But enough about my wardrobe woes, time for an Ellie Mae update. Ellie came through surgery quite well on Thursday, and the vet thinks he got all the cancer; great news! Ellie is back at home, and has even been roaming around a bit; all indications are that she feels quite chipper. She's on an antibiotic and pain pill, but apparently it's quite the task to get her to take them. Vienna sausage subterfuge was attempted, but she dutifully spit out the tainted processed meat. My Mother had to resort to putting the pill in her mouth and massaging her throat until Ellie broke down and swallowed. She has learned to take pills in the past, so hopefully she'll get in line in the coming days.
On to running. Thursday night I started toying with the idea of running a 5k this weekend in an effort to see how the foot would hold up and too see how much of my mojo I had lost with the four week layoff. I was planning to take Friday afternoon off from work, so suddenly a plan was born; go find myself the best pair of shoes ever on Friday afternoon, take them for a spin at Memorial, and then the 5k Saturday morning!
There's roughly three things you need to consider when picking a shoe; your weight, your arches, and your running style. My weight isn't an issue, so on to my arches. To figure them out, you wet your feet in a tub, and step on paper to leave a foot imprint. I've done this before, but didn't really remember the outcome, so I took a picture this time around:
Holy crooked feet! Mine are not the same! Clearly my left foot is as flat as a pancake, while my right one has a decent enough arch. Jon and Lynette assure me I'm not a freak, that this could be common, much like having legs of different length. I'm not sure though, as I worry the left one has collapsed from abuse. Regardless of how I got so out of whack, it is what it is. I probably need a shoe with some level of arch support for my left foot.
As for my style of running, I carefully inspected the soles of my last two pair of running shoes and compared what I saw with some online guidance. Most of my wear is on the outside heel (it should be) and under the outside, or pinky toe. That last bit is a bit odd, as I had always though I "overpronated" (rolled my feet towards the big toe too much). Turns out, from my wear pattern at least, I certainly don't. I'm probably either neutral (biomechanically perfect, thank you very much) or I may even underpronated a touch; we'll go with neutral, as that bit of biomechanical efficiency makes me feel a bit better now that I know my feet are freakishly dissimilar.
So where does that leave me in way of shoes ... with the ones I have, they are for neutral runners who need arch support. There's certainly a wide realm of shoes that fit this bill, but for now, I see no reason to abandon these. When it's time for new ones, I will probably be willing to brand out and try some new brands.
So Saturday came, and with it the Lookin' Good Shamrock Strut 5k. Jon, Lynette, and Melissa were running it in their spiffy new racing shoes (about half the weight of a shoe you would normally train in) with about half of their 5k training program in the books. The weather was good, if maybe a bit warm; off we went! I kept the girls in my sights for the first mile and they certainly carried me to a good time; 7:35, the fastest mile I ever remember in a race. Not surprisingly given my layoff, my times started suffering from there; 8:05 and 8:25 for the next two miles. I finished in a time of 24:52 which is actually a time I'm happy with; it's only the fourth time I've broken 25 minutes, and actually faster than the Rocket's Run back in early February. I think all the rest, combined with the girls pulling me out to a fast first mile, were the keys to my success at the run. Jon, Melissa, and Lynette all set personal records with Lynette and Melissa placing in their respective age groups; a good testament for the 5k training program and racing in light shoes!
And yes, the color is for St. Patty's Day! Who cares if the Catholic Church "officially" moved the day to Saturday, if no green on Monday, you run the risk of a pinch! Take care.
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