Hot pink shoes and a foam roller

I spent a lot of time this weekend getting everything in place to start training for the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler.



The most important thing on my list was getting sized for new running shoes. For the past four years, I've been running in Mizuno Wave Inspires and I've had no problems with them. They felt comfortable on my feet, supported and cushioned well and just pretty much rocked.



But the other day on the treadmill, I started wondering if maybe my shoes were tied to my hip problems. I mean after four years it is possible for a running gait to change and I was wondering if maybe I needed a new kind of shoe.



So I headed to my neighborhood running store for the full gait analysis. I walked and jogged up and down the length of the store, while one of the specialists watched me.



Final conclusion: My stride was still the same.



He brought out three pairs of shoes for me to try on: the update Mizuno Wave Inspires, Brooks Adrenalines and a Saucony shoe.



I tried them all on, ran around in them, but in the end still went back with the Mizuno. It was by far still the most comfortable on my foot.



As an added bonus, the new color is a hot pink. I kind of like it.



Since I had a gift certificate from a race, I decided to splurge on an extra purchase: a foam roller!





So now that I'm armed with new shoes and a torture device for my IT bands I'm ready to hit the ground running (wow sorry for the bad pun) with this training plan.