And I survived! YAY!!! Ok, let's start with yesterday. I go to Fleet Feet to buy my shoes. My mentor told me to expect to spend about $80-$125. So I get to Fleet Feet and I'm so nervous because honestly, I just felt silly. Why? Because I don't run. So I didn't have the slightest idea what to say or what to ask for or anything. I don't even shop in athletic stores; I buy all my shoes from places like Famous Footwear or DSW. I guess I'm uncomfortable when in a situation where I don't feel completely confident on the subject matter. I'm a nerd; I like to know stuff. And I guess when I don't, it makes me nervous. Like I feel like people think I should already know something. I have some anxiety issues; I'm hoping running will help me with those. Anyway, I get in the store and tell the lady (Meri, pronounced like Mary) I'm training with TNT, I've never run before, and I need shoes. Let me just say, the entire experience was beyond positive. First, I took off my shoes and socks so she could look at my feet. Then she had me walk barefoot in the store. She said she was watching the flexibility in my arch. She also wanted to see what type of shoe I would need based on how my feet hit the floor as I walked. She even looked at the bottom of my shoes to look at the wear on them. So we sat back down and she asked me what sized shoe I wore. The anxiety returned. Why? Because I don't know what size shoe I wear anymore. Since I lost weight, my foot has shrunk, most of my shoes are too big, but some fit just fine. So I was embarrassed to tell her I didn't know, but knew what my last size was, a 9. Meri measured my feet. My left foot measures a 9 and my right a 9.5 (my arch an 8). So she brings out a 10, but says I should have at least a half a fingernail's space at the tip of my shoe, and I didn't, so she went for the 10.5's. Can you even believe that? No wonder my toe would hurt sometimes after walking for a long time, not enough space. I never really had this problem in my Adidas; but with these shoes I have now (Avia), I do. Now, imagine my embarrassment to have on a size 9 shoe when she brings me out a 10.5. I've never bought my tennis shoes so much larger than my regular shoes. Who knew?
Anyway, she goes and gets out some Asics for me to try on (size 10.5). She said it was their "tester shoe." She told me that when I walk, my feet leaned in. She wanted to make sure it wasn't my ankles, so she chose the Asics with support. Then she took me outside so that she could watch me run in them. Mind you, when I got to the store, I had over 11,000 steps; keep that in mind. I run about two stores ahead (in a strip mall), then turn around and run back. She says it's not my ankles, it's definitely my feet (arch?). So we go back in the store, and she brings out three different pairs of shoes for me to try on: a pair of Mizuno, a pair of Fila, and I forget the third pair, which Meri had me try on first. Then she took me out to watch me run in them. Then we switched. I put on one Fila and one Mizuno. I absolutely did not like the Fila. It felt WAY too airy and open and just not right. But the Mizuno, I liked. Meri liked those the best, too, so she felt like we were on the same page. She she took me back in and took off the Fila, and put the other Mizuno on. And took me back out to watch me run. I liked them. I was concerned they would all be too big (a 10.5?!) and slip off my foot, but they didn't. My foot didn't move around in the shoe at all! Including the sock! OH! THE SOCKS!!!
Ok, when I took my socks off, Meri said that it looked as though my socks were wet (they were stuck to my feet). I told her that they were damp. She asked if they were cotton and I told her yes. Now, in my head I was thinking, they're not dress socks, of course they're cotton! Also in the back of my mind is what we were told during the Kick Off Celebration: only non-cotton items. They meant socks, too?? Apparently, they did. Meri tells me that I should wear non-cotton socks to run it because they whisk the sweat away from the foot. So I'm thinking, I know I don't have ANY socks that weren't cotton or trouser socks. Well, they have a little Rubbermaid thingie with three drawers, and each drawer has a different size sock in it (S, M, L/XL). She got me a pair out of the medium drawer and had me put them on. Then she went in the back of the store to get the shoes, I looked at the wall with all the socks and found the pair I had on to see what the price was. $9.99!!!!! TEN DOLLARS?! For a pair of socks??? A pair. I thought to myself, no way. But then at one point (when Meri had gone in the back the 2nd time), I looked at the shoe thingie next to me (where they ask you to put your foot on the front while they sit on the top) and read what it said. It was talking about why you should wear only non-cotton socks. It talked mostly about sweat, and the thing that stood out to me most is that in a given day, your foot (or feet?) sweats enough to fill an 8-ounce glass. How gross is that?? Another one said that 55% of the sweat evaporates out the top of the shoe, but the rest is absorbed in the sock and the footbed. Still gross, regardless of the sock. But that's a lot more moisture down there than I thought. And I don't want to get any type of fungus cuz that's GROSS.
