Category: Running Shoes

Yesterday I ran my fastest 5k. I am still getting over the sting of being in the 45-49 age bracket, it really doesn’t seem possible. At least I can take solace in the fact that I did indeed, run my fastest 5k. As soon as the throng of humanity is released at the start line, I take off. Maybe not as fast as some, but much faster than I would ever run on my own.

I will preface by acknowledging that a 24 minute 5k is not an impressive feat for many people. People like the rest of my family. My 12 year old ran a sub 21 minute race, the rest of them were even faster. For me, a woman of experience and wisdom, a sub 25 min 5k seemed impossible 2 years ago so to set a goal of sub 24 was like auditioning for Star Search! Dare to dream!

She might be wearing Hokas.

This winter, I took a break from races. I started feeling my wanna-be next hammer-toe start aching after my Christmas Town Dash 8k in December and decided to give myself a break. I still ran, but tried to find the warmest part of the day and took it pretty easy. I’ve picked it up slightly in the past month, averaging around 15 miles a week at a comfortable pace. Speed has not been my focus. I was apprehensive going into this 5K as my “comfortable” pace is easily 1 minute to a minute and a half slower than my last 5K pace. Towards the end of last year, I wanted to break the 24 minute mark for a 5K, I was somewhere around a 24:20 in my best race.

Yesterday, I ran a 24:04. I did not meet my goal of being sub 24 but now I really believe that it is possible. Sometimes we need to rethink the purpose of a goal. It’s not a failure if we don’t meet the goal, it’s a failure if we don’t give it our best shot.

If I can keep getting faster, despite my advancing years, I am inspired to think of all of the other things I can get better at. Or learn. We are never too old to learn new tricks!

So why is it that I run so much faster in a race? Am I just a lazy runner the rest of the time? I am assuming that adreneline has a lot to do with it. Running 5-6 miles vs 3.1 could help as well. Either way, I don’t particularly enjoy running fast so it would be difficult to force myself to run at race pace when I am not being pursued by my rivals.

Two things I am loving right now. My shoes and my socks! I am on the second exact pair of these Topos, they have a wide toe box, zero drop and they look nice! Unlike many wide toe-box shoes, you won’t look like you stole the bowling alley rejects.

Not a Hoka

I find that my socks make a huge difference, I tend to get large callous build up near my bunions and my little toe gets rubbed my any seams. I found these oddly named, Thirty48 socks. The ones I tried are ankle cut compression socks with a tab back. These socks are made for left and right feet specifically. I found they greatly reduced the friction I had been experiencing. If you have bunions and like a zero drop, try these shoes!

Pretty colors. Also not a Hoka.

I like these socks so much that I have been hand washing them. Really my only reason for doing so is that I will never remember to keep them out of the dryer! I don’t want them to shrink! This is a huge commitment from me, I don’t own anything that is hand wash only and have never taken anything to the dry cleaner. These socks are worth it! These are best socks I have found for running with bunions!

Hello world! It’s been a while. I have been running races and even had a PR in a 5k in April, a 24:27! At least I think it was a PR. I injured my psoas, which is just plain fun to say but not so fun to rehab in January. The psoas led to a hip flexor issue but I watched a million youtube videos and through a greater power and much stronger glutes, I have persevered!

If feel like my Altras contributed to my psoas pull/glute weakness. Though I love the zero drop, I felt like I had little arch support. As a runner with very high arches, I struggle to find a balance between restriction and support. I switched to Saucony Kinveras, which I liked for their light weight feel and support but after a few months, I began to get that familiar plantar plate ache, this time on the opposite foot. My plantar plate tear previously took me out of commission for about 2 months, I didn’t want to lose the best part of the spring/summer so I backed off and went back to my Hokas. I taped my 2nd toe down to prevent the curling I was starting to see and began a vigorous toe exercise regimen. I never thought my life would revolve around glute exercises and toe lifts, but, here I am.

