back on track

It's the shortest month of the year, and I'm already feeling behind! Took Friday and Saturday off, and then planned to go for our long run on Sunday, as usual. However, my right knee and left foot were still bothering me, so instead we decided to go get fitted for shoes.

I personally like the folks at Super Jock n Jill. Not that I'm a frequent shopper there -- I'm not that keen of a runner -- but I tend to like the feel of the little store, full of great stuff, friendly people, and a great location.

But I'm a sucker for good marketing, so Wil gave me a gift card for Road Runner -- a bigger store with a "shoe fitting system" of sorts. I'd seen the treadmills, video camera, stride sensors, the whole shebang when we were in there before. So that's where we went. (The fact that we also had our race numbers from the Resolution Run that gave us $15 off each pair of shoes didn't hurt.)

So we went in and spent a good 45 minutes working with Ryan, who was friendly, helpful, patient, and never giggled at the thought of us running a marathon. Bless him. We walked across the stride sensors to see our arches and our pressure areas, which was pretty interesting. We then took turns running barefoot on the treadmill with a video camera. Watching my Achilles tendon twist to almost 45-degrees with every right stride was pretty scary. "That's some serious pronation...."

Unsurprisingly, I was fitted with stability shoes... and a set of extra arch supporting insoles to boot. I ended up with women's Saucony ProGrid Hurricanes... white and silver and, yes, powder blue. They feel a bit stiff, but also like my heel is being hugged. (Ryan also was kind enough not to laugh at me when I described the fit that way.)

Wil also got new kicks; a pair of men's Asics Gel-Kayano shoes (white and blue). Stability, but not quite as "corrective" as mine. (His video was less scary.)

So today we went out to Ingraham to calibrate our sensors. I wanted to check the sensor as it was -- do both a walk and a run at the current calibration and see how the distance showed up. I'm not sure if I'm pleased or annoyed that, with new shoes, the sensor appears to be exactly right again. I was really hoping it would show me that it wasn't working at all. Unfortunately, not. Wil's also appeared spot on, hitting .4 km as we crossed the "finish" line. We also (this time) made a point of warming up a bit before testing the sensors. Maybe that will make the difference.

Tomorrow we're going to try and get our long runs in, though Wil's knees are feeling a bit stiff and my foot isn't 100%. So we'll get out there and see how we feel. The good news is that my shoes felt good -- cushioned yet controlling.