Brave New World

So, I've needed new shoes for about a month but have been avoiding the purchase for two reasons:

1) I realized two weeks before the marathon that Asics, in their infinite wisdom, upgraded my already-perfect Kayano sneaker. New shoes before race = no.

2) I'm a complete cheap-ass and didn't want to spend the money AFTER the marathon because I lost my training group discount.

However, my post-Pig attempts at running have not gone the way I was hoping and I really want to attribute this to the fact that my kicks are completely shot in a "we're going to run away by ourselves" sort of way. The only reasonable thing to do was to go to the Spot and buy new shoes. Done and done.

I'm not sure how I feel about the new Kayanos. I mean, they fit well (who would spend $140 on shoes that didn't fit?), but aesthetically they are not the most pleasing things I have ever owned. To start, the color of the shoe (at least the part visible from my vantage point) is mostly white. White. Glaring, blinding, look-at-me-I-just-got-new-shoes-white. Eek.

Secondly, they have changed the toe box to be asymmetrical:



Ok, the picture doesn't really do the ugly justice of these things. However, when I was telling my dad what I bought he said "Ew, I didn't like the looks of those this time and steered clear." This coming from a man who will go to the mall in a ripped flannel shirt with sawdust in his hair (I really do mean this with affection). If he thinks the shoes are ugly, well, that's just no bueno.

So why would I purchase something I want to hide under my running pants? Well, supposedly the new design is more in line with the way people's feet are actually designed. Since I usually lose a few toenails each season, the Running Spot salesperson and I thought this might be a good shoe to experiment with. I also bought the shoe in a half size larger than usual. We'll see what happens...

In other news, I'm still hobbling through three mile runs at a snail's pace. My left calf/achilles/something is all jacked up, which makes my knee hurt when I run. When I stop, the pain stops. Again, I'm really hoping that stretching and new shoes will help solve this problem. Meanwhile, I'm climbing the walls and taking up all sorts of odd pastimes because I don't know what to do with myself. :-)