Getting Riled Up

I HAD AN EXCITING WEEKEND running wise. Shopping spree, long distances, and a fun surprise. This may need 2 posts. We'll see where my stream-of-consciousness takes me!

Friday night, I got out of work and was a mixture of emotions to hit the store for some new duds. I was apprehensive about the trip because I'm trying REEALLY hard not to spend any extra money because of my trip to San Fransisco (!!) in the beginning of April, and as I've mentioned before, the life of a runner is not peppered with cheap accessories. But on the other hand, I do enjoy shopping, and anything that could give me a hint of relief when it comes to my foot blisters. A tornado of emotions, if you will.

After meeting up with some fellow full and half marathon trainees (with some "normy" friends mixed in) we went to Gazelle to load up on shoes and check out the newest socks with the trained eye of our friend Clarke (hi Clarke!), who also happens to work there. I loaded up my camera, my old shoes, and those heat-in-the-oven insoles I've never used into my purse, and frankly looked crazy walking around downtown with that stuff spilling out. I also hoped no one thought I was trying to steal. First thing's first, shoe time.

A girl named Chelsey helped me in the shoe department. I explained my history with foot blisters (fascinating, I'm sure), told her about how I used to pronate outward (I can never remember the correct term), and how far along with my training I was. I then showed her my old shoes like I was pulling out a well crafted portfolio. The worn treading on my old shoes was like an expertly crafted cover letter for a potential employer. Until she had me walk for her, and she told me I pronated THE NORMAL WAY! WHaaaa? And when I looked at the worn treading on my old shoes....by god she was right! Apparently my feet have lying to me for a few years...how bout it! So on to the shoe selection:

Nikes: Similar to the ones I have now, but these are a FULL size larger than my normal shoe (bringing it up to a 7.5). I've always gone by the rule of 1/2, but apparently the rule of 1 full size works better (less black toenails...and bloody socks).

Look at that action shot of my tying the laces! Why does my hand look veiny?

It came down to the Nikes (left) and some Asics (right). The Asics felt like clouds...really. They were super fluffy. But I was used to the feel of the Nikes since it was similar to what I've been wearing for over 2 years. What to do...what to do...

Buy the Nikes!!! Here is the right shoe of my new pair! At 7.5, these are officially the biggest shoes I've ever owned.

Aaaand shoe shopping done. But it didn't end there.

BELT TIME. I was trying all I could not to buy one of those belts. Honestly, who wants to run (an activity where you're bouncing up and down, and getting SWEATY) with weight and extra stuff around your person. But after my past few long runs, I realized I needed to buy one. And everyone who is training for this marathon only sings their praises. So I suck it up...and went belting.

It looks so great with my coat! I can take it out to the bar and stay hydrated all night. Or smuggle booze out. Either way, win-win?

I chose the belt in this picture because it was the highest quality (according to Clarke...he sure knew a lot about expensive running belts...and socks...a lot of information about socks) and it was only 2 bottles v 4 bottles. I'm a relatively small person, I think 2 bottles will be sufficient, complete with kangaroo pouch in front.

Lastly, a quick trip to the "energy-snack" aisle, and we were good to go.

So many colors!

I went with the Cliff Shot Bloks

mmmm Orange!

And Jelly Belly Sport Beans (I used to make fun of this product because really, Jelly Bellies?! for running)

oooo Berry!

So new gear in hand, I headed to the cash register and Carrie rang me up.

I had a good shot of both our faces, but I had a wild and crazy smile, so you get to see the (very staged) hand off of goods.

Fast forward to Sunday, the day of the 15 mile run. (deep breath). Clarke offered to run with me (the guy with the belt and sock knowledge), and I was REALLY apprehensive to accept because

1. He is MUCH faster than I am (for starters he's more than a foot taller than me)
2. He's further in his distances than I am
3. The last time I ran with someone I fell and sprained my ankle and had to stay off it for like 3 days (it's kind of a funny story, I have enough material for an entire "falling and hurting myself seriously" blog entry)
4. I didn't know if I could honestly run the full 15 miles, the longest I've ever run was the half marathon (13.1 miles) 2 years ago.
5. Any excuse not to run

But I said yes. I'm sure I could use the motivation.

Sunday, 15 miles, warm-chilly, clear clear sidewalks
I got ready to "Sharp Dressed Man" while putting on all my new duds (which I got a little too riled up doing, that guitar riff...you just can't beat that) and then strapped on my belt. I felt like a tool. I put water in it and then kept swishing my hips furiously, asking John if he could hear the water (I assume I'm a handful). Clarke showed up and he too was wearing a belt (the 4 bottle version...he's bigger than I am). We both had belts and were about to run for over 2 hours together. I could hear it now "hey belt buddies!! Nice belts!" But regardless (not irregardless), we hit the road. We were doing 2 loops: 8 and 7 miles.

