I wear tacky shoes

I'm getting old. You want to know how I can tell?*  I bought a pair of incredibly tacky shoes - in full knowledge of their tackiness - simply because they are comfortable. And that, my friends, is a true sign of aging.

I gave you a break from my linoleum to show off my hardwood floors

These are silver flip flops. And by silver I mean mirror-shiny, perhaps to trick you into thinking that they are genuine sterling. This blinding shininess is topped with a truly superfluous rhinestone at the thong. Oh, and the soles have embossed leopard pattern on them.
But they have awesomely comfy straps.
*Besides the wrinkles and the affinity for coupons, I mean.

World's Ugliest Shoes

I am now the proud owner of the world's ugliest shoe, courtesy of Target clearance.

Just look at these babies. Impossibly round toe? Check. Unsurpassable clompiness? Check. Weird top stitching? Check. Horrid fuzzy suede uppers? Check. Velcro? Check. They definitely meet the criteria for hideous shoe. But they were $6.00 and if you have to stand up for 8-9 hours a day you have to make sacrifices.
The only shoes that come close - and they are not in my closet, thank you very much  - are these.

Hm. On second thought, it's a bit of a toss-up. Those are pretty repulsive.

Yes, I really DID buy more shoes.

Last month, I bought some New Balance at TJ Maxx for $29. SCORE! I've worn them for a few runs, and I've come to the following conclusions:
1. I'm really fast in these shoes
2. There is not enough cushion for longer runs
I wore them on a 12-miler and could really feel the road by mile ten. They're also too narrow for my very wide feet, which became a problem about an hour after a run when pain would start shooting through my feet. So I decided to save these guys for races, and wear my Karhus for speed work and shorter runs.
However, I had to have new "long run" shoes because I'm down to the inside sole of my old Nikes. I ended up buying men's Saucony Triumph because they fit my wide feet the best. After two trial runs I really like them! They're heavier than my New Balance but super cushy and really roomy. Success at last! If I end up really liking these guys I'm going to buy ten pairs. Not kidding.
These are my fourth pair of shoes in 9 months...but now I own three basically brand new pairs.
How often do you buy running shoes? Do you wear more than one pair?

Marathon training, re-worked

Eh. I had to re-work all my runs in my marathon training plan. Paperwork, math, thinking, blah.
Here's why: my new work schedule has me working every third weekend. On the other two weekends I go to church. Thus, Sunday mornings runs would have to start at, oh, 4 am (at least once I got to the long ones). Not happening. Even with my old-lady Saturday night schedule of a nice dinner, a book, and early bed - not happening.
However, Thursdays I work either super late, super early, or not at all. So I re-worked my schedule to put my long runs on Thursday - early morning or late afternoon/evening - and my cross train day on Friday. That way I get to go to the Friday kickboxing class which is super duper fun (I did it this morning)!
I also canceled some short runs - 3 or 4 miles - and replaced them with timed hills runs. There is one tiny stretch of levee with two built in hills, so basically the plan is to run that itty bitty stretch of ground over and over again for 40 minutes. I can already hardly contain my excitement. But I'm getting skeered of the hills so I thought it was needed.
Yesterday I brilliantly decided to test out my afternoon run options and went for a 12 miler at 1 pm. It was 97 degrees. That's just the heat. Heat index with the humidity was astronomical. For some reason the Audubon Park area is always hotter than other places (airport, westbank) when the weather guys go over the day's highs and lows; naturally that's where I run!
So anyway. I carried water this time since there are no fountains until about mile 5 and I decided to do a stop-walk-drink-water thing every ten minutes. I knew it would impact my time, but maybe I wouldn't die that way. Unfortunately, ten minutes apart is too much time in this kind of heat. I quickly decided to make that every five, and I stuck to that schedule down Carrollton (no shade), back up Carrollton to the levee (total hell; no shade or breeze; this part of the course is murder), and over the "fly", the riverfront park that leads into Audubon park. Once you hit Audubon there's some breeze and shade so I went back to every ten minutes for water breaks. I left the park and continued up St Charles to General Pershing St and back to the park. At this point, thank you God, a thunderstorm threatened and the sun finally went behind a cloud, giving me a much-needed break from the heat. As I headed back to the park I realized that I was slowing considerably and my muscles felt crampy. I remembered that I hadn't really eaten all day! Between no glucose and no electrolytes (my clothes were sweat-saturated within ten minutes of leaving the house) I was losing energy fast. Thank goodness I had brought a Gu. I gulped it and felt better in moments - enough to pick up the pace for my last loop around the park, completing the 1.8 mile loop in 14 minutes including a water break at the fountain (I HAD to have cold water at this point; my bottle was now quite warm). I made it home in one sweaty disgusting piece and sipped vitamin water for the rest of the afternoon. My head felt like it had been sitting in a crock pot all day and I was a little dehydrated, but I "proved" that I can do long runs in the summer heat. The only problem is that my pace is very very slow in the heat. I did this run in 1:43, which is over ten minutes longer than I ran that distance in the winter. However, since I'm not running this marathon with a time goal, I'm just going to deal with it. While I can sit here today and complain about how slow my time was, the truth is that while I was out there in the heat I could not have gone faster and still have finished. That's all I got, folks! I have to keep in mind that because of thyroid issues I can't adjust my body temperature as efficiently or as quickly as others and I simply won't do as well in temperature extremes. So I'm scaling back my expectations for hot runs.
In other news, my feet and joints were kind of feeling this run. You think it might be time to replace the shoes?

