Long Run with a New Pair of Shoes

I just bought a new pair of running shoes yesterday.  I already like my Asics Gel Cumulus 12's.  As named, they made me feel like I was running on clouds.  My warmup was just a hair over 1 mile and immediately I could feel the difference.  I was stiff, but there was no joint pain "like normal."  What a feeling it is to have no pain.

This was a group run and I stayed with my group for 3 miles.  We had 7:47, 15:11, and a low 23 range time for splits.  It was a little faster than I wanted to go, but it was good to push it and be able to stay with my group.  There is normally a water stop at that point and I was getting thirsty after the 2nd mile.  I stopped for 30 seconds and then got back on pace.  I watched the group go around a corner and checked my time when I went around the same corner to gauge how far off pace I was dropping.  After another mile, I was behind by 1 minute and 5 seconds, so if I didn't stop, I would have dropped back only 35 seconds.  Not too bad.

At one point during the run (around 5 miles), the group went straight and I ran off to the right.  I knew there was a water fountain at Cady Way Park.  That was the 6 mile mark and I stopped for water.  Maybe 2 minutes to catch my breath a little.  My core/chest was starting to get hot, so I took my tech shirt off and wore it around my waist.  What a difference that makes for cooling your core area.

About half a mile later, I misjudged a slight incline and pushed my right foot into the ground a little too hard.  This caused some pain in my patellar tendon where it attaches to the quads.  I had to slow down a little and take some short strides for about 200 meters until the pain subsided.

Once that went away, I got a sharp pain in my left hip.  Changing my stride didn't help much with that and I didn't want to start walking.  I had been running on the left side of the road for some time and it was angled which most road are.  I went over to the right side of the road and the pain went away.  I usually don't like running on the right side for obvious safety reasons (can't see cars coming from behind), but also because that usually makes my left ankle hurt.

Overall, the new shoes are fantastic.

I don't remember where I found this recipe, but it tastes decent and you get some of your vegetables and fruit in at the beginning of your day.  It's a green smoothie.

Blend 1 cup of water and 1 cup of kale leaves (get rid of thick stems) until the kale is broken into very small particles and it looks like green sludge. Add 1 cup of raw spinach and continue blending.  Add 1 banana and to make the smoothie cooler, I add frozen mixed fruit.  Usually this is blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries.  That's the normal smoothie.  This morning, I added half cup of broccoli after the spinach.  I don't know how much fiber I just took in, but it should undo any damage that happens tonight from eating at the Daily City Food Truck Bazaar.