Running was sooo much easier when I was in high school!

 I first started running in high school.  I basically started because one day I was running our required 1 mile for basketball practice and after I was done with that mile I realized I wasn't tired, so I just kept running...3 miles later and I was hooked.

Fast forward 7 years.....

Running is HARD!  If I take 2 weeks off because I am busy or even 2 days off because I am tired my whole body is going to tell me about it.  I never experienced this until after I had babies.  Pregnancy is tough on the body, especially if you just treat pregnancy as a free pass on eating whatever and doing whatever you want, which is exactly what I did.  I was never a fast runner, even in high school.  8 or 9 minute miles were good for me because I just ran and ran for a long time, some people made fun and said I was slow, but if I really wanted to I could run to town and back and not be tired.  So 7 years, 2 babies, and LOTS of weight later it would make sense that I would still be slow, but I would like to be faster than I am now.  If I am not paying attention and just enjoying the run I will run a very slow 11 minute mile...pathetic I know.  If I am focused 10 minute miles is the pace I like to run at, but I would like it to be faster.

I went to Luke's locker (and runner will know that its the best place on Earth!) and told them about my problem.  They suggested I change shoes!  I have been running in Asics ever since I started running and have had no complaints until after pregnancy.  After I had my babies, my feet had grown a size and a half and I switched to Nike's because they just felt better...so now they were wanting me to switch again!  They pointed me in the direction of the Nike Run Free.   They said that they will make my feet stronger and maybe that will increase my time, so I gave them a try.

The first 2 weeks my feet were screaming mad at me!  I had crams in the souls of my feet just randomly through the day, my toes hurt at their joints and I felt like I had stone bruises.  Unfortunately, this is just all part of the process of making your feet strong again.  Yep, the muscles in your feet can get very sore and gain strength.  Now, I have been running in these shoes for 3 months and I LOVE them!  If I put on regular running shoes my feet feel restricted and so does the rest of my body movement.  I am proud to say that I can now run an 11 minute mile pushing the boys and a 9:30 mile not pushing the boys.  I am not able to keep that pace up, but eventually I will be able to if I just stay with it.  My feet have also shrunk in size now...guess my feet were fat and out of shape too!  I wear a whole size smaller in shoes again...weird I know.  There is one con about this shoe-  If you are running on a road that has a lot of gravel, sometimes little rocks get caught in the grooves of the shoes and it will eventually start to hurt your feet if you don't stop and pick the rock out, but other than that, I have no complaints.  I am thinking about running the 5K at the Owa Chito, but I really suck at 5K's and don't want to embarrass myself...plus that is a really hard run lol.  We will see what happens, but if I do run it you can count on me being at the back of the pack because lets face it, I am slow, but at least I try :)