Life After Marathons: A Running/barre3/Coffee/Life Journal

This was supposed to be a shoe update, but I'm having picture issues, so pretend I never posted this and read the next post.
 
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Shoe Update (/Color Poll!)

I've been through this saga before, but to summarize: I'm in the market for new half marathon (/post-November distance) shoes.
A few weeks back, I went to the running store and narrowed it down to two models. I'm 99% sure I'm gonna go with the Brooks Launch, partly because I have a 25% off Brooks discount code (because of an order they cancelled), but mostly because they're cheaper. The question is ... what color do I go with? Since y'all did a great job picking out the Guava 880s, I figured I'd get some input from here.

Not sure yet when I'm planning to buy, so feel free to take your time deciding.

Here are my favorite colors: (I'm making up the color names here because Brooks doesn't seem to have them listed on the website)
Gray/Green:
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Gray/Black/Blue:
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Black/Gray/Purple:
424078

Dark Purple-ish/Gold?:
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Other options - anything available from Brooks in a Size 8. Since I want to use my discount, I have to buy direct from Brooks.
Honestly, I'm not super impressed with the colors on these.

If I decide not to go for the Launch (or if it doesn't work for me), I will likely end up in the Blue/White Saucony Freedom ISO 2:
424080
(btw ... could not manage to copy pictures from the Saucony website. Had to scour the internet for this)


So ... color thoughts?
 
I have the Grey/Black/Blue and like them, but I would buy grey/green as my first choice. I buy a lot of mine from a running store that sells their "lightly used" return shoes so I get them way cheaper that way and can't always get the color I want. To me the blue honestly looks a little more purple in person, kind of a periwinkle color. They are pretty, but I love the mint green ones.
 




I have the Grey/Black/Blue and like them, but I would buy grey/green as my first choice. I buy a lot of mine from a running store that sells their "lightly used" return shoes so I get them way cheaper that way and can't always get the color I want. To me the blue honestly looks a little more purple in person, kind of a periwinkle color. They are pretty, but I love the mint green ones.
Interesting. Periwinkle is actually my favorite color (well, one of them), but I also kinda love the mint green ones. Thanks for the insight!

And very cool that you can get lightly used shoes for cheaper!
All good options, but I think I like the 2 purple options best!
Good choices! Thanks!
I would probably vote for the black/gray/purple ones.
Excellent choice. Thanks!
I like either the blue ones or the green.
Excellent color choices. Thanks!
I like the Dark Purple-ish/Gold and the Blue/Whites one the best.
Very different options, but both great. Thanks!
I like the quasi purple and gold ones the best, but then again dark purple and gold were my high school colors.
So ... you're saying you're biased. I will accept the answer anyway.
I honestly don't remember what my high school colors were. Probably blue and white. Most of the schools I've gone to, those have been our colors.

So, here's the current tally (along with color names because I found them!):
Launch - Grey/Green (aka Shark/Aqua/Ebony): 2
Launch - Grey/Black/Blue (aka Black/Primer/Blue): 1
Launch - Black/Grey/Purple (aka Ebony/Black/Purple Rose): 2
Launch - Dark Purple-ish/Gold? (aka Aster/Fig/Gold): 3
Freedom - Blue/White: 1

So it looks like the Aster/Fig/Gold (aka Dark Purple-ish/Gold) is the early leader, with Shark/Aqua/Ebony (aka Gray/Green) and Ebony/Black/Purple Rose (aka Black/Grey/Purple) right behind. Keep the votes coming! I'm at Beth's for a few days next week/weekend, and I can't make any decisions without her input (and I'm not just talking shoes ... I can't make life decisions without her input), so the voting will continue at least until then.

But ... here's a twist. I found these for $110 at Zappos:
424283

That's the Levitate 2, aka my marathon shoe, and I love the color. One of the reasons why I didn't want to make the Levitate my half marathon shoe is because it's a $150 shoe. But for $110 ... do I just go with the pretty pink? Or do I stick to the plan, get the Launch (which will be closer to $75 with my discount code), and just live my life without shiny pink soled sneakers? I don't know that I'd find the Levitate at that price again, so if I do decide to continue with halfs after February, then I might still have to switch to the Launch eventually.
(Note: these are the Levitate 2 LE, and my marathon shoes are the regular Levitate 2, but I don't know that there's a significant difference)
 
The expiration date of the coupon seems relevant here. If it will still be available when you get the next shoes, levitates for sure. If not, I would go with the brooks because I blow my money on other things.
I’m also voting mint green with a backup periwinkle.
 
