Shoes

I cranked out my last 12-mile training run before my marathon earlier this morning. A late night and a lot of fun the night before meant that this run did not go well.

I had to be at the store early, so I hit the road about 6:20 am for what projected to be a 1:50 run. And in terms of total running time, that was pretty close. I headed out the door just as the darkness of night started to break. Temperatures stayed in the mid-30s, and I had tights and wind pants below, with long sleeves and running hoodie up above. The other runners I saw (and there were many) seemed to have fewer layers than me. I just can't stand the thought of being too cold out there, even though the thought is to pretend it's 10 degrees warmer than it is. I also was armed with 32 ounces of Gatorade as I left the house.

Anyhow, There were several stops along the way, including a bathroom stop and the expected Gatorade stop at the halfway point. There were also a few stops on the way back due to some (recurring) foot pain on the ball of my right foot. This pain makes it difficult to stop and change directions, and generally makes running more of a chore than it usually is.

I think I have it pinned to my Pearl Izumi shoes. I ran last week's 20-miler in them and thought I could crank out the marathon in them. Now I'm not so sure. I ran some earlier long runs in my Adrenaline GTS 12 kicks, but my feet hurt running in them. I may try some inserts in the 12s, since the other options involve two pairs of elderly (400+ miles on each) shoes-- Adrenaline GTS 11 and Saucony Guide 2.

So there are some decisions to make on shoes. More questions than answers at this stage.

And in spite of how the run actually went, I did run 12 miles and did a terrific thing for my health. I did a decent job of holding an 8:30 pace for nine of the 12.

32 miles for the week, and the taper continues next week, with 25 miles on the schedule.