Official 2014 Donald Half Marathon

[Figment1990]

Those are the EXACT shoe I wear! I was wearing Brooks before but they discontinued what I liked. I had to find another shoe so I was at a Running Store in Boston and they recommended the Engery Boost. Love them. I bought a few pairs of them because it seems when I like something, they discontinue them. I have seen somewhere that that shoe is going to be extinct.

They are VERY soft so they are not for everyone though and I even wear them with an insole that was made for my foot...I love them.

I know it's partially marketing but I swear I love the "foam." It IS so springy to me! I heard a rumor I'm getting a second pair for Christmas....

 

[goofeygirl]

I know it's partially marketing but I swear I love the "foam." It IS so springy to me! I heard a rumor I'm getting a second pair for Christmas....

Oh good! I own two pair...the bright yellow (it wasn't my choice but that's what they had) and blue.
I would love a pink pair too!

 

[PrincessV]

Sorry you were hurting. Hugs.

Thanks - I'm MUCH better today, thank goodness. Sounds like you are, too - yay!

 

[Figment1990]

Oh good! I own two pair...the bright yellow (it wasn't my choice but that's what they had) and blue.
I would love a pink pair too!

I have the white ones with the orange trim (only color they had when I got them) and I *think* the pink ones might be appearing under the tree....

 

[goofeygirl]

Well if Santa doesn't deliver on the new pink sneakers than you can air out your grievances to him at the race...he will be there!

 

[bumbershoot]

Checked out the shoe, sadness. They don't seem to have it in widths.

I'm starting to feel like rebelling against the stability shoes everyone insists I wear (I do funky things with my feet, especially my right foot, which is also the smaller foot). They feel so heavy and clunky and big, and I STILL do the same thing with my foot (the benefit of using a treadmill is that you can see your gait in the mirror) only I have a bigger, heavier shoe to lift up as I do it.

But I have to get wide width. The only athletic injury I've ever gotten was by wearing a Nike cross-trainer that "ran wide" (back before Nike even made wide shoes) and didn't. That was a long time ago and I would hope that Footlocker people are better trained now, but I had a BROOKS vendor at RoadRunner Sports the other day tell me "oh well the base on this is nice and wide, you might be able to wear it". It's not the stinkin' base, it's the INSIDE of the shoe. I could not believe that a Brooks person was saying something like this.

The injury I got so long ago was first one, then the other, peroneus longus tendons got strained. Happened on two nice long runs, when I was getting blisters on the inside bottoms of my feet and started turning my feet out. Did one leg, got it diagnosed, got PT (luckily I was on a varsity sport and we had a PT school and solid athletic training program), healed it up....went out for another run and got the other leg. Not too bright, was I?


And, sadly, for me, there is no such thing as a comfy shoe. Not ever. Closest shoe to that is the Crocs Athens, but their sizing is all wonky now. And I can't run in the Athens. For me, having a shoe feel a certain way when I try it on means nothing for how it will feel an hour later or a mile later or a block later.

Same shoe drama as just before TOT. A month out from that I changed shoes entirely from Saucony and Brooks over to GT-2000s, which for some reason my "home" RRS had never showed me. The San Diego RRS did, however. Alas, with the last bit of weight loss I think it came from my foot, and my right foot especially is just flopping around on it. Left foot, too, but not as bad as the right. Makes me feel anything but stable! It's possible this could be solved by going half a size down, but it's a question mark. And then my expensive RRS insoles will be useless. Of course, they are now anyway, because the right one never got my arch right. It was remade two times beyond the first making of it, and it hits wrong. Which I think is because the shoe is too big and I slide forward so I've got the front of my heel on the arch. Ouch.

I'm going to a different running store today (if DS ever finishes his learning work today! sometimes homeschooling is a real pain, like when you want to go out shopping at holiday-time, or when you just want to go buy some shoes) to at minimum check out some compression sleeves and maybe see what they say about my silly feet.

 

[buckeyecinderella]

Checked out the shoe, sadness. They don't seem to have it in widths.

I'm starting to feel like rebelling against the stability shoes everyone insists I wear (I do funky things with my feet, especially my right foot, which is also the smaller foot). They feel so heavy and clunky and big, and I STILL do the same thing with my foot (the benefit of using a treadmill is that you can see your gait in the mirror) only I have a bigger, heavier shoe to lift up as I do it.