That's the tread at the ball of my foot. Incidentally this is around 600 miles. I have gotten 700 out of Saucony's with less wear. Don't buy Nike!

Monday...what are you wearing to work?

I have to kind of dress up for work. We have a dress code, but I cheat a lot: especially since I wear a white lab coat. White coats are the bathrobe of the medical profession. There's all kinds of wrinkly mess under most white coats.
For me, the most important component of my work wear is my shoes. 'CAUSE I LOVE SHOES! Actually it's because I stand up at work for 8 hours straight. I also move around a lot, and fast- so I need shoes that are practically athletic but look dressy.
The rest of my outfit varies, but I'm always well-accessorized. I don't want to look like I stopped caring. Once comfort > appearance, you look like you gave up on life. I make a lot of jewelry, so my collection is vast, and I usually wear at least 2 pieces. I'm also a fan of belts and scarves.
Today I'm wearing...

...black slim slacks, a yellow T-shirt (it's under the white coat! Who cares!), and a bright cotton scarf. I forgot to put my jewelry out... I'll probably wear a thick bangle and skip the necklace and earrings since I have a loud scarf on. Those boots are super comfortable for all-day standing. I like the rubber heel - lots of shock absorption. Should I tuck my pants legs in? It looks pretty casual, but sometimes I do it anyway!
Tomorrow I'll...

...recycle the same slacks, this time adding a wrinkle-free button down and some copper wedges. I dislike flats for work. There just isn't enough between me and the floor, and I tend to lock my knees when standing in flats. The 1" wedge on these shoes is perfect. In fact I have 4 pairs of these wedges, 2 black, one bronze, and one silver! I'll wear a few bracelets and this mother-of-pearl and polished gemstone necklace. I made these necklaces for my bridesmaids and kept one when one of my bridesmaids had a last minute outfit change.
Of course, I always wear support hose to prevent varicose veins! Just kidding, I don't. I ought to, and every so often I buy a few pairs and promise myself I'll wear them. I wear them once or twice, then give up. They are so hot and uncomfortable and they squeeze my toes in a death grip!
What do you wear to work? Do you have a dress code? Do you break it? Mine says no open toed shoes, but on the weekends I wear peep-toe wedges. I'm a rebel like that!

Shoe review - Karhu Fast Fulcrum

I bought these shoes for a steal and have tried them out enough times to review them. The concept behind the fulcrum design is to encourage mid-foot strike instead of heel strike.
FUNCTION: I find that the shoe actually does what it says it does - that is, I feel myself leaning into my stride as I run. If you don't lean, you sort of land on a lump in the sole (which is the "fulcrum"). I'm liking this so far, but I'm only wearing these for short, speedier runs. That's good, because the shoe is designed for speedwork and has a very minimal outsole that you could probably wear right through in one marathon. Karhu does makes other shoes that are designed for longer runs and have more stability.
FEEL: The shoe itself is comfy. There is no structure at all to the upper, but that works for me because the toe box is rather narrow and long and my toes are wide and short. The loose upper lets me adjust fit to my foot - but I should mention that in order to do so, I have to do some creative lace work; actually tying these shoes and getting them to feel right takes several attempts. These aren't slip on and off shoes - you have to rework the laces every time for correct fit. The insole and outsole feel SO cushy to me, and just standing in the shoe is comfortable. But take that with a grain of salt because I'm comparing these to a pair of Nikes with about as much cushion as a cinder block.
You should be aware that the shoe provides little or no stability. The fulcrum sole helps guide your foot strike, but your arches and ankles are on their own. I imagine that I pronate pretty badly in these, although it's too early to tell by the sole wearing. If you need support, or you are a heavier runner, Karhu does make a more supportive shoe.
FIT: Reviews for the shoe warned that it ran very small, but I did not find that it ran especially small for a running shoe. I wear an 8 or 8.5 shoe and bought a 9.5 Nike; I bought these in a 9.5 as well and actually I find them a little larger than my Nikes. This is partly due to a roomy inside since there's no upper structure, but most of that extra room is in the toe length, which is a little long and narrow. The long toe plus a not-very-narrow heel and the fulcrum design can tend to allow your foot to slide forward. This would be a problem if I wore these for distance. By the way I have wide feet and I don't have a problem with the fit, although the shoe appears "European" (narrow).
PRICE: The shoes are pricey for what's basically a racing shoe, $115, but you can find them for less (mine were under $40 including shipping) and actually Sierra Trading Post has them on sale again if you're interested, although for about $50 this time!
OVERALL: I was hoping these shoes would cushion my knees and maybe work with me to increase speed. I don't expect my shoes to actually make me run faster, but I feel comfortable knocking a few seconds off in the Fast Fulcrum (plus, it's called "fast", so you've just GOT to be inspired, right?). It's hard to tell if my knees are doing better or not because I'm wearing other shoes for longer runs. I'm loving them for a soft, fast, short run (3 or 4 miles) and if I ever get a weekend off and can squeeze a race in I'd definitely wear these!