The expiration date of the coupon seems relevant here. If it will still be available when you get the next shoes, levitates for sure. If not, I would go with the brooks because I blow my money on other things.
I’m also voting mint green with a backup periwinkle.

The coupon expires at the end of the year, so if there is a next pair of shoes (which isn't a given), the coupon would be long expired. Thanks for the input!

New Totals:
Launch - Grey/Green (aka Shark/Aqua/Ebony): 3
Launch - Grey/Black/Blue (aka Black/Primer/Blue): 2
Launch - Black/Grey/Purple (aka Ebony/Black/Purple Rose): 2
Launch - Dark Purple-ish/Gold? (aka Aster/Fig/Gold): 3
Freedom - Blue/White: 1
 
For marathon shoes, I'm a firm believer in get what you know will work because there are at least 26.2 reasons why the more expensive cost is a better idea. Again this applies if you have already run a marathon in a brand/shoe style that you already know works for you.

Part of my perspective comes from having assorted family members with a variety of feet problems they've had to deal with in life. I've come to accept between those issues and my shoe size, I will always have to pay a lot more for shoes than the average person. Which I suppose has made it much easier to swallow running shoe prices since they really aren't a whole lot more than what I'm already used to.
 
For marathon shoes, I'm a firm believer in get what you know will work because there are at least 26.2 reasons why the more expensive cost is a better idea. Again this applies if you have already run a marathon in a brand/shoe style that you already know works for you.

Part of my perspective comes from having assorted family members with a variety of feet problems they've had to deal with in life. I've come to accept between those issues and my shoe size, I will always have to pay a lot more for shoes than the average person. Which I suppose has made it much easier to swallow running shoe prices since they really aren't a whole lot more than what I'm already used to.

I definitely agree with this - I already have a pair of the Levitates for the marathon. They work for me, so I don't need to try something cheaper. The new shoes I'm looking at would be for my half in February - so I'd have plenty of time to see if they work for the distance and get something else if they don't.
 
The new shoes I'm looking at would be for my half in February - so I'd have plenty of time to see if they work for the distance and get something else if they don't.
That's the tricky part with running shoes. I bought a pair of New Balance last year and they worked really well. Except for distances over 8 miles. So I just used them for shorter distances. Switched back to Nike for longer distances and the marathon. I need to get new running shoes before the marathon, so I'll probably just try the same Nike model I used for the marathon. If it isn't broke, don't fix it.
 
That's the tricky part with running shoes. I bought a pair of New Balance last year and they worked really well. Except for distances over 8 miles. So I just used them for shorter distances. Switched back to Nike for longer distances and the marathon. I need to get new running shoes before the marathon, so I'll probably just try the same Nike model I used for the marathon. If it isn't broke, don't fix it.

I have something similar with my New Balance Zantes - love them for short distances, can't take them over 6ish miles. Running shoes are a funny thing for sure.
And I'd definitely suggest getting another pair of the Nike shoes that worked for you for the marathon - like you said, if it isn't broke, don't fix it! That's why I'm sticking with the Levitates for the NYC marathon ... they got me through one marathon, they'll get me through another.
 
Week In Review: August 5th - 11th

Monday:
Scheduled: Run - 3.3 miles Easy
Actual:
Run - 3.26 miles EC, 40:20 minutes; 12:22 min/mi
Easy like Monday morning.
Still trending a drop fast on the continuous runs, but the pace is getting there.

Life Interlude:
I’ve been struggling a lot lately with not feeling successful and it’s tough. But today I had a nice win, and I realized that I need to track those more - and so does everyone else. So I was going to make a web app where people could track their wins, but then I decided to change the idea around and make it about celebrating everyone’s wins, not just your own. So I’m working on something where you can go to the web site, see a random win from someone else, and submit your own wins to hopefully help provide inspiration to others.
I’ll post a link once it’s done and deployed.

Tuesday:
Scheduled: barre3
Actual: barre3 with Jenna!

Was going to do this one as an online class because life stuff, but I just wasn’t feeling it, so I rearranged my schedule and made a trip to the studio. It meant shuffling a few things, but it was worth it.

