Saturday, March 10, 2012

Exciting Saturday!

After my second C25K run yesterday afternoon, I talked myself (and my partner) into getting myself new shoes.  I currently have a decent pair of New Balance trail running shoes, but they're a year old and they're just not cutting it for what I need.  I had asked for advice on a Health & Fitness board a while back about choosing the right running shoes and the consensus was that I needed to be fitted by a specialty running store.  I had no idea that such things existed and I highly doubted that I'd be able to find one way out here in the sticks where most people are averse to fitness, BUT I found one in the town about 45 minutes from here (the closest major town really - it's where we do our grocery shopping)!!

I was very excited and went on down today to bite the bullet and get some good shoes before I hurt myself.  Being that I'm a big girl, I know that I need the right shoes because I'm more prone to injury with this much weight coming down on my knees, ankles, and feet.  The place I found is called Runners' Retreat (http://www.runnersretreat.com).  It's in the super cute Old Town section on a pedestrian mall.  They were super nice and helpful.  They looked at the way I ran and how my feet are naturally and were able to give me several kinds of shoes to try on. They explained everything to me about why I needed the kind of shoes they were giving me to try on - It was a great experience all around.  (Disclaimer: They did not pay me.  Everyone was just really nice and I'm excited such a place exists relatively close to home).

Anyhow, I ended up with these:
Asics GT-2170
Asics GT 2170 (Photo from Runner's Retreat website)

I ended up having to get a men's shoe because of the width of my foot.  I tried on several pairs and these are the ones that felt the best.  If anyone is contemplating getting fitted or just going and grabbing a pair of running shoes off the shelf, I highly recommend getting fitted!  I'm a girl that loves cute shoes and I would definitely have preferred the pink women's version, but I knew that I had to do right by my feet and choose function over form for my running shoes.

After shoe shopping, we enjoyed a nice lunch at Panera and then ran some of our errands.

On our way back home, I noticed that our favorite little ice cream place had lots of cars in the lot and looked like they were opening for the season!  We stopped in and it turns out that they are training their new staff before they officially open tomorrow, so everything was free!!  They didn't have my "usual" - banana and chocolate swirl soft-serve - since it's training day, so I settled for plain chocolate.  And despite it being free, I stuck with a small cone :)
If you're ever heading on 50 West through eastern VA, you must stop at this little place!  It's excellent.

It's been an exciting week for new running gear!  Here's hoping for a good weigh-in tomorrow morning!

2 comments:

  1. I didn't know the bigger someone is, the more they are prone to injury. That makes sense. But yikes, that means that I also need to get myself some fitted shoes asap!
    Do you mind sharing how much they were?

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  2. I don't know that we're necessarily more prone to injury, but my logic is that the more I weigh, the more stress that's put on my bones and joints - which makes shock absorption in a shoe important. I could feel it in my shins after my C25K runs. I also have noticed that I have a tendency to walk/run on the outsides of my feet (a common problem for women according to my helper at the running store), so these shoes have stability control so I don't end up rolling my ankle. These were $110. There were definitely cheaper ones in the store, but none that fit my needs/width/etc.

    If you're not having any problems with your current shoes, you may be okay until you up your mileage. I needed new shoes anyway since mine were getting worn out, so it made sense to spend a little extra for proper running shoes that will hopefully last me another year+

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