Ok, so back to the Mizuno. After we decided that we liked them best, she wanted me to try another pair of Mizuno. This pair she said had more cushioning and wanted me to see if I could tell the difference. She said if I could not tell the difference, to not get them because of the price difference ($40 more expensive). So I put a different Mizuno (the original orange, and the more cushion was blue) on each foot. I immediately didn't like the blue one; it felt too tight across the top of my foot. She told me to take them out and run in them, by myself, and to go a little further this time and pay attention to how they felt. So I did. And you know what? I liked the blue pair better, and it didn't have anything to do with the cushion. It was how they fit across the top; remember how I didn't like that? Well, I felt like it would keep my toe from hurting, like it gave my whole foot more support. So I get back in and I tell her what I thought. She said we could try lacing up the blue ones differently to make it more comfortable and keep them from hurting the top of my foot. So I took them off, watched her lace them up, put them back on, and walked around the store. PERFECT!!! I wanted to be mad about the price ($135), I really did, but I couldn't be. I knew how much running I'd be doing, and I knew I needed the best equipment for my feet. It just so happens those (the blue Mizuno) were the most expensive. I asked her how many miles I would get out of the shoes and she said about 300 miles or about 6 months. The marathon is in October, so that's perfect. I'll buy a new pair of shoes when I start to train for another marathon.
When I got in the store the last time, I was sweating, and Meri said to me, "You didn't think you'd be doing so much running, did you?" I was like, "NO, I didn't!!!" I checked my pedometer after I'd left the store and it was over 13,000 steps. I had gotten over 2,000 steps since I'd gotten to the store!!! But before I left, I took off my new running shoes and the "loaner" socks... they came right off! Even after all that running, and I was sweating, and they came right off. So I decided to try one pair, the Balega Lady Enduro. A pair of running shoes, a pair of socks, and a 10% TNT discount brought me to $132. I know now, without a doubt, I will be crossing that finish line in San Francisco. I don't spend that type of money. Those shoes will get wear and tear, and it will be from training for this marathon!!!
So that takes me to training. I get there at around 6:50am. I see all the TNT training shirts, and feel a little at ease, but still nervous. Then I think, if I can't run at all, I can pace myself with the walkers for the day, and build up running each session. I see my mentor and we speak. We get warmed up as a group, then we're off. We walked for about five minutes (I guess, I was following a different mentor who was walking 5 minutes, running for 3) then we started running. I ran! And I kept running until we stopped. Then we walked. Then we started running again. Then the worst thing happened: the mentor fell! She was Ok except for her hand was pretty busted up (she used it to break her fall). I faltered a bit because I thought, if she could fall and she's a mentor, anything could happen to you, too! I stayed with her for a little bit, but there was nothing I could do (and I felt completely invisible), so I kept on with my run. It sucked because I didn't have a watch, so I couldn't time how long I ran. So I decided to run until I was past tired of running. And that took me to the halfway mark! That felt about right. So I turned around and walked about 360 steps and figured that was about 3 minutes, then I started running again. I ran as long as I could,then ran a little longer, then I started walking. Started running again for the last stretch, and couldn't make it as far as I thought, so I stopped, walked past about 3 telephone poles, and started running again. I made it to the light (where we started running on the way out), and started walking and cooling down since I knew I was about 5 minutes from the end. I didn't think I could run for 90 seconds, and here I ran for 3 minutes at a time!!! I signed back in, got some water, then got some Gatorade, and then I did some stretches, alone. It was, I dunno, relaxing. Then I got in my car and come home.
I still can't believe I'm doing this. I really can't. Now, I have to get started on my fundraising. And I still have lots of reading to do.
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