But I have to get wide width. The only athletic injury I've ever gotten was by wearing a Nike cross-trainer that "ran wide" (back before Nike even made wide shoes) and didn't. That was a long time ago and I would hope that Footlocker people are better trained now, but I had a BROOKS vendor at RoadRunner Sports the other day tell me "oh well the base on this is nice and wide, you might be able to wear it". It's not the stinkin' base, it's the INSIDE of the shoe. I could not believe that a Brooks person was saying something like this.

The injury I got so long ago was first one, then the other, peroneus longus tendons got strained. Happened on two nice long runs, when I was getting blisters on the inside bottoms of my feet and started turning my feet out. Did one leg, got it diagnosed, got PT (luckily I was on a varsity sport and we had a PT school and solid athletic training program), healed it up....went out for another run and got the other leg. Not too bright, was I?

And, sadly, for me, there is no such thing as a comfy shoe. Not ever. Closest shoe to that is the Crocs Athens, but their sizing is all wonky now. And I can't run in the Athens. For me, having a shoe feel a certain way when I try it on means nothing for how it will feel an hour later or a mile later or a block later.

Same shoe drama as just before TOT. A month out from that I changed shoes entirely from Saucony and Brooks over to GT-2000s, which for some reason my "home" RRS had never showed me. The San Diego RRS did, however. Alas, with the last bit of weight loss I think it came from my foot, and my right foot especially is just flopping around on it. Left foot, too, but not as bad as the right. Makes me feel anything but stable! It's possible this could be solved by going half a size down, but it's a question mark. And then my expensive RRS insoles will be useless. Of course, they are now anyway, because the right one never got my arch right. It was remade two times beyond the first making of it, and it hits wrong. Which I think is because the shoe is too big and I slide forward so I've got the front of my heel on the arch. Ouch.

I'm going to a different running store today (if DS ever finishes his learning work today! sometimes homeschooling is a real pain, like when you want to go out shopping at holiday-time, or when you just want to go buy some shoes) to at minimum check out some compression sleeves and maybe see what they say about my silly feet.

I have always been told to be in a stability shoe. But lately the ones I've tried I have returned because they feel too clunky and felt like they were throwing off my gate. I tried mizuno wave elixir i think in RRS performance stability category. They have been much better than my old Brooke's GTS. You may want to try a shoe like that and I'm sure a good local store will have other suggestions.

After the marathon, I think I want to look into shoes with less stability and have my running reevaluated. I've been doing a fair amount of strength and stability/balance exercises so maybe that is helping to reduce my over pronation.

 

[bumbershoot]

I have always been told to be in a stability shoe. But lately the ones I've tried I have returned because they feel too clunky and felt like they were throwing off my gate. I tried mizuno wave elixir i think in RRS performance stability category. They have been much better than my old Brooke's GTS. You may want to try a shoe like that and I'm sure a good local store will have other suggestions.

After the marathon, I think I want to look into shoes with less stability and have my running reevaluated. I've been doing a fair amount of strength and stability/balance exercises so maybe that is helping to reduce my over pronation.

Sounds good! I'm going to have to look at Mizuno. Another day though...the homeschooling was just too rough today and I'm toast.

Good to know someone else gets the clunky feeling. I know that modern shoes weigh nearly nothing. But my feet just don't believe it!

 

[John VN]

There's so much room in my Newton's toe box, last time out my right foot invited my left foot's toes over for a Christmas party.

McFlurry John

 

[bumbershoot]

There's so much room in my Newton's toe box, last time out my right foot invited my left foot's toes over for a Christmas party.

McFlurry John

 

[goofeygirl]

There's so much room in my Newton's toe box, last time out my right foot invited my left foot's toes over for a Christmas party.

McFlurry John

Lol

 

[tink_lover]

Bumber- sorry if this has been mentioned already. Nordstrom sells off sized shoes ( but u would need to be a size and a half different) - could one side go up or down half a size? I try out at my running store them head online to see if Nordies carries the shoe. Having such large difference in shoes size is such a pain!

 

[MacClemsons]

That's a good coral actually. My sil is in that coral and she does a half marathon in under 2 hours...I think about 1hr and 50mins is her best time and she does a full marathon in about 4.5 hours...she is in I too.

I was basing that on the fact that Corral J was marked with 3 hours. So if I'm in the corral just under 3 hours, that means they think it will take me an hour to so those last 3 miles. (Time on 10 mile run stopping for 8 characters was under 2 hours.)

 

[DisneyParrothead]

Shoe drama here too, and I may be switching brands again next year. I'm taking time off from long distance running because I feel a little burned out, but when I'm ready to tackle it again, I'm headed to a different store. Maybe they can analyze my gait again and tell me if I need stability or neutral shoes.

