Linden's Pensieve

Close up on the broken shoes

Not cool. Very not cool. Tuesday, at the end of a tough but mentally rewarding 12-mile run, I noticed a rubbed-raw blister right under my right ankle bone. A quick shoe inspection and I found the culprit:
That puppy might look innocent, but man! It was vicious to my ankle. I got to the corner of Seltersweg where we normally begin running and realized that it wasn’t going to work. I turned my little self around and went to get the shoes that carried me through my first attempt at marathon training and through stops 1 and 2 of our road to the marathon, my Sauconys. Here’s my favorite shot of those, just for old-time’s sake.

Road to the Marathon Feet: 10k (that

So here I am, living in Super Expensive Shoe Land*, 4 weeks out from my marathon, 20 and 12 milers in my very near future, and my running shoes, my dearest companions and most necessary accessory over the last 455 miles of marathon training pooped out on me.

Now, the Sauconys were okay. Not great, but okay. I never really felt like I got settled into a comfortable gait. I don’t know if this was caused by the shoes or what, but my left quad did something it has never done before. It hurt! I had to stop to stretch it three times. I also walked a couple other times because other parts were hurting, but none like that quad. It actually made me want to quit and just walk home. But I ain’t doin that in the marathon. I’ll just push through it like I did today. (This wasn’t supposed to be a running log post, but here’s the skinny: Even with all the walking and pain, I picked up the pace during the last half-mile and sprinted the last two 10ths to finish the 10 miles in exactly 12-minute miles: 2 hours flat.)

The Pearl Izumis

So what now? I thought that I could wait until after the marathon to buy new shoes–I mean, why change a winning horse in mid-stream? I emailed the newest running store in Springfield** last week to see if they had my shoes in my size and no response, but I’ve also been shopping eBay and Amazon, I have finally decided to go with a Saucony shoe this time around. The Pearl Izumis just don’t seem to be as durable as the Sauconys. I really would like to try some of the other big names, like Brooks and Mizuno, plus Rob has been lovin’ his Nike Frees, but this is not, I repeat not the time for stepping out on a limb. Good bye, Pearl Izumi SynchroFloats. You served me well.

Notes

*Not only can we not find real running shoes for less than €110 (that’s $162, folks!) in any stores in Gießen, but eBay.de doesn’t have my shoes at all.
**Thanks to Sarah (via Other Sarah) who told me about Starting Block. I am pretty dedicated to Ridge Runner Sports***, but they don’t sell Pearl Izumis, and their Saucony prices aren’t competitive with the likes of eBay and Amazon.
***Sarah, I think I just found your next project, should you ever retake that one class where you had to redesign a web site.

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