These shoes were made for runnin’

 In an effort to boost my own fitness and that of Griffin + help stimulate his feet/wear them down between trims, I’m going to pick up jogging again.  Ho boy…  I had a bout with running in the fall.  I was doing better than I ever had in the past; even getting up to run times of 30 minutes (I never focused on distance, only time).  I felt as if I could go longer a lot of the time, but stopped because I didn’t want to over-do it and hate running all over again.

I contributed my success to the new way I was running – fore-foot striking, that whole “barefoot” minimalist approach to running.  I’d listened to Born to Run on book tape in October and picked up a lot of information from it and got really inspired to run again.  The science behind a lot of what the author said made sense to me, so I went for it. 

It worked…for awhile.  I know I must have been doing something wrong, pushing a little too much too fast probably.  My weak ankles from old injuries didn’t help matters either.  But I was able to run for a good month prior to these difficulties.

I’m going to give it another go, slower, and this time with a horse at my side.  Won’t we look silly to the neighbors? 

In my first pursuit I ran in some of my mom’s old water shoes, you know, the kind you pick up cheap from the store that have mesh tops and next to near no sole.  The idea is that shoes with a bulky sole encourage heel striking, or in my case, encourage the twisting of an ankle.  I’m a clutz.  I’ve lusted after some of the newer minimalist shoes developed for the growing popularity of “barefoot” running, but they’re all so pricy!  And, I’m sorry, but I just don’t care for that whole Vibram Five-Fingers trend (don’t even get me STARTED on the idiots that assume those shoes qualify as rock climbing shoes…)

However, ask anyone who knows me and they’ll confirm I’m the queen of finding deals on things I want to buy.  Internet shopper extraordinaire, right here.   I may or may not also be addicted to getting things in the mail – it’s really a toss-up.  So, I managed to score some Merrell Pace-Gloves for <$25, slightly used.

These babies retail ~$100.  It’s a little bit of a risk on the whole sizing thing as I don’t own Merrells yet, but I’m optimistic.  And besides, its not like I’m out on that much money anyway if they don’t fit.  I’m a bit excited to get moving, er, running now. 

PS - Hope those of you who don't read in Google Reader like the new header.  I'm becoming a photoshop champ and felt like playing around last night.  I'm pretty excited about it!  So if you ARE reading in GR - pop over here and take a gander!