You may recall that after day 1 of Couch to 5k, I had some pretty significant soreness in every part of my body except, possibly, my spleen. Most of that was just me being badly out of shape, but I decided I needed to do something about the feet. On Saturday, my second day of C25K (as I’m abbreviating the program now), I was unable to run in the morning because my iPod’s battery was freaking out again – more on that later – so I decided to go to a running shop in the afternoon and get properly outfitted.
I walked in in my Serenity shirt and my current crappy shoes, pictured. There was a guy near the door. Here’s how that went:
Me: “Are you the guy?”
Him: “I’m *a* guy.”
Me: “Good enough! I need a new pair of shoes.”
Him: “Anything for a Browncoat!”
Woot! This was going to go well. I got on a treadmill and ran, and they took computer pics of my legs as they struck to determine how far out of true I was rotating. Good news: with 180 degrees being perfectly up and down, I was at 177. So no extra stability needed. Aside from my wide feet (thanks, Mom!) I should be in fine shape.
As I tried on shoes, we chatted about Firefly. He, of course, owns the box set, and I filled him in on what the Serenity special edition has. He was very supportive of the C25K program, also, which was good to hear. We narrowed down to a couple of choices, and I picked the one which felt like it had better arch support. It also is one that traditionally runs wide, which is good for me. And here they are!
Now, don’t get me wrong, these babies feel great. The Charlotte Running Company Browncoat hooked me up. I ran Saturday night and tonight in them with no foot pain. And while intellectually I realize that the price I paid was fair for a pair of athletic shoes of this quality, my inner miser was sweating.
Irrationally, for the price I paid for these shoes, I expect them to have frickin’ rockets strapped to them. I’m picturing something more like the item to the right. If the store had carried ACME brand, I would have gladly walked out of there with them. I’m crafty, I’m sure I could make my own little “HELP” sign to hold up for when I went over the cliff.
But I digress.
The other thing that was holding me up from running on Saturday was my freakin’ iPod. It’s four years old, and like many iPods of its generation, the battery was toast. I took it to the Apple store, and you’d have thought I brought a Victrola in. Long story short, they think it’s a miracle the battery lasted as long as it did. I can get it replaced, but that’ll take time, and frankly, I don’t want to be without it when I’m starting a new program. So, since it was fairly reasonably priced, I bought a shuffle.
Eeeeee! Isn’t it cute? Couldn’t you just die? This is actual size! Given my propensity for losing things, I have a strict policy that it stays ONLY on its dock on my computer desk unless I’m actually actively using it. Every time. I let it charge up, put my program and a few other songs on it, then tried it out. Worked great!
Then I pulled out the earphone plug. And the top came with it. I didn’t pull it hard, honest. I brought it back to the Apple store, where I was once again treated as a circus freak. “Wow, I’ve never seen this happen before. Remind me never to piss you off,” the guy said. “Yeah, yeah, Hulk smash, I know,” I replied. Anyway, after a really, really long time, I finally got a new one. So far I have managed not to crush it with my superhuman strength.
I love this little thing. It holds a gig, which is plenty for me. Saturday night, however, I realized the down side. It was evening, and I went later than I should have, so it was dark. I ran, and apparently I missed the bit where the guy says we’re at the halfway point, because I’m chugging along and suddenly he says “We’re almost done!”
Wha? We’re… wait, what? Crud! With no display on the shuffle, even though it felt like I had been gone longer than last run, I couldn’t check the time. So I tried to take a shortcut back and got turned around. I’ve got good directional sense, so I knew the general way I should be going, and eventually got back to my street. Lesson learned: PAY ATTENTION, DUMMY.
So! New shoes, new tool, three days down. Weight and body fat holding steady, but my stamina and mood have improved. I find that overall, I’m happier. That’s a fantastic benefit.
I’m enjoying this, but I’m physically not ready to move on to week two. I have no ego about this, so I’m content to stay on week one indefinitely.
Time for Heroes. Catch y’all later.
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