out with the old...

and in with NEW SHOES!!!!!!

I am a runner jogger.  I've run a few races (they are one of my favorite things to do) and after my second half marathon I had knee pain like I had never felt before.

I tried a lot of things...a physical trainer, increasing weight training on my lower body, buying new running shoes...etc. etc.

I finally read a book that had a huge influence on my life, "Born to Run" recommended to me by my friend Ashley of edible perspective.  In short, it's a book that promotes barefoot or "minimalist" running.  It goes through a lot of interesting explanation including a Native American tribe in Mexico that can run for miles and miles and miles, evolutionary biology, an interesting experiment with a quadruped and a biped, and some of the best athletes in the world.

In the end, I was convinced that I needed to try barefoot running.  I bought some Vibrams in February 2010.  I had to slowly reteach myself how to run in them....but that has proven quite successful.  I am now running not quite farther, but definitely faster than I ever have.  I ran an 8:55 minute mile tonight.  I know to some that is super slow...to some super fast.  Considering my last half marathon, ran in February 2009, I ran an average of a 12:30 mile...I consider tonight quite a feat.

Finally, I wore that first pair of Vibrams out.  

The black pair was my first pair. I'm super excited about the new pair.

A few negatives about the old pair:
1. They were black. I live at the beach, in the south, and most of the time I run on asphalt....they were flipping HOT!
2. Because they were open with a single strap across the top, I had a Vibrams tan that looked worse than a Teva tan. I was ready to get full coverage in my running slipper.
3. You can barely see it, but there is a hole in the bottom of the right foot. That, obviously is a problem. Though I did run over 400 miles in these shoes...so I really can't complain.

Now, for my favorite part....the bottoms.


Don't they look cool? I think they're so spiderman-esque...if spiderman were blue, yellow, and gray.

All in all, I'm pretty excited. I always feel like I can run faster with new shoes. I know it's all in my head, BUT I did run my fastest mile tonight....that's got to be the magic new shoes, right?