Wednesday:
Scheduled: Run - R Pace - 1 mi @ WU + 8 x 200m @ R w/ 200m RI @ WU + 1 mi @ CD
Actual: 2.29 miles Easy/LR, 32:26 minutes, 14:10 min/mi avg pace

I didn’t sleep well, so I called an audible and swapped today and tomorrow’s runs. Wasn’t feeling great (tired, cramps), but I made it.
I’ve been listening to a podcast on my runs this week, and it’s a nice change. I think I’m still a music runner, but it might be nice to start adding in podcasts on easy runs every once in a while.
Anyway … the podcast I’m listening to is R2C2 is UNINTERRUPTED, hosted by Ryan Ruocco (Yankees broadcaster) and CC Sabathia (Yankees pitcher). The episode I was listening to today included some questions from twitter, and one of the questions for CC was 3 best umpires and 3 worst umpires … apparently CC doesn’t know umpires’ names, but he knows Angel Hernandez is the worst. Dying. Really, how that man can still be an umpire in Major League Baseball is beyond me. Sometimes I wonder if he knows he’s terrible and does it on purpose.
Oh Angel Hernandez…

Also ... this is what my apartment door looked like at the end of the day:
20190808_065446.jpg
(Ignore the sideways)
Don't worry, nothing bad. Just ongoing construction in the hallway. Its kinda funny to have caution tape all over the place and just have to ignore it to get around.

Thursday:
Scheduled: Run - 2 miles Easy, barre3
Actual: Run - R Pace - Totals: 4.29 miles, 56:36 minutes, 13:12 min/mi av page
R Pace - 73s (0.13 mi/~210m), 65s (200m), 73s (0.13 mi/~210m), 81s (0.14 mi/~225m), 61s (0.11mi/~177m), 74s (200m), 72s (200m), 71s (0.13mi/~210m)
barre3 -
Nope.
I had all sorts of issues with laps and the R pace, which is why you have distances in there next to the times. It was kinda messy. And by kinda I mean very messy. As I told Coach, I’m gonna keep trying to get it right, but going forward, I’m not sure these R pace runs are something I want to include in future plans.

Wasn’t sure I wanted to do barre3 on the same day as an R pace run, so I figured I’d decide around lunch time, and then I forgot.

Friday:
Scheduled: Run - 3.3 miles Easy
Actual: Run - 3.51 miles Easy/LR Intervals, 46:30 minutes, 13:15 min/mi

This run was perfectly fine. Stopped off at the RUNCenter to refill my water bottle, so it ended up longer than planned.
After my shower, I realized the run had never synced. It never did sync (I think it had something to do with yesterday’s walking getting interrupted by me using Garmin Pay). I don’t know why. I had to enter it into Garmin and Strava manually. Sigh.

Saturday:
Scheduled: Rest Day!
Actual: Rest Day

Sunday:
Scheduled: Rest Day
Actual: Rest Day


Religious fast day, so no baseball. We're planning to hit a game tomorrow night.

Upcoming:
Monday - 2.5 miles Easy, barre3
Tuesday - 6 miles Easy
Wednesday - 2.5 miles Easy, barre3
Thursday - R Pace - 1 mi @ WU + (2x200m @ R w/ 200m RI) + (3x300m @ R w/ 300m RI) + (2x200m @ R w/ 200m RI) + 1 mi @ CD, off to Philly!
Friday - 2.5 mi Easy with Beth (distance subject to change)
Saturday - Rest Day!
Sunday - Rest Day!

This week looked kinda different originally, but then life happened, so … plans changed a bit.
Monday is going to be back-to-back run/barre3 … still trying to decide on the order (if I do a 7:15 class, I’ll do barre3 then run, and if I do the 8:30, run then barre3).
Gotta figure out how I’m gonna do the 300m, since there’s no 100m markers on the track, so I’m not convinced I can do a lap and a half. Gotta think about this.

Race Update:
Was gonna sign up for the Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff (5M race the week before the marathon), but it’s sold out :(. Wanted to sign up to volunteer, but that was full too. Sigh. Abbott Dash to the Finish (5K the day before the marathon) is available, but Saturday. Sigh.
 
And ... I just realized that I won't be able to use my Starbucks birthday reward this year since I won't be able to go to Starbucks on my birthday.

Meanwhile, Dunkin' birthday drink hasn't appeared in my account yet, so unknown if/when I'll use that one.

I JUST WANT FREE COFFEE, OKAY?????
 
Thoughts?
425828

On the one hand, I have 15% off and it's almost my birthday.
On the other hand, I don't need another pair of sunglasses. And I'm about to buy new shoes.
 

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