168 Days and Counting...

With the weekend arriving, I thought I would be able to get up early today, and get in some treadmill time before the rest of the family got up! I am not regularly a "morning person" when it comes to training, but I am finding it easier recently to get some mileage in in the morning... Having a baby girl whose body clock that in no way resembles that of an adult with a career may have something to do with that! :-) But the odd hours practice has been good for me, and I've been able to capitalize on it.

But today, I only got half of the equation... I just got up early! She fell asleep at 6pm yesterday (2 hours before bedtime), and slept straight through til about 415 this morning. Momma fed her breakfast, and then went back to sleep (she works today), so Daddy took over! And in true baby fashion, once I had 2 cups of coffee to wake up 100%.... The little bug fell back asleep!

So instead of treadmill time this morning I am using the uninterrupted quiet to catch up on all sorts of important things..... Like 7 episodes of SportsCenter, playing games on Facebook, blogging, and shopping for my dream triathlon bike (which only costs $13,987, but is more advanced, and faster than the space shuttle).

I also started doing something to prepare for training season that I realized would be odd to the uninitiated... I started shopping for my running shoes. Not that I don't HAVE running shoes (see recent posts for base fitness training on the treadmill). I do have 2 pairs. But there something that runners and triathletes do that borders on hoarding. Once we find a running shoe that works for us, we buy them in unreasonable quantities, and store them. Why?

Paranoia.

What if Adidias stops making the AdiFusion Polar edition? What if Brooks discontinues the Forza Distance? What if K-Swiss stops manufacturing the K-Ona? What if another runner purchases all available colors and sizes of the Asics that I MUST HAVE TO BE SUCCESSFUL?!

We put in a lot of miles for training, and for those of us that love running and hate cycling, we put in even MORE running miles. We are super finnicky about the shoes that "work" for us, and are comfortable for our running style. When you find that ONE SHOE that works, you absolutely go a bit psycho to make sure you can get your hands on as many pairs as is financially feasible, without showing friends and family that you are mentally ill.

Most shoes are good for about 350-550 miles before the cushioning is shot, and the shoes are then ready for retirement as the pair you wear to mow the lawn. In my experience, I'll use two pairs of shoes for training/racing per season. I'm not acutally putting in 1000 miles, but I stagger the use of the two pairs so I have a pair of shoes that are "broken in" and sprung for the races. Nobody wants to wear a brand new pair of shoes to run 26.2 miles!!

So as I was watching my beautiful baby sleep through the 8th episode of SportsCenter, I was shopping on zappos.com for my current shoe of choice. I say current, because to validate every paranoid runner's fear, Adidias DID stop making the AdiFusion Polar edition. I used up the last pair available on the internet in Lake Stevens this past August.... But I did find a replacement! So, I am currently buying 4 pairs of shoes. Two pairs of K-swiss Keahou, and two pairs of K-swiss Ultra Natural Run. Oddly, the description of the Ultra says it is "ideal for world class triathletes."

http://www.zappos.com/k-swiss-ultra-natural-run-silver-black-orange

That begs another question.... Is this HappyIronman a victim of predatory shoe marketing, filled with delusions of grandeur that he can become said "world class triathlete," or is he just a simple old-fashioned Brand Whore?

Brand Whore. Totally.