Rollin 15 and Hating on the Frees

I think I hate the Frees. It seems like I just can’t be a middle of the road kind of gal. Running in minimalist shoes is NOT working for me. Fifty miles on em and I’m ready to toss them…85 bucks down the shitter. After last weeks blister issues on my long run I started really paying attention to how I felt in these shoes. My shins hurt…they don’t hurt in the Mizunos and they sure the heck don’t hurt barefoot. I got blisters. By Saturday I had either 3-5 easy or 6.5 not so easy to do..I picked the 6.5. By the time I was done I could barely walk my shins hurt so bad. I cross trained on Sunday instead of the 3-5 easy because my legs were still cashed. Monday after work I ran from the hospital and barely made it 3 miles…3 VERY painful miles. Tuesday I had 5 on tap and did them in my Mizunos. I had to slow my pace by 2 minutes per mile in order to complete this run…but it was still better then in the Frees.



Now today was my long run. Since I did the 17 that was supposed to happen this week last week…I did last weeks 15 today. Did you follow that? HA! I honestly didn’t even know if I could get around the block but yesterday was a rest day and my shins were on the mend. I figured I’d take whatever mileage I could get to comfortably and whatever pace didn’t kill me. I ended up with the full 15 miles and 10 seconds slower then target marathon pace…which I was pretty happy with considering I could barely do 3 miles on Monday night.


So where does this leave me? I honestly don’t know. I am fairly certain the Frees are a wash….although Skip seems to think that a lot of this has to do with it being winter and the fact that we keep getting snow so I’m concerned about my footing therefore I’m running differently. For a non-runner…he sure knows his runner wife..good man. But I’m not so sure. I guess I will hold on to them for now and give it another go when the weather starts to clear some. January and February are the worst months around here and I’m at the tail end of the first crap month. I just need to hold on another 6 weeks or so before it starts to suck less outside.


I miss my barefoot running…lord do I miss it. Gravel marching is keeping my soles conditioned but not my soul conditioned…blah. I hate winter.


On the non-smoking front…it’s been two weeks. I’m still using the patch and am feeling pretty good. I haven’t so much as had a puff or seen a cigarette up close..but man if I can’t smell a smoker a mile away..could probably even tell you what brand they smoke.


14 days, 32 minutes and 4 seconds smoke free.
280 cigarettes not smoked.
$77.00 and 2 days, 3 hours of your life saved.


No wonder I have so much time on my hands