Weekend Wrap-Up, A New Milestone and New Shoes

I hit 3 miles today!!!  Finally.  Three miles is my milestone where I feel like I am well on my way back on the road of running.  I was beginning to worry about hitting it because my Get in Gear 5K is in less than two weeks and I had been struggling to get up to 2 miles.

I set out both Saturday and Sunday to do my usual neighborhood loop and about 1.5 miles into my run, I had to walk.  My feet felt like they were blocks of concrete and my calves tightened up so bad.  I had to keep stopping to stretch and eventually just gave up and walked home.  Of course I had to blame the shoes I was wearing and it became my mission to get new running sneaks today.

I have a theory about my current running shoes, I think they are TOO SUPPORTIVE.  I have been fitted with a stability shoe for both my weight (I was told they were better for heavier runners...GAH!) and because of my over-pronation.  As I was looking at my collection of running shoes, I realized that the 3 pairs of stability shoes I own were worn during some of my worst injuries (knee, PF, and IT band issues).  My idea was get a shoe that was not as built up in the arch because I feel that the extra support causes more stress on my feet and legs.  My theory might be complete bull shit but I wanted to try something new this time around.

I paid a visit to my regular running shoe store in Minneapolis, Marathon Sports (awesome, awesome place).  I explained my idea to the guy helping me and since he didn't look at me like I had completely lost my mind, I decided on this shoe:

It is only slightly less supportive than the Saucony Stabil that I normally wear, but I think it will give let my foot do a bit more natural movement. It looks almost excactly the same however, the soles and the arches are not as "blocky".   I gave the shoes a test run tonight and I was able to run my 3 miles (albeit at a snail's pace) with no problems. Maybe I was right....we will see.  Wish me luck!