50after40 Sighting, New Shoes, & Great Run!!!

The coolest thing happened on the way to my long run this morning ... there was a "50after40 sighting" in Lee's Summit!!!  My friend Jeff and I were just beginning our weekly long run, and as we turned onto Langsford Rd. we passed a guy running with his dog (pretty sure I've seen them several times before).  Jeff and I say "Good morning!",  when the guy says, "50 after 40!"   I was like, "what the heck!"  I turned and looked back as we passed and he said, "I read your blog!"  We were quite a ways past by then, plus I was trying to keep up with Jeff so I couldn't stop, but I think shouted, "Oh, ha ... Awesome!"  It was really random and really cool!  It's happened from time to time, but never in my home town, like literally two blocks from my house ... so that was really awesome!

So ... to the gentleman with the dog this morning ... sorry we didn't stop, I really wasn't trying to be rude.  Send me an email at running50after40@yahoo.com sometime ... we obviously live pretty close to each other.  I would love to chat and maybe meet!

Size 12 bright blue Brooks Pure Flow's

On the new shoes front - I know it probably seems like we're made of money based on the amount of shoes I go through.  We're not.  But I AM worse than most women with my addiction to shoes.  Just running shoes though ... not pumps or anything weird.

And in the quest to find a light weight, yet soft and supportive, minimalist shoe that can stand up to extreme mileage, I've experimented with several brands.  I've went through Nike Lunarglide, Brooks Pure Cadence, Skechers GoRun Ride and GoRun 2 ... and now ... drum-roooooooollllllll ... back to the Brooks Pure series!

The Nike's just didn't work, and the jury is still out on whether or not the Skechers can withstand the mileage.  The reason I went away from the Brooks Pure series the first time was I because I was just beginning the forefoot strike thing, plus I just didn't get a good fit with them.  I think I probably had them sized a little too big because they really slipped a lot in the toe area.  And honestly, I think most of that had to do with improper foot angle during the landing.  But now that I've the whole foot strike issue figured out a little more, I decided to give the Brooks minimalist shoes another try.  I've always loved Brooks products and felt bad having to go away from them for a while.

If you've followed my blog for any length of time, you've probably gathered that I'm not real flashy.  Some would say boring.  Plain.  Even mildly dull.  In the Kaleidoscope of life ... I'm a grainy old black & white film.  Guilty!  I'm just not the most exciting dude in the world, and when it comes to fashion, that couldn't be more evident.  I like muted dull colors.  Black.  Gray.  White.  Some faded blues.  BUT NOTHING ELSE!!!   So in my running shoes, I've always tried to follow those general guidelines.  Problem ... with all of you fancy-pants, blinding color-happy, try to outshine the sun fashionistas out  there ... it's getting harder to find dull shoes.  STOP IT!!!   I finally had to cave in and join the rest of you "HEY LOOK AT MY SPARKLY BRIGHT SHOES!!!" runner types out there, and bought a pair of bright blue (with orange highlights for cryin' out loud) Brooks Pure Flows.  I almost made myself wanna puke putting them on.  So embarrassing.  I actually thought about carrying a purse during my run. But I'm trying branch out a little and not be so stuffy.  So good luck with that.

As far as the fit ... I love 'em!  I literally took them out of the box this morning and ran 18 miles in them, very comfortably.  The only minor issue I had was my left arch getting a little tight toward the end of the run, but I think that was non shoe related.  They felt fairly light (about 8.5 oz), and seemed to support 18 fastish miles fairly well.  So they passed first test.  Plus, no one shouted, "Nice shoes Lucy!" or threw anything from an open car window ... so that was nice!  I'll give 'em an honest go, and try not to complain too much.

Finally the run ... I couldn't have been happier with it!  I'm in pretty good shape right now, but still trying to dial it back a little and not ramp up too fast for the Chicago Marathon in October.  Today's run was supposed to be an up-tempo 18 miler with 9 miles at a 7:11 pace.  It went exactly as planned.  Here are the splits ...

8:27,  8:07,  7:52,  8:03,  7:49,  7:43,  7:35,  7:28,  7:09,  7:07,  7:15,  7:16,  7:06,  7:17,  7:15,  7:06,  7:11,  8:39

The conditions were pretty good - only 65 degrees, but 94% humidity - so we lost a lot of fluids and were soaked to the bone when we were done.  But I felt really strong, and even felt like I had to throttle back during most of the latter miles.  The problem is that even though I'm fairly fast right now, I really have doubts about being able to hold any kind of pace for 8 more miles in a marathon.  So I've still gotta work on stretching the distance a little.  On the schedule next week is a slow 24 miler, which will help.  But overall, I couldn't be happier with the strong run today!  Hope you have a great weekend!
... be great today!