am enjoying my runs and seeing how I am building my distance and improving my time week over week. 

Apparently, up until now I have been doing it all wrong.

I just didn't have the right shoes.