After lots of ice, extra wide shoes, toe spacers and my fancy bunion socks, my foot finally feels back to normal. This was the longest bout of toe pain I have dealt with, and it certainly has me concerned. We see a lot of horrific foot issues and we have people proudly rip their shoes off and display scars from surgeries gone wrong. Honestly, it’s like that scene in Jaws here some days with people trying to one up each other with medical melodies. Having had a front row seat to these types of exchanges has made me weary to get any work done on my foot. So, for the time being, I am just doing whatever I can in my power to avoid getting it worked on.
With my foot back to manageable, I got back on track with my training. I ran in a variety of location in a few different shoes. The bulk of my miles came on the trail, with 30 miles in three runs out on the soft terrain. Since I was still hesitant about my foot, I opted to run all of my trail miles in the Hoka Stinson 7. I probably have 15 pairs of trail shoes but the Stinson is the widest. It is the perfect shoe for plodding along while protecting my foot. My sister is on the final weeks before her marathon debut so one of my runs was with her while we talked about her race plan. It’s been really fun getting to run with her and this journey for her marathon has been amazingly to watch. She has dealt with her own hamstring injury the last two months so she has been taking her miles very cautiously so she can get to the line healthy.
On Saturday, Run Moore was a sponsor for a local 5k that was held in honor of Frank Schaeffer, who was the president of our local Road Runners Club. Frank was a friend and huge supporter of the shop. He passed away after a tough battle with cancer. He was diagnosed with cancer within weeks of his retirement and within months he had passed away. We were honored to be part of the race and connect with Frank’s family. Due to my recent pause in training for my foot, I decided not to race but to just run the event. I ran with one of our first employees and kept together until the last half mile when someone tried to pass us for second place (first place was way ahead by this point). I ended up kicking it in out of pride and held on to my position. It felt good to change gears quickly and I was happy with the time vs effort on the run. I ran in the Brooks Hyperion Max, which is a perfect shoe to use when changing paces. I have not had a pair of Brooks shoes I have loved in a long time but the Hyperion Max is on my list of favorite shoes I have run in this year. They’re very streamlined in appearance but provide ample room, even for my gimpy bunion foot. They’re great for anything from a track workout to long runs. They’re a massive upgrade from the regular Hyperion.
On Sunday, I attended a Ravens game with my oldest son. I got up early and hit the road for some easy miles followed by strides. I hit the road in the AltraFWD Experience, Altra’s first shoe with a drop. While it’s not a very exciting midsole, I really like the fit and feel of them. It’s a great junk mile shoe and perfect to pick up the pace or for some post run strides. I have a race coming up so this was a good week to get back to the grind. I had a few runs over 10 miles and got a little bit of speed in. Plus, I also got to wear three different shoes, which I always like. Anywho, thanks for reading!