After wearing the Hokas for a few weeks, the rocker bottom allowed me to take that strain off toes, I started looking for other options. I didn’t likt the narrow toe box on the Hokas, and I do feel the excessive stack height throws off my gait and doesn’t allow me to engage my now incredible glutes. I have never been as comfortable wearign a show as I was with the Altra Escalante but after a 10 mile race, and a very sore psoas, I checked into other zero or low drop shoes. I found the Topo Magnifly 3. These shoes are very comfortable, feel supportive but not bulky. Unlike the Altras, they don’t look like clown shoes. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…. I removed the insert and used these alleged zero drop insoles to allow for a little more shock control. I can’t believe I paid this much for an insert, but my toe has been ok so far!

Back to the black hole that is Etsy. It reminds me of the halcyon days of yore when I was first on facebook and I wanted to see every comment and like. Like this blog, I will go months without posting and then go on a rager. I didn’t paint as much during the pandemic as I thought I would when contemplating what I would do during a pandemic. My house was busy all of the time and I just didn’t make it a priority. Recently I started painting again, I don’t have a lot more wall space and I hate trying to make prints, so I just started throwing more stuff on Etsy. Some of the work is generally appealing and some is a little more artsy-fartsy. Either way, the posting process is cumbersome and I have no idea how to use Instagram but I made a page anyway. I don’t share it because I somehow want to be anonymous which makes no sense, pretty much the same thing I do with this blog. A quiet, dignified Etsy shop. That 2 people a week visit. I have actually had 7 sales which is more than I thought I would have but less than I would need to make this an actual occupation. I would have to figure out how to make prints and doo-dads with my prints on them and that makes me want to take a nap, though if I am following my own advice and learning new tricks, I guess I should learn. Here are the latest additions to my Etsy shop!

    In a million years, I never would have predicted that I would run a 10 mile race let alone THRIVE in a 10 mile race. To be fair, like most humans, I am not very good at predicting things.

    I would love to regale my readers (not that I have any) with my detailed training regimen. Running 10 miles might have been a good start. I didn’t do that. In fact, I had never run 10 miles, 7 ish was probably as far as I ever ventured before. You probably shouldn’t consider this training. What I lacked in actual distance training, I made up for in persistence, consistency, sporadic speed workouts and my spotify playlists. And lots of heart, having watched all of the 80’s movies, I knew the slow clap at the end of my journey would make everything ok.

    The day before the race, I was walking in to the kitchen when I caught the little toe of my left foot on a chair. It was a familiar feeling, I broke this toe walking past a Hummer sized strolled at Water Country a few years ago. I iced it, took the therapeutic dosage of Ibuprofen and shoved my foot into a running shoe to act as a compress.

    The conditions for the race were challenging, a steady 20 mph wind with gusts to 40 mph. I almost didn’t run, I was still having toe pain but it didn’t seem to be broken, it hurt whether I walked, ran or stood still. This was a race I have always wanted to do, I was going to do the irresponsible thing. Originally all four of us were supposed to race, an ankle injury side-lined my husband and I decided to defer my daughter’s race to next year. It was just me and my son. Mama and her boy.

    As we battled the wind to find the start line, close to a half mile from our packet pick up, I saw a line. A long line. As we are “social distancing” I thought it might have been the wave start line forming. No, this was the line for the porta-potty. Given the time I had before my start in the “elite women” group, there was no way I would get through that line. Yes, I was placed in the 1st women’s heat, talk about pressure. I have never run 10 miles in a row but because of my 5k time, I was placed in front. Super.

    I found a large tree in a ravine and headed to the woods. I guess that makes me a legit distance runner now.

    I had my music, or what I could hear of my music through the 40 mph wind gusts. I had my Samsung health ap, which still sound less cool than Runkeeper, but we don’t dwell on these things. My wave went off and I was running a 10 mile race, all 10 miles. It wasn’t until about a half mile in that I realized my GPS was not connecting! I kept restarting, but after being told I was running a 24 min mile, I gave up. The woman in front of me looked like she was keeping a good pace. As everyone pointed out to me after the race, I could have calculated my pace using the start time and the mile markers like our Puritan ancestor had to do. I wasn’t carrying an abacus and I was still trying to wrap my mind around the 10 miles in a row thing so I just laser focused on the woman in orange ahead of me.

    I felt great! Cold, but still strong until about mile 8. Before the race, I had the idea of bringing some gummy bears in my pocket in case I needed a carbohydrate boost. I jammed my cold hand into the tiny coin-sized pocket of my running shorts to pull out a sticky gummy bear and realized just how stupid this idea was. I now had sticky fingers and since I am an old lady who runs with her cell phone, I had made my useless running ap all sticky as well. Regardless, I stuck to the plan and ate the gummy bear. This made me thirsty and not at all revived.

