Five for Friday

1. SHOES I finally am sick of the everchanging calf / achilles / arch pain that I finally went to our local fleet feet to see if I could find a different shoe. Since May I've been in the Saucony Mirage 3- lightweight but actually a light stability shoe. They were good enough for my PR in Maryland, but since then my legs hate me every.time.I.run

I was fitted for Saucony Ride- a neutral shoe. Apparently you should NOT run long distances in a light stability shoe if you don't pronate.

First run was an easy 3 mile early run before work. Honestly it was the first run pain free in a LONG time- score! Wore them for the Vermont Maple Leaf 1/2 this past weekend and did NOT like them. Blisters around mile 10, feet going numb and feeling heavy, and although the shoe is lightweight, they are 'bulkier' than what I've become accustomed to so it changed my gait and my HIPS were sore for 3 days after my half... that just doesn't happen to me this late in the game anymore. 3rd run was 5.2 mile Monday night run. My legs felt like bricks and I wanted to take the shoes off and run barefoot- that was last straw. 

Returned them today and decided to have a little fun with different shoes- Aasics Gel Tri Noosa 8. Back when I was gearing up to run New York for state #25, I had used the gel tri noosa 7s as a reward if I could break 1:45. Spoiler alert, I ran a 1:43:30- first time breaking 1:50 and hands down one of the happiest I've been while running. Afterward I bought the shoes and had to create a whole post about it haha. I really wanted the damn shoes

Naturally when I saw the updated version I HAD to try them out... aren't they so purdy??! All their missing is glitter

Tested a 5 mile run today. Didn't love it, but better than the others. I'm a little nervous to wear them for this weekend's race, so I'm debating on diverting back to the mirages with my new inserts for one more race so I can land this whole shoe thing down. 

At the end of the day I think what happened is from mid May till now, I haven't done a lot of training runs so I've lost a lot of strength and muscle stamina. Maybe this changes my stride, thus pain I haven't experienced before? Not really sure whats going on but....

I can't be the only one out there who has noticed that the shoe you once had a love affair with has now revealed its true colors and you want to toss it to the curb?

2. Running Gear- A few months ago Kim had invited me to this facebook group "Running Gear Buy /Sell..." where as you guess it, you can sell and buy gently used running gear. Now that my states are dwindling and I won't be doing as many matchy matchy races, it was time to streamline what I own. In the last month I've made over $400 through selling items that normally I would have just given away or donated to goodwill.  Some of that money has gone toward feeding my lululemon addiction since I refuse to actually spend that much on skirt normally.  If you're interested, let me know in  the comments your email address and I can send you an invitation to the group! (if you're leery about having the ridiculous amounts of followers I have see your email, you can always just email me at Lisarun2@gmail.com)

3. Races- Last night I registered for my final 3 states:

VA- Oct 6

OK- Nov 24

HI- Jan 19

When registering for HI, there was actually a spot in registration that said "tell us something unique you'd like to be announced as you cross the finish line" - talk about great timing as I have never seen this on ANY registration before. You bet I put "this is my last state in my 50 state quest". Not going to lie, I teared up a bit!

4. FLIGHTS- a few weeks ago I flew to Charlotte, NC via US Airways for work. They had a big promotion on my flight back to  register for a cc with them and receive 2 free round trip tickets to anywhere in US (Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and Mexico include) as well as an additonal 500 bonus miles. With Hawaii coming up and still being flightless, I signed up. Got my credit card last night and in process of registering account online. So excited, but yet I wonder--- 

anyone out there sign up for an airlines cc and have a time period of when they can redeem the miles?

Also did you hear that yesterday there was a glitch in United Airlines system and for 15 min or so all flights were free?!?! So far I know a lady bought 2 tickets to Hawaii and some guy bought 14 different tickets. I have one question... WHERE THE HECK WAS I WHEN THIS WENT DOWN? Man can you imagine?!?!

5. Montana- Tomorrow I venture to Montana for #47. This is my last week in my 5 weeks in a row of racing. Although I'm excited to venture to a new state, I'll be even more stoked to have 2 weeks of rest before VA. This also marks me 2nd to last race that I get to see Kim (she's in Portland, I'm in Nashville)  <insert tears> We have to do something fun to enjoy our limited time together.

Anyone  know anything fun and exciting to do in Billings, MT?