This weekend many of us participated in Tall Mom’s Virtual Race for the Cure!  Of course I signed up and had a blast!  I was aiming for the 10K.  Wasn’t going for a PR or anything like that this weekend…still nursing the knee but I was happy with my time.  Ended up with a time of 57 min 22 secs.  Ended up doing it on the treadmill which wasn’t ideal but hey it was a run.  Therefore I don’t have very much to report.  But thanks Mel for the Opportunity it was alot of fun!

Yesterday I went for a 4 mile run with my dad in the afternoon.  I was hoping to meet up with Erin, but because it was Palm Sunday and church was the priority, we weren’t able to find a time that worked for both of us (but hopefully next Saturday!).  So my dad (who now actually reads this blog from time to time, Hi Dad!)  and I got ready and went to head out the door.  Then I realized we were both wearing the exact same shirt (a long sleeve under armour that was the premium from the Turkey Trot we did in November).  It was pretty funny but Dad ended up changing into a different shirt.  I guess matching your 21 year old daughter isn’t really that cool.  It was pretty nice running weather.  A bit windy and chilly but it was sunny!  Unfortunately we live at the top of a hill so no matter what route we take, you have to start down hill and end up hill.  Boo.  I felt great for the first 2.5 miles or so.  My dad just got a Garmin Forerunner 405 not too long ago and it was pretty funny, both our Garmins would beep off the miles at the same time (which makes me really happy cuz hey that means Gracie and her little foot pod are just as accurate as the GPS models!).  But then he hit the fun up hills and the knee start bugging me something awful.  I finally told my dad I had to try to walk it off a bit which is SOOOO frustrating.  I HATE IT.  My lungs and legs felt good but my knee was not having it.  I ended up walking more than I would have liked (Dad circled a few neighborhoods so we weren’t far from each other) and I finally got frustrated and took off for the last stretch of the run.  We actually ran that last bit at a 7:30 pace!  WHAT!  A 9 min pace is fast for ne.  So we got home, I iced and Ibprofened the knee and it feels fine now but I was frustrated.  Really frustrated.

So I decided to go back to the running store I now work at and see if M, the awesome girl who has been training me had an suggestions.  She told me to bring in my shoes to check my wear pattern and I ran on the treadmill while she videoed my gait.  She showed it to me and wow.  Get this, my left foot is neutral, my right foot is more on the pronation side.  Cool.  My feet want two different shoes.  But wearing a stability shoe on a neutral foot can actually mess if your IT band which is exactly where my problems have been!  Check out the heels on my shoes…

check out the left heel!

GEEZ!  I am really wearing the left side of my left foot.  Not surprisingly, I am very even on my right foot which has given me no problems.  I’ve had these Adrenaline for a good amount of miles so its about “new shoe time” anyway so I tried out some new shoes.  I tried on and ran in a ton of stuff while M watched my gait.  And I ended up with these =) Love them!

Puppy in the background =) and note I've already changed the laces

These are the Brooks Glycerin 7.  I really love them and they felt great on the treadmill.  And the employee discount wasn’t bad either =) I got my shoes, an IT band Strap, and two pairs of Smartwool socks for cheaper than the shoes would have been alone.  Sweeeeeeet.  So I’m excited to take them for a spin.  I’ll keep you updated.  Might end up with an insole in the right shoe for a bit for stability if needed.

And on another note, my floral running skirt came today!  It’s even better in person than it looked on the site =)  It will be perfect for the Cherry Blossom!

And inspired by Shelly, here’s my before and after for this weeks run.

The Before…

rocking the pink shorts, bondi (and face) for Mel's Race for the Cure

The After…

See I don't always look like a running mess =)

So hope you all had a great weekend!  If you haven’t yet, check out my Virtual “Finish Chelsea’s Run” HERE!