 

[PrincessV]

SHOOOOOEEEEES!!!!

I shoe talk, lol! And I swear, you all must have been reading my mind; I spent my lunch break working on a blog post about - you guessed it - running shoes. It's not done yet, or I'd post it now. I'll share when it's done, though.

But basically, this: I can almost guarantee you that any running shoe fitter will want to put me into stability shoes. And I can 100% guarantee you they'll be WRONG. Okay, there's got to be some expert out there that can get it right, but he/she sure doesn't live near me, lol! I'm not one of those hardcore minimalist folks who thinks all stability and motion control shoes are evil, but I'm not at all convinced that a shoe ought to be used to "correct" mechanics. In my case, said "correction" screwed up a body that was working very well without outside interference, TYVM.

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm not one of those hardcore minimalist folks who thinks all stability and motion control shoes are evil, but I'm not at all convinced that a shoe ought to be used to "correct" mechanics. In my case, said "correction" screwed up a body that was working very well without outside interference, TYVM.

Yes yes and yes. I'm not convinced we need to correct it, either. Especially since mine REFUSES to be corrected.

It's funny because watching the change in DH's gait after he got the same sort of inserts I did was amazing. He truly does walk better, and his hips hurt less. But not for me. But then, my hips didn't hurt because of my gait; I didn't have any problems at all with it. I refused the inserts for a long time because I wanted to get the right *shoe*. But when I couldn't find the right shoe, I caved in. And it has done nothing but hurt me when my foot slips around on the arch of the insert.

I was a solo runner starting at 11 (OK so I wasn't alone, I was with my mom and brother), and we were practically running in cowboy boots then, LOL. One type of athletic shoe and I used it for running and, later, '80s aerobics (= high impact), and my ankles were always totally fine.

Today the homeschool is going well so I think we're going to head off and see what this other store has. If I'm going to buy something I need at least a *few* runs in them. And it will be interesting to see what a new place says my shoes sizes are. No question about wide, though; I have rectangular hobbit feet, LOL.

 

[bumbershoot]

Got a parking ticket I was at the shoe store so long. Feels like some sort of badge of honor, though a REALLY annoying one.

After a huge amount of time, even getting the benefit of the thoughts of the owner of the store, the main determination is that RRS has had me in a shoe that's too big. The owner nearly thought I needed to go down a full size (I even squeezed into 1.5 sizes down on his request), but we went to a half size down.

And the contenders ended up being what I HAVE, just half a size smaller, and the Nike Structure. At one point I was running around the store wearing one of each, then switching. I almost felt like just buying both and running like that. (actually I DO want to buy both because they both felt so much better) Got brave. Got the Nikes. Now I'm afraid because Nikes and I don't have the best past! We shall see.

They normally don't have a real *return* policy, because they will just put you in a different shoe instead of refunding you, but he gave me a special piece of paper about a return if I need to do so. I think it's because they have a smaller selection and my feet were so difficult to fit. I tried on something like 7 shoes; all of their wide shoes, really. He even put me in a normal width, just to see. They were about to bring out the small Men's shoes when the owner came in and took over.


And I got some compression sleeves for the calves, which felt so good when I tried them on... I don't have an intention of running in them; they are for afterwards, but you never know. I seem to have a tendency to change it all up in the final weeks of training!

 

[MacClemsons]

Drive vs Disney Transportation on Saturday morning? Sounds like Disney really wants us to use busses, but if its cold, id like to sit in my car for a while (I read that I have to be in my corral at 5). We are staying at Coronado Resort.

 

[cewait]

Actually a recent study suggests that most folks are in a shoe more stable than required. The newer thought in the study was two fold...

Unless you are very mechanically sound avoid minimalist shoes.

Most of the rest of us should go with comfort over the 'correct' shoe. If I recall, the study was on experienced runners and suggested that if a shoe is comfortable on a short run, it has enough support for the run.

 

[tehvalerie]

Drive vs Disney Transportation on Saturday morning? Sounds like Disney really wants us to use busses, but if its cold, id like to sit in my car for a while (I read that I have to be in my corral at 5). We are staying at Coronado Resort.

After the traffic our bus got stuck in on the way to the marathon last year I'd be terrified to drive. Our bus driver ended up doing a u-turn and going a back way through a parking lot entrance "regular" people couldn't access. Though after reading the guide, it sounds more like they just want to make sure everyone passes through the security checkpoint rather than walking over from OKW or other nearby resorts and not necessarily discouraging from driving.