Shoe issues?

Of course Murphy lives and I don't mean the park, right after I post about a nice series of runs and a feeling all was going well I have a couple of runs that have me wondering. Now I am about 90% convinced it's just shoe issues but that other 10% has me a bit nervous as I am now under 50 days until Surf the Murph.

Anyway, about my shoes, when I ran in Whitewater I kind of damaged a couple of toes on the downhills while I was wearing my Salomon's. Of course these are the shoes I was planning on wearing at Murphy, which last time I checked has some downhills similar to Whitewater. Great, now what? No problem, I can wear my Vasque Velocity VST's, wrong, my guess is that they won't make it to Murphy as the heels are bubbling up which looks like a precursor to the heels coming unglued and they only have 190 miles on them.

So I decided to pull out a couple of pairs of shoes that I had put aside. The first pair were my Vasque Mercury's, I had retired them after 350 miles as I was having some issues. Maybe it wasn't the shoes, so I decided to give them another try and I wore them on Thursday. The day was a disaster, I had to walk more often than I should on a 7 miler and my legs felt pretty toasted during and after, was it the shoes, not sure, should I try them in a 50, absolutely not.

Today, I pulled out my North Face Rucky Chucks which I had decided back in July were the shoes that were aggravating my left foot and my right achilles issues. I ran 4 miles in the morning as my daughter ran with her XC team. Not bad, decent pace, maybe these would work after all. Then I ran 10 miles with my wife later in the morning, excuse me she ran, I hobbled, I walked, I ran a bit, I power walked and I was darn tempted to crawl. Why? Well my left foot felt torqued almost from the start which led to my lower hamstring really feeling like it was going to cramp or tear. Add that to another issue that developed as the run continued, my right achilles was getting tender and I was starting to put 2 and 2 together. Did I mention it was a bit humid today and somewhat hot, that could have been my issue or the 2 runs in a day but nope I am convinced it's the shoes. Maybe I was right back in July, do I want to wear these at Murphy, No.

So tomorrow, I am heading to Murphy and I am wearing my Salomon's, I may try some Vaseline on the toes and see how it goes. I know I am going to go slow tomorrow as I want to get in 20 miles and my hamstring still seems a bit torqued tonght, so I will be going slow, repeat once more, go slow, walk breaks are ok, do the distance, get the time in. Think positive.

If tomorrow does go bad, I may just start freaking a bit about Murphy. Who am I kidding, I am already having those thoughts enter my head. What was I thinking, I just talked to someone about the 50 and I mentioned what I am sure will be going through my mind at Surf the Murph. One loop done, I could have run the 25k and I would be done. Of course I signed up for the 50 miler so I will continue on. Two loops done, I could have run the 50k again and I would be done. But no, I had to do the 50 miler, what an idiot, what was I thinking, oh yeah, I wanted to run the 50 as I wasn't sure I could and on I will go. As I finish the 3rd loop what will I be thinking, never again.

So let's hope tomorrow goes well as I really don't want to start freaking out about the 50 for at least 2 or 3 more weeks and I just need to remember that I am doing it to see if I can. Time doesn't matter, finishing does.

Oh, yeah one last thing that I do need to mention -- Go Bears, beat the Packers.

As to those that like the purple, good luck, I think you will need it before your season ends as the NFC North champ will be either Chicago (my pick) or the Packers.