    There is a happy ending, I made it to the end and my pace was just over 9 min per mile! Much faster than I was planning to run! My possibly broken toe didn’t hurt. I was only passed by a few 70 year-olds. A good day overall. Ultimately, I learned that I placed 3rd in my age group, which I guess makes me “elite” in a “good for you!” kind of way.

    . The aura of this race was much different from the frenetic pace of the 5k world. The fact that people actually stop in the middle of the race to use a port-a-potty was a foreign concept. I enjoyed the more leisurely pace and laid-back attitude.

    I was sore the next day. It’s been a while since I was sore after a race, it was a badge of honor! The slow clap never happened, but like a good 80’s movie, a positive attitude and the right clothes are 90 percent of the solution. I made some memories with my first born. I look forward to running in more distance races, especially trail races.

    I have new running shorts which I love, they are Baleaf, made in China likely by forced labor, but they are the best shorts I have ever worn. And they have real pockets, not tiny coin purse pockets! I am also loving my Altra Escalante 2 running shoes, I wore them over the past few races and have had sub 8 splits in my 5ks. These Balega socks have been great, no blisters, not even on my unfortunate bunion!

    It has been a busy week. Especially busy now that it is dark at 5 PM and I have my pajamas on by 6, so much to do in so little time.

    I was having a streak, I even took some photos (terrible of course) of several from scratch pumpkin pies I made. Though I am not a good baker, I do make everything from scratch, no mixes here. I took these precious little pie pumpkins and transformed them into crust-less pies! Why crust-less? Because otherwise I will be listening to the rumblings of a certain someone in my family who avoids extraneous gluten. I don’t particularly care about crust and as I would be making it from scratch, thus increasing my chances of disaster, I am happy to skip it.

    Riding high on the victory of my past pies, I flew too close to the sun and literally melted my pumpkin wings. Note to self, if your pie needs 5 or so minutes to be fully set in the middle it is not wise to step outside to do a little hedge clipping.

    The scorched earth pie began simply. Microwaving chunks of pumpkin until soft. Easy, right? All went well until I decided to use my food processor not just to puree the pumpkin but to blend my entire batter. It was at this point that I realized that I do not have one of those food processors in which one can blend soups and liquids. It leaks out of the bottom. After I cleaned this mess up and poured the remains into my pie pan, I popped this beauty into the oven. After about 40 minutes, I decided it needed about 5 more minutes to fully set. So I left it in for another hour while I pruned hedges on a glorious fall day.

    “Oh my god, the pie!”

    Apparently, virtual school makes it impossible to smell burning pumpkin pie. My children were oblivious to the disaster as I walked into the kitchen, realizing that I had left the pie in the oven.

    I didn’t realize how blurry this was until now. Probably from the steam.

    The saving grace of this pie, baked for well over 2 hours, was that it was crust-less. If there had been a gluten engorged crust to this particular pie, it would have turned to ash. Instead, the custard caramelized. My son actually said he preferred my burned pie to the others. That’s not really saying much. There’s a sound bite for you, “this burned pie tastes better tha n my other pumpkin pie, follow me for more recipes!”

    Breaking News, middle aged woman runs faster than she did before.

    Two earth shattering things in my running world. I am wearing new shoes and I ran a 24:44 5k on Saturday, a sub 8 min pace!

    The Hokas helped me recover from a foot injury, specifically a plantar plate tear. The rocker bottom allowed me to run without pressure on this healing area. On the other hand, I felt that the cushion contributed to some hip flexor/psoas pain. I have been using some Pilate and yoga strength training to work my glutes and to stretch my psoas. The Hokas helped me recover from a foot injury, specifically a plantar plate tear. The rocker bottom allowed me to run without pressure on this healing area. On the other hand, I felt that the cushion contributed to some hip flexor/psoas pain. I have been using some Pilate and yoga strength training to work my glutes and to stretch my psoas. Doesn’t that make me sound like a gym rat?