We started out, and after the first 3 minutes I thought there was no way I was going to keep up with him the entire time. I knew he had scaled his pace waay back for me, so I didn't want to say anything. I was breathing harder than I normally do, and I kept trying to hide it from him (runner's ettiquette?). But by mile 4, I didn't even notice we were running faster than my pace. And now that I think about it, hey, we were at mile 4 already! That NEVER happens during my solitary runs. We even talked the entire time (in the beginning I tried to time my sentences with my gasping breath so I sounded NOT out of shape and ridiculous). At 45 minutes, I popped out my Orange flavored Shot Bloks, and Clarke and I partook in some gooey energy blasting. It was STICKY. I felt like a dog with a mouth full of peanut butter. But I could easily wash it down with my handy-dandy water bottles strapped to my belt! Huzzah!

We were closing in on the end of our first 8 mile loop, and Clarke dodged death. We were running down a "busy" street in downtown Kalamazoo, and as we ran past an alleyway, a car ZOOMED out. My heart burst into 1000 pieces with fright, and Clarke jumped up into an air-born Hiesmen pose to avoid broken legs and shattered sockets (he was closer to the car). We had side-stepped death, but like the great Devin Sawa before us, we must now cheat death on a daily basis.

Unlike this franchise, we'll only bore you with one installment

But seriously, it was really close. Stupid alleyway-drivers.

Other highlights of the run:

• We saw a guy "tight rope walking" down loooong stair railings and debated about what to do if we saw him fall
• Had an actual Charles sighting (we could tell because as we passed, he didn't even flinch)
• Debated whether or not snot was just brain run off (in that case, we're both REALLY smart)
• Discussed all the times in life where your body feels the need to throw up. We came up with a lot of different scenarios
  

I did hit a serious lull around mile 11. I. Felt. Dead. I wanted to walk (or stop) SO badly. I kept going over all the different ways I could bring up "hey, mind if I walk for a while" or "why don't you keep going, I'll catch up with you...at the bar tomorrow" but I never grew the balls to say it, and I'm glad I didn't. A mere mile later I felt great. Honestly. It was crazy, I got a wind like I've never felt, and knew I had the rest of this run in the bag. My ankles and knees WERE KILLING ME but everything else felt great. In the last mile we had to stop at 2 lights, and it isn't until you stop you really notice where your body is really feeling it. Yikes. I felt like I needed oil in my joints.

I ended at the 15 mile mark and Clarke went on for another 5 miles (using mathematics, that beings the total to...5+15....20!). This is the longest distance I've ever run in my life, and I only stopped for maybe a combined 75 seconds due to traffic lights. Wow. And another thing I WILL EAT MY WORDS!!! I love my running belt. My god do I love that thing. I told Clarke at the end of the run I felt cool with it since it's like a runner's badge or status "oh hey, look at that runner WITHOUT the belt, he must be running sub 10 miles....wuss."

My big surprise: NO BLISTERS!!! I didn't even put any type of bandage on my foot! The ENTIRE run happened, and my foot stayed intact. Thank you new shoes (and speaking of blisters, remember those pictures I took of my gross foot and never posted...well I accidentally came upon them today and THE ARE SO GROSS and there are so many of them! Why, why did I spend so much time and effort toward those pictures?). Hopefully this is the end of my nonstop complaining of blisters!

Well here I am the next day, my knees are still a little rickety, and my left Achilles hurts a little (ICE TIME), and I had to wear the biggest work shoes I could find because my feet were a little swollen (not painful though), but it was tight fit into my "normy" shoes. Booya.

I also made the Bison meatloaf and it was TASTY. Although I used half bison ($8/lb?!) and half pork ($3/lb!!) since Bison is SO lean (read: dry). My oven is terrible, so it took like 2 hours instead of 45 minutes, which for someone who spent 2.5 hours running (roughly 1500 calories burned) is NOT a great thing. I. Was. Starving. I was on the verge of nauseous hunger (and by on the verge I mean entered into). It was tasty and even though the pork mostlikely negated the benefits of the bison, who doesn't love a good meatloaf?!

Looks like I did it all in one post! I'm sure you need a Gatorade after all the time you've spent reading this (ha ha...get it? Fueling up in a runner's type of way...ha..ha?)