Midnight Run

I had the chance to take part in a fun event on Friday night.  Brooks shoe company held 5 release parties around the country to introduce the new Transcend running shoe.  Charm City Run was one of the stores participating.  Everyone got to wear a demo pair of the shoes and go on a 3.83 mile run at 11:30 pm.  The shoe was available for sale after midnight.  

When I signed up for the event, the temp was supposed to be around 40.  Of course, that did not work out as it ended up being slightly below freezing. The race length was supposed to be 3.83 miles.  There were not any maps for the run since most of it followed the promenade.  However different people took slightly differently routes.  I am a slow runner and lost sight of the leaders on the way to the promenade.  The way I took to get there involve going down some slippery steps.  The frontrunners were already looping around and passing my entry point.  When I headed back, I followed the path they took.  When I did a www.mapmyrun.com route, I did 3.88 miles.   There were 6 people behind me at the turn around point and five got back to the store before me, but they never passed me on the route. According to the organizer, I took the correct route coming back, but it was a little longer. Anyway, I did the run in 47 minutes at a 12.07 pace.  That was good for me.  I did my last 5 K at a 11:57 pace but it was warmer and this was over a half mile longer.  My lungs were burning when I finished.

I thought the shoe was okay.  The fushia strip going around the shoe acts as a guide rail to give you greater stability.  Half way into the run I started having a pain on top of my left foot.  I have several hot spots of pain because of my broken ankle many a year ago, however this was not one of them.  The shoe was also wider than I am accustomed to.  As a result, my feet bumped into each other several time.  Luckily, the bumps were not enough to make me trip and fall.  I am happy with my much cheaper Nikes.  I do like the idea of being able to test run a shoe.  I had run 2 miles before my foot started hurting.  I would have never known it would be uncomfortable during a regular store try on. I wish I could do that with all shoes.