    Interestingly, foot pain has been my Achilles heel. I have bunions and high arches and I have been using an arch support in my running shoes. After listening to this podcast with guest, Irene Davis, PhD and with my reading on trigger points and muscle attachments, I decided to increase my foot flexibility and strengthen my arches. After several weeks of these exercises, I took out my arch supports. The first few runs I felt like I was getting blisters below my bunion. After that, I could feel my ankles getting stronger and much more range of motion in my toes.

    I ran in minimalist shoes before, the Merrell Arc 4. I was running in these when I had the plantar plate injury. Though I was running in Hokas, I believed in the mechanics of the minimal shoe. I have started running in the Altra Escalante and have been pleased with results. By focusing on proper form, especially a midfoot/forefoot strike pattern my feet feel strong. Picturing my daughter’s beautiful running form, particularly the leg extension. There is a more natural rhythm that I am falling into when I am focusing on my foot strike and leg extension which leads me to a faster pace!

    This weekend, I was shocked when my phone clocked my first mile at a 7:50! I kept each mile pretty consistent and finished with a 7:53 average pace, something I did not think would ever be possible. I did this with new shoes, no arch supports and a kick ass playlist.

    There is a metaphor in here somewhere. Sometimes the things you think are helping you are actually holding you back. Had I not decided to begin this foot exercise regimen and to cast aside the shoes I had been running in somewhat successfully, I would never know the glory of running like a slow motion Olympian. Sometimes you have to break it all down to rebuild it better. We are never too old to learn some new tricks.

    The older I get (remember, I am still chilly!) the more I focus on doing things that make me happy. Why then am I cutting downs trees and sleepign in a shed without heat, it must make me happy on some strange, primal level.

    I grew up in the 80s and as a child of this time period I am keenly aware of “stranger danger.” Having been fed a regular diet of “After School Specials” and “America’s Most Wanted,” I was keenly aware that I might be kidnapped at any time. Safety, or the illusion of safety is something we Gen X-ers prioritize.

    where it all started

    Growing up in the 80’s also meant listening to music was one of the most important things in my life. I listened at 9pm to the local “Top 9 tonight.” I never quite understood who was rating them and how it could change daily but I would record my favorite songs from the radio to my cassette player. I did my aerobic workouts listening to my walkman. I never liked the disc man as much, it skipped too much during my jump heavy dance routines. Without social media or in my case, cable television, music was my primary connection to the world around me.

    When I began running in my 40’s, it made me feel like a kid again. Seriously, who other than elementary school kids takes off running at full speed (or any speed) for fun and not just to escape a predator? Runners, that’s who. We may look serious with our dri-weave running gear and our hideous Hokas but we really are just giddy kids. Happy to be outside, running into or around puddles, listening to the soundtrack of our youth.

    In my neighborhood, where I have defined and regularly trafficked trails, I feel comfortable listening to my earbuds. If I am elsewhere, I may only use one earbud or none at all.

    I know “serious” runners don’t listen to music while they run. It’s their loss. Running for me is basically an excuse to listen to music, especially cheesy 80’s music, though I also tend to sing which scares the people around me.

    What do you like to listen to while you run?

    I am on my second pair of Hokas and I think I am ready for my third. I started with the re-release of the Clifton One one oneoneone. Super ugly shoe but it helped with my plantar plate injury I discussed here. One thing I can confirm is that when running in your 40’s, your shoes are really important!

    My second pair of Hokas was the Rincon, much better looking and frankly, more comfortable. The tongue never stayed put in the horrendously ugly Clifton Ones and the Rincon had a more comfortable fit all around.

    I don’t know how to crop in wordpress

    I have run many, many miles in these shoes. I can’t tell you the exact number because Runkeeper and I are no longer speaking. I run 3-6 miles every other day, carry the one, that’s a lot of miles since Christmas, when I got these Hoka Rincons. After several weeks of lies, 12 min mile runs and other impossibilities, I decided to change my tracking ap. To be honest, social distance running has been more about mental then physical health, so my stats seem to matter less. Virtually every race has gone virtual so I wasn’t really training for anyting. I am now using my default Samsung health, I don’t love it but Runkeeper and my GPS couldn’t find a way to get along.

    Back to the shoes, I am tempted to find another pair of these. The newest Rincon 2 aren’t my favorite colors, I guess this one is ok.

