Half Marathon Follow up

So my half marathon has come and gone! I get a lot of anxiety before a race and waking up at 4 am to get ready for this race did not help!! Runners had to be shuttled to the start line, which started at 5 am. Once there, you had about 2 hours to "think" about the race! Overall, I feel like my time was good. I beat my last time of 1:53:37 (although that was with knee issues) with 1:47:57! I did end up walking some of the last mile, due to starting off way too fast, but my pace ended up being 8:16.

I have the Army Ten Miler coming up next, so my training continues!

My obsession: SHOES!

I love shopping for shoes! The sad part is, I generally only wear about 3 or 4 pairs regularly! I do have an obsession with flip flops, mostly because they are so affordable and you don't quite feel so guilty for owning so many pairs. My latest craze has been running shoes. I did need to retire my Asics and Sauconys and ended up buying a pair of Brooks Ravena-which I absolutely LOVE. I still needed another pair of running shoes to alternate in, but did not want to go back to my Saucony progrids after wearing the ever so light Ravenas....

Lo and behold, what should appear in my mailbox? My Runner's World (June) magazine! It had the summer shoe guide in this issue! Thumbing through the pages and reading every review, I fell in love with the Saucony Kinvara. My new Saucony Progrid Kinvaras will be joining my shoe collection! It is a minimalist shoe and only 6.6 oz!!! I am anxiously awaiting for them in the mail!

So! You would think that I would feel completely satisfied having 2 new pair of running shoes....WELL, during my research of the Kinvaras, there were a couple of reviewers who mentioned Newtons...Newtons? I had not heard of this shoe before...After hours of reading reviews...I MUST have this shoe! The drawback....$155...for ONE pair of running shoes?! They are stocked at 2 running stores in my town, so I hope to try some on this weekend. My birthday is quickly approaching and my husband has been asking me what I want!

Countdown to Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon

About 4 weeks after registering for the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half marathon, I got my first running injury: piripormis syndrome. Self diagnosed, of course! (If you personally know me, you know that I am addicted to WebMD and self diagnosing any niggle that I've got!). Basically it means that I've got a pain in my ass! It actually extends from my hip, through my butt and down my thigh. I attempted to keep up with my training plan, while completing a whole slew of new stretches and strengthening exercises. Alas, I ended up having to give into the injury and took about 5 days off from running. Yes, I know that is not a significant amount of time to recover from an injury, but I did not want to lose the distance that I had gained in my training! Since my little break, I've done 2 runs which went very well. The pain is almost gone and I've decided to try to run just every 2 days until the pain is gone. My next run will be tomorrow morning.

69 days until my half!