Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Shoe surgery and other stuff

Before I get into performing surgery on my lovely sneaks, let me just say happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'm feeling thankful the family is healthy (and that I'm injury free)!

I'm excited to run my turkey trot, mostly because my parents will be running, and it's just a great way to start the day. Does anyone else think that turkey trots are becoming a Thanksgiving tradition (almost like watching football)? Given that there are almost 1,000 people signed up for this race that was approximately 400 people a few years ago...I'm thinking turkey trots are becoming a tradition...


Moving on to shoe surgery. I bought these Saucony Kinvaras about a month before my marathon in October. I'm not going to do a shoe review, but if you like to read well written shoe reviews I would suggest runblogger. He loves shoes and consequently writes excellent reviews.

Anyway, I bought the Kinvaras, and absolutely loved them. Like the best running shoe ever. They just feel right. Unfortunately, after a measly 150 miles (three weeks), the left shoe started giving me a blister on my heel. When I got in there and checked things out, I noticed a piece of plastic was poking into my heel. I was furious! 150 miles, seriously that's ridiculous. I had to go back to my Nike frees for the marathon. A few weeks later, I dusted off the Kinvaras and figured I might as well try to fix them. I couldn't run in them as they were anyway. So I went at that left shoe with a pair of sharp scissors and didn't stop until I had cut out approximately one half inch of plastic. Then Macgyver style, I duct taped that bad boy. I've been running in them for three weeks now and they seem fine.


Now for a couple random notes. Here's a picture of some of my runner buddies at work. Every year we do a really easy run together before Thanksgiving. Then we eat pie. Personally, I enjoy the run more than the pie. The slice pecan I ate just gave me an upset stomach. Anyway, they're a fun bunch. There's a guy in there who's a three time Ironman. Three others who have run in the 3:20 range for the marathon. I'm the only one in long pants. It was only 45 ish degrees and we ran slow, so I'm sticking with my pants decision.

And for my last random note...on Saturday I did a two mile time trial in 12:00. I hope everyone has an awesome Thanksgiving!

5 comments:

Ana-Maria RunTriLive said...

So interesting about the Kinvaras. I own 8 pairs of them (I know, crazy, but I buy them when they are $50) and have had no problems with them. Glad the surgery worked:)

2 miles in 12. Holy cow! Darn, too bad that course is long, otherwise sub 19 for you. Still, a PR for sure (and maybe sub 19 on a long course:). So excited for you.
Oh, and no turkey trot for me. I did run 10x400s 1:08-1:18, but no tempo so might just go to Fresh Pond for the 5 miler on Saturday:) We surely will run together at Hampton and Quincy and I expect you will kick my butt:)

Raina said...

Oh! Getting excited for your turkey trot now! That's a speedy time trial. How often do you do those?

The shoes...I haven't tried kinvaras, but i would be super ticked if I had to do surgery after less than 200 miles. Actually, haven't ever done surgery on shoes! lol.

Love that you are running with the boys:)

Have a SUPER Thanksgiving!

Jenn said...

Happy Thanksgiving to you:)

I love running races with my family. My daughter runs and also my dad and 2 of my sisters. We traditionally run a July 4th 5K together (not together but we all run) and I love having the family activity!

I have some Kinvaras but I've only ever worn them on the treadmill. I usually just wear them to work so I haven't had to do surgery. Nice work there.

Best of luck to you in the Turkey Trot. Man, you are SO fast. 12 minute 2 mile. Seriously awesome!! You're gonna do great!!!!

Katie said...

Ana-Maria: With that 400 workout, you might break 18:00! I think you need to run a secret 5k. Don't tell anyone, don't really plan for it, just randomly run one. You're going to run low to mid 18:00 without doing anything special...

Ana-Maria RunTriLive said...

Katie,
so with 2 miles @ 6 paece, you can run another mile @ 6:27 and still break 19. Just saying!

Oh, I can run quite fast for short distances, I love 400 meters, I can take a LOT of pain for a minute or so. My problem is longer distances, the longer the distance, the more I slow down. I wonder sometimes if it is physical or mental...
GOOD LUCK tomorrow! No turkey