The Beast and Me

Thanks for all those who were concerned about the status of my behind recently. It's been a little more than two weeks since I injured my left glute/hip and I'm happy to report that there have been no serious issues lately. Still some stiffness, but I found a few new stretching exercises that have helped out enormously.

The reason for the picture of the shoe above is that, as you might've guessed, I am sporting a brand spanking new pair of Brooks running shoes. Thanks to co-worker John for reccommending I visit a specialty running store to be fitted with a shoe that's appropriate for my individual needs. I found a local joint in Dunedin, Fla., down here and man it was a great experience.

The guy at the store had me walk without my shoes on and with them on, and then asked me to run a little bit so he could observe my technique. I was very impressed, because the guy could tell I was rolling my right ankle slightly and wondered if I had ever done anything to it. Why yes! I had in fact sprained that thing multiple times.

He pointed to my New Balance shoes and said, "Never wear those again." Now, this could've been a sales ploy, but after he broke down how my feet and ankles worked and how I needed a shoe with better support, I was sold and willing to listen to anything this guy had to offer. He suggested I try the above shoe and I could immediately tell a different.

Apparently, the type of New Balance shoes I bought were better suited for someone with flat feet. I have a medium arch, according to Shoe Store Guy, and shouldn't wear NB shoes. Never again will I simply walk into a sports store and grab a pair of shoes that looks cool. Go to a specialty running store and have this done if you are an avid runner/walker.

On a different note, I've got to say that having a professional athlete marvel at an Average Joe's athletic venture is a great confidence booster. Earlier this week, Jays outfielder Reed Johnson and I were chatting at the ballpark and he mentioned he saw me running the other day around our condo complex. "I don't know how you do that," said Johnson, referring to my running long distances.

He and I had talked previously about how I was training for a marathon after I ran by he and hiw wife and their dog Shooter earlier this spring. Now, this is a guy who is a finely-tuned athlete. One of the top outfielders in the game and a former gymnast. He's impressed with what I'm doing? That felt good to hear.

Then, also earlier this week, I was walking back to my condo and stopped for a minute to chat with Toronto pitcher Jason Frasor, who was out walking his dog Cosmo. He asked how far I had just run, and I said "Six miles at eight minutes per." He laughed and said, "You trying to make the team or something?" Nice.

Needless to say, I've been feeling a little better recently. I took a full week off from running following the minor injury, and it was killing me not to be out there. By the end of that week, I was getting really stir crazy mentally. It's strange after a while how you wind up feeling like you need that fix. There's times during the day when I actually plot out when and how far I'm going to run that night. I'm a crazy person, I know.

Things didn't go so hot my first few times out after the long layoff. The low point was a three-mile run on March 15 that I needed nearly 26 minutes to complete. OK, for some people that's not that bad. But averaging over 8:30 per mile for three miles when I can usually stick between 7:10-7:30 per miles over that distance was depressing. I felt defeated.

I took the day off after that and returned with a sub-8 minute average on a six mile run. Then, after buying the shoes, I ran a 7:15 first mile in my new footwear and averaged 7:48 over 4 miles. Skipping forward to today, there were a few other runs in there, I ran 3 miles at 7:23 per miles. So, I'm getting back to my usual pace. Man, it's a good feeling, too.

So far this week, I'm up to 22 miles with one day to go. That equals my highest weekly output since I've been in Florida, and I plan on running again tomorrow. I've ran a total of 89 miles since heading down here to the Sunshine State, averaging nearly 4.5 miles per run. It all comes to an end soon, too. I head back to Toronto on Friday and the season opens on March 31.

I'm interested to see how I adjust to running on treadmills again once I'm stuck in hotels during the year. I know I won't be able to get outdoor runs in as often as I'd like. Balancing my training with the schedule I have is going to be a tough task.