I own up to my hypocrisy - most times. I do a bunch of things that I don't believe in. I don't practice all that I preach - and preach I do constantly. Count the number of 'I's in that sentence alone and you get the idea; I am a selfish bum who does stuff for herself and her own pleasure and whatever is convenient for her and rest of the world be damned.
There is a larger life philosophy type thing here that I could be talking about, but let me not. Let me instead talk about... shoes.... Many months ago I spoke lovingly about a new acquisition of mine. Yes, the vibrams. As recommended in all the fora, I took my time transitioning to them. If you clicked the link, you will see I ran my first few miles in them in Jul 2011...
Now these shoes (if you can call them that), are part of what are being categorised as 'minimalist' footwear. There is lot of good and bad press about the vibrams in particular, and the whole minimalist running footwear deal in general. I have read most of it, I promise. There is a charge sheet of reasons for people choose them.
Let me disclaim. I am not into them for the 'minimalism' part of it - not in the sense of the opposite of 'consumerism'. Honestly, these guys cost something like $100 (right, MSB??), and are not available in India. The fit is tricky and they do not last very long - not even the traditional 500km of an asics. Really not saving money, mother earth, or stuff like that with this shoe.
I am not into them particularly for injury related reasons. At the time that I got convinced to try them on, I was not suffering any injury. I was OK. It was in the reasonably active part of my running agenda for the year. My ankles, knees, and shins felt reasonable if not spectacular. I was not looking at them as some kind of magic salvo...
I am not into them for speed. I admit that 2012 has been a good year. I have done at least three half marathons that I am very happy with - hitting personal bests by far, and reaching long standing (albeit arbitrary) milestones. But I owe that to a mixture of sensible training, good luck, and flat courses. I don't chase speed when I run races, in deference to my age.
My feet are sensitive - I hate the word delicate - so I will say sensitive. I hate pretty much anything I wear on my feet, but I feel happy when I wear my vibrams. I think this is the only reason I am into them. On the argument regarding cushioning shoes vs. non-cushioning ones, I am currently inclined to believe the latter- based on my analysis of my own running form.
Long story short. I ran a full marathon (Hyderabad; Aug 26th) in my vibrams. I ran the Ultra (Chennai; 50km; Dec 30th) in vibrams. It rained on both days. It was sunny after. I enjoyed the feel of the vibrams. I am training 100% of the time in them now. There are a few things I have learnt not to do in my training. Other than that, I am a convert.
Do I have pain, am I getting 'more' injured, have I gotten faster? Well, yes, no, no to those questions. I think I have some serious ground to break in terms of addressing my ankle stability, unrelated to running/shoes. I had what the doc said was 'metatarsalitis' - whatever - I backed the hell off, reduced mileage, slowed down, was sensible about it.
I just don't know if I am getting faster - I don't want to, particularly, at any rate. I am turning 39 this year. This is not a small number. I want to be able to run for years and years more. I have dreams of doing a lot of awesome sounding, super difficult races in my lifetime. I want to be sensible. I want running to be a very important part of my fitness routine. I want to continue to love it. I don't think speeding up is an agenda here....
I have a new pair of vibrams now - my third one - I am immensely grateful and thankful and really looking forward to miles on them in 2013. Yes, I hope to chip seconds here and there off my PB; and I often joke about the veteran's medal. And I am not in competition with any of you - I make my own rules; I run my own race....
On New Year's Day my cook was asking me about visiting the temple. She had just come back from there and was very happy and peaceful as a result. I changed into my running gear, strapped on my new vibrams, and went out running. Yes, it gives me peace, and more than that I don't ask for...
There is a larger life philosophy type thing here that I could be talking about, but let me not. Let me instead talk about... shoes.... Many months ago I spoke lovingly about a new acquisition of mine. Yes, the vibrams. As recommended in all the fora, I took my time transitioning to them. If you clicked the link, you will see I ran my first few miles in them in Jul 2011...
Now these shoes (if you can call them that), are part of what are being categorised as 'minimalist' footwear. There is lot of good and bad press about the vibrams in particular, and the whole minimalist running footwear deal in general. I have read most of it, I promise. There is a charge sheet of reasons for people choose them.
Let me disclaim. I am not into them for the 'minimalism' part of it - not in the sense of the opposite of 'consumerism'. Honestly, these guys cost something like $100 (right, MSB??), and are not available in India. The fit is tricky and they do not last very long - not even the traditional 500km of an asics. Really not saving money, mother earth, or stuff like that with this shoe.
I am not into them particularly for injury related reasons. At the time that I got convinced to try them on, I was not suffering any injury. I was OK. It was in the reasonably active part of my running agenda for the year. My ankles, knees, and shins felt reasonable if not spectacular. I was not looking at them as some kind of magic salvo...
I am not into them for speed. I admit that 2012 has been a good year. I have done at least three half marathons that I am very happy with - hitting personal bests by far, and reaching long standing (albeit arbitrary) milestones. But I owe that to a mixture of sensible training, good luck, and flat courses. I don't chase speed when I run races, in deference to my age.
My feet are sensitive - I hate the word delicate - so I will say sensitive. I hate pretty much anything I wear on my feet, but I feel happy when I wear my vibrams. I think this is the only reason I am into them. On the argument regarding cushioning shoes vs. non-cushioning ones, I am currently inclined to believe the latter- based on my analysis of my own running form.
Long story short. I ran a full marathon (Hyderabad; Aug 26th) in my vibrams. I ran the Ultra (Chennai; 50km; Dec 30th) in vibrams. It rained on both days. It was sunny after. I enjoyed the feel of the vibrams. I am training 100% of the time in them now. There are a few things I have learnt not to do in my training. Other than that, I am a convert.
Do I have pain, am I getting 'more' injured, have I gotten faster? Well, yes, no, no to those questions. I think I have some serious ground to break in terms of addressing my ankle stability, unrelated to running/shoes. I had what the doc said was 'metatarsalitis' - whatever - I backed the hell off, reduced mileage, slowed down, was sensible about it.
I just don't know if I am getting faster - I don't want to, particularly, at any rate. I am turning 39 this year. This is not a small number. I want to be able to run for years and years more. I have dreams of doing a lot of awesome sounding, super difficult races in my lifetime. I want to be sensible. I want running to be a very important part of my fitness routine. I want to continue to love it. I don't think speeding up is an agenda here....
I have a new pair of vibrams now - my third one - I am immensely grateful and thankful and really looking forward to miles on them in 2013. Yes, I hope to chip seconds here and there off my PB; and I often joke about the veteran's medal. And I am not in competition with any of you - I make my own rules; I run my own race....
On New Year's Day my cook was asking me about visiting the temple. She had just come back from there and was very happy and peaceful as a result. I changed into my running gear, strapped on my new vibrams, and went out running. Yes, it gives me peace, and more than that I don't ask for...
1 comment:
Anything that gives one peace!!!!!
Happy running:)
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