    What I liked about the Hoka Rincon:

    1. Lightweight, I am apparently very weak and most shoes feel like those aerobic lead weights people used to wear in the 80s. At least that is how they feel to me.
    2. Breathable, the mesh is very interesting, though I am starting to get some holes in mine. The hammer toe I am now sporting after my plantar plate tear, approves of these shoes
    3. Color, I love the grey and the teal. I don’t feel like I am wearing orthopedic shoes.
    4. No blisters
    5. Can’t feel gravel. Loved my Merrells but I could feel every stone I ran over. I could run over fairly long spikes and not feel anything in these.

    Don’t Love about Hoka Rincon

    1. Not much in the way of arch support. I actually use these inside and though I have no background in podiatry, I have found them very helpful against blisters from pronating. There is no evidence for any of this, I could very well be exacerbating some other issue but since I went to several podiatrists/orthopedists who were less useful to me than a Wendy’s drive up window.
    2. Material is a little flimsy but I think that also adds to the comfort.
    3. Could be wider in the midsole/bunion area.

    I am getting ready for my first official trail run, a 10k in West Virginia next weekend. Let’s hope for no tropical storms!

    Twinsies! Today I crossed over into a new level of married old person. I wore the same running shoes as my husband, the Saucony Kinvera 10. To be fair, they are different colors and to be even more fair, this is not the first pair of matching running shoes we have owned. We both had a love affair with our Merrell Bare Access trail shoes, he still wears his in races, I am afraid they contributed to my plantar plate injury.

    My Saucony Kinvera 10 is a very pretty color, I am going to call it seafoam green.

    I felt good running today, I ran at a good pace, not my fastest, but I ran each subsequent mile faster than the one before and wound up close to me 5k pace for a 4 mile run with lots of steep hills.

    This is the 3 year anniversary of my running journey. My son signed us up for a Christmas school run, I tried to train as best I could. I think my time was 32 minutes for the 5k and I felt like I would die for the rest of the week, I mean walking down the stairs backwards because my quads hurt kind of die. My life has changed so much since then. The idea of running six miles for fun was something I couldn’t have conceived of at the time. I had foot pain before I ever started running, a neuroma, which made walking painful. My feet are still my “Achilles heel,” but I have learned some new tricks to help them out. Lacing is still the key to my foot comfort.

    I kept the Saucony Kinvera 10 laced as they were from the factory, we’ll call this “normal” lacing. I posted earlier about my voyage into the world of “unconventional” lacing here. After 3 miles, I was getting numbness and tingling in my toes. I stopped and retied the left shoe, which is my problem foot (for now.) I threaded the laces unilaterally from the 4th and 5th hole up and then added the cinches at the ankle eyelet. This seemed to relieve most of the pinched feeling I was having.

    They sure are prettier than my Hokas.

    When I first put these shoes on, they felt like they rubbed on the inside of my heel. I wore them around the house for a while and it still seemed stiff in the inner heel. I was surprised that when I ran, I didn’t feel any rubbing in this area. I was also expecting more bounce as the foam on the Kinvera is “squishier” than the Hoka foam.

    I will try them again, this was a good run, the weather was a little warmer too, so that helped!

    Not bad for an old lady!

    I have self-diagnosed myself (allow myself to introduce myself)

    many times over the years via google. I have had various foot ailments, Morton’s neuroma ( a neuroma so good it has a salt named after it. Actually, I have been to the Morton mansion in Nebraska City, Nebraska. It is beautiful and not made of salt, it is also the home of Arbor Day.

    http://gonebraskacity.com/member/arbor-lodge-state-historical-park/

    I am not sure it was a Morton’s neuroma but the pebble in the shoe feeling turned into a constant burning and lasted well over a year. This was about 5 years ago and since then, I seem to have resolved the right foot and stumbled upon a new problem on my left foot. We ran 2 Christmas races, including an 8k, which to me still seems like a marathon, I then spent a weekend squatting and reaching to remove The World’s Ugliest Wallpaper. The next morning, I could not stand on my foot. It was swollen and felt like I was walking on a brick. According to my magic 8 Google, I had a partial tear of the plantar plate, or a stress fracture, or gangrene. It was Christmas and ain’t nobody got time to go to the doctor so I suffered and survivied with NSAIDS and clunky old-lady sandals, which I later found to be the almost identical to the horrendously ugly Hoka’s I wound up wearing to heal my wounds and wound my pride.

