On Saturday I bought new sneakers. I went to San Diego Running Institute, got measured and fitted - the whole nine yards. On Tuesday, I took my new kicks out for a spin. For the first time ever, I had intense pain in my shins. Not shin splint pain, muscle freak out pain. Just walking was fine, but as soon as I tried to get some speed going, Bam! Pain! We were doing intervals on Tuesday and I was a good 10-20 seconds slower on every interval than Steve and Peggy. (Truth be told, Peggy could have smoked us both if she'd wanted to do so.)
Tonight I took the new sneakers out for a second try. It's essential that the shoes I'm wearing this Saturday are perfect since it'll be a 18 mile session. Tonight I walked with Erica and we were flying along - no official intervals but with blasts of effort at a 10 minute mile pace. For walking that's pretty darn fast.
Guess what, no pain in the shins at all but a tiny bit of soreness in my arch. I can't decide if I should use the new shoes Saturday or not. If I don't break in the new shoes on Saturday, all I have left in one 20 mile session before the marathons. I don't want to relive the sneaker agony of my first marathon when I tried to change shoes too late in my training.
