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| I donated my last collection to Shoes for Africa in November. Which means I've accumulated this many since then. Are you listening, Saucony? |
A few months ago, I branched out a bit. I was noticing as I glanced around everyone’s feet at races they were all wearing some form of
lightweight shoes—what we used to call “racing flats” and now, in the post Born
to Run era, call minimalist shoes. I was
still racing in my clunky training sneakers, whether it was a 5k or a marathon.
I was reluctant to change shoes (if it ain’t broke why fix it?), but clearly the
people I was racing against had moved on to more professional looking shoes, so
I decided to give it a try.
I bought my first pair of Saucony Kinvara’s (a light 6.7 oz
compared to my 9.7 oz Rides) and have been slowly easing into them. Currently I
wear them for track workouts, some short runs, and shorter races like 5ks.
Immediately when I started wearing them I noticed they cut up my left ankle,
but only my left ankle, which made me
wonder if I am lopsided or the shoes are. When I wear high enough socks that
problem seems to be fixed. (But whether or not I am lopsided is still TBD.) I
raced one 5k in them on a cold and icy morning and immediately felt like I had
contracted shin splints, but that may have been due to an insufficient warm up
for such a cold race. Other than that, they seem to be okay and my disloyalty
to my Rides hasn’t backfired. I’m not ready to race a marathon in them (God forbid
my sock slipped, my whole left ankle might be sliced off by the end) but I
think I’ll keep trying them in successively longer races and see what happens.
They also make me feel a little more official when I head to
the track. The track I run on is 3.5 miles away (and then 3.5 miles home) so I
haven’t yet graduated to wearing them to and from the track, but I carry them
in my hands and change into them when I get there. Which seems like a perfectly
logical thing to do to me, but certainly looks a little crazy. On the way home
the other morning, a biker stopped, gave me a strange look, and finally asked
the obvious question: “You carry an extra pair of shoes??” Like I was running
Forest Gump style and would need to switch shoes somewhere on my way to California.
I explained briefly it was for the track, but I think he thought I was crazy
nonetheless. I was vindicated later, while walking to work, when I spotted the
entire Georgetown track team running off to practice, carrying their spikes in
hand. (I wish I had looked at them more carefully, apparently Jenny Simpson was
in the mix!!)
Ok so I’m not a collegiate athlete with fancy spikes.
But I am a marathoner trying to do speedwork and maybe my Kinvaras will help me
shave off a second or two. And even if my shoe collection is a little atypical,
it’s a bit easier on my bank account than Louboutins. Although, Saucony, if
you’re listening, I won’t mind a sponsorship.
Dream big,
Teal
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