    I never go to the actual doctor, but this time, I was a responsible adult, I sucked up my pride and my several thousand dollar deductable and made an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon. When I made the appointment, I couldn’t walk. By the time several weeks had passed, I was mobile, in pain and bruised looking but mobile. When I arrived in the waiting room, I realized I had made a huge mistake. To say I was the only one in the waiting room not in a full body cast would be an accurate statement. Clearly my little foot pain was going to pale in comparison to the horrific injuries these people were dealing with. I hoped in my permanent record it would show the doctor that I am not a cry-baby and I hardly ever seek medical attention. After hours of waiting, they took an x ray of my foot. The tiny doctor man who was no more than 20 years of age told me he couldn’t see a stress fracture. I asked about this metatarsalgia I had read about or metatarsal plate tear, he said it was possible but my bunions were the likely cause. Perhaps, but I have had these same bumpy bunions since I was 12 and this second toe on my left foot was now club-footed when it used to be straight.

    Long story short, I even went to a podiatrist who was even more dismissive than the orthopedist. In the orthopedist’s defense, I wasn’t yet in a full body cast and I did walk both into and out of the office so pretty much a success story. I work in healthcare and see my share of worry-worts, I don’t dismiss their problems. I have a deformed toe when there wasn’t one a few months ago and Dr. Google tells me it’s from a tear, likely permanent at this point. Dr. Foot gave me an adhesive pad for my shoe, spent 10 seconds looking at my foot, didn’t have me stand or look at my pile of shoes I was thoughtful enough to bring in. When I am ready for bunion surgery, I should call him. Hmm, no thanks, I’ll see the 20 year body cast mummy artist.

    In my extensive research, I find a blog from a woman dressed up for a Disney themed race who seems to have had my injury and is now able to run again in whimsical outfits with even uglier shoes, the Hokas. The premise of these abominations is that if you design the shoe with a rocker bottom, the stress of pushing off on your toe is eliminated and by choosing the worst colors imaginable, it takes your mind of any physical pain by replacing it with searing-eyeball ugliness.

    I bought the Hokas that were said to be so comfortable, they were legendary! They were re-introducing the HOKA One one 1. Uno? I am not sure why there are so many ones but alas, here we are. I accidently ordered the uglier of the 2 color choices, tried them fora few weeks, decided they were too big and ordered the smaller size with the less ugly color scheme. Less ugly being the operative word.

    really.ugly.shoes.
    bright yellow soles?

    It is now May and I had built my way back up to that oh-so marathon like 8k mark when fate stepped in and squashed my foot again. I am not sure if this is still residual from my now deformed hammer toe creating tendonitis, a tight calf muscle or just old age sticking her thumb in my eye but I have a burning painful to the touch feeling on the inside of my leg. It is not visibily swollen, I don’t think I have a blood clot, though that is always my first thought. It feels like a nerve and a blood vessel had a fight and both of them woke up sore the next morning. I have been analyzing new and excitng ways to tie my shoes in order to relieve pressure from the top of my foot. I am able to put a shoe on today, so I consider this a small victory. I am going to try the skip lacing. I had been alternating my Hoka Clifton 1 with my Merrell Bare Access 4 as I thought the additional cushioning would help reduce any stress related injury but now I am thinking I will go back to the Merrell full time. Though the Hoka is said to be a 4mm heel drop, I feel the difference in my calf when I switch back.

    We are supposed to run some sort of charity mile race, grouped by age, this Saturday. We shall see if old-mother nature is going to keep me down. Until then, I will be staring, exasperated, at these diagrams.

    I spent way too long trying to figure out an alternate lacing pattern, who knew there were so many?

    There isn’t an option for 40 year old bunion feet.

    On the bright side, being sidelined allowed for me to spend some extra time painting this weekend. I came up with this little number from a photograph I took around the Chesapeake Bay.

    Later I did some tutorials with my favorite youtube watercolor artiste, Umberto Rossini!

    and my attempts, one on hot press Arches paper (because I have never painted on hot press before) and one on cold press Arches

    I didn’t get the vibrancy that Umberto has, I always feel like the paint is going on bold but forget how much it fades!