Play Nice

You can guess in the last two days, my brain has been chock full of shoe thoughts. Remember how awesome they are? How could I NOT think about them?

Before that sounds entirely too weird (I mean, they're shoes ...), go with me a step farther and know that all of the fanfare isn't just about the shoes themselves. Nope. Instead, it's about what these shoes represent. They're not just fun and crazy cool to look at, gush over and drool upon. Rather, they represent exactly how far I've come. While I'm no Olympian, not an elite athlete nor even an age-group place winner, I have come really freakin' far these past 4 years. 'Scuse me ... 4 and a half. I began this adventure not being able to run more than a quarter of a mile if I made it that far. It took me six months to train and feel confident enough to sign up for my first 5K ("couch to 5K" in 6 weeks? hahahahaha! That was not me!), and that 5K required two walking breaks and one near-hurl moment. I tried to be somewhat invisible in the packet pick-up line for that 5K, too, as I stood in front of a woman who was totally decked out in fabulous running clothes with the confidence to match. I didn't have a problem telling anyone I was working on running, but I didn't want to run with anyone because then they'd know first-hand how much I struggled. I even used the dog as an excuse to make myself get out and run; I couldn't even own it for myself for the first few months. Clearly, I had some issues. And, those issues contributed to any thoughts I might have had about wearing something that called attention to me. It wasn't going to happen.

I look back at that time, and, while I understand the thoughts I had, they seem a little sad now. There was no reason for yester-me to beat myself up about anything much less something that could only contribute to my health and well-being no matter how I did it. But, we all do it, don't we? Good golly, we're mean to ourselves. We're so mean we don't even splurge on some fun shoes to make something we're working so hard at just a smidge more fun. I know there are plenty of books and psychological theories to explain why self-deprication can be so rampant in human nature. I'd like to sum up those books and theories with the following statement: It totally sucks.

The Nancy of today would hug yester-me, hear her out, and then tell her to get some awesome shoes. Yester-me's frugality might have still stopped that, but that's a better reason than character assassination, just sayin'.

Shout-out moment called for here: Yester-Aaron would have totally supported and argued with me about getting myself some cool shoes. You already know how supportive he is -- leader of The Pit Crew, after all! -- but, I wanted to make very clear that this problem was all about me. That's how powerful we can be toward ourselves. The great thing is that our positive self-talk can be just as powerful ... and, that kind of power embraces new, hot pink shoes!

And, just as I suspected, the morning weather called for some inside running:

Often, ice above also means ice below ... not interested in
falling on my kiester this morning!

I had to get the shoes away from Lizzy who did her little dance of pawing all over them ...

You can scent 'em up, but they're still
mine, kitty cat!

... and, then, I headed to the treadmill. I was fully prepared for 4 miles of t.v. watching. I didn't have anything noteworthy to watch, but I had enough to pass the time.

Here they are ... ready for action ...

I said they're ready for action, not in action. Had I pictured
them in action, either they would have been blurry due to my
lightening speed OR I would have fallen off the treadmill.
Bad buzz either way.

The Day 1 verdict: They were outstanding! The only problem I had actually had to do with my choice of socks! I've been wearing thicker socks to help compensate for the extra room in my other shoes, and I didn't switch back to my regular socks for this run. I need to because that extra thickness made a big difference in this narrower shoe. But, that's fixable. I'm pretty stoked to give 'em a spin on Wednesday for the 5-miler; that will tell me a lot about how they're going to perform!

Oh, I have to mention ... those other shoes that are too wide for my comfortable running perfectly fit PC#3. Perfectly. He and I put our feet together, and his are just a bit longer and also wider than mine ... the perfect width for what turned out to be a wider shoe! As a point of interest, I am now the oldest member of the family who has the smallest feet. What gives, and how'd that happen?! (Marrying a big dude ... that's how that happened!!) At least if I give up on the other shoes entirely, they have a great place to call home!

Today's take aways: Be NICE to yourself. Do what you need to do to SUPPORT yourself. Bright shoes, cool hat, expensive-but-feels-awesome shirt ... DO IT. You are worth it!!

I'll see you tomorrow from Rest Day!