Head Games

I got a new pair of shoes last Saturday. Big woop, I know, but these are really new shoes. As in “NEW BRAND” new. I made the switch from Asics to Brooks. Asics have been my go-to shoe of choice for many rounds now, but I just didn’t like their most recent incarnation. So you take an annoyed-with-her-brand runner, a clearance sale at the local running store, and you have the perfect storm for drastic change. Was it the 50% discount that swayed me? The pretty green color of the Brooks? The lack of better options? Who knows. But I committed to the Brooks Ghost and have been obsessing over the decision ever since.

I’ve been wanting new shoes ever since I first donned my latest pair of Asics last fall. They just weren’t comfy. Not to mention, my ankle felt a bit twingy in them. Mr. “I’m Angry So I’m Going To Get Tedonitis and Knock You Out for Six Weeks” Ankle is very sensitive. I held off on buying new shoes, endured the Asics, because I didn’t want to waste money. However, after logging over 400 miles in them, I felt justified in dropping cash on new shoes. Four hundred miles is a lot of time to deal with shoes you don’t like. You can imagine how excited I was to replace them. It’s then not a far leap to imagine how disappointed I was when I ran in the Brooks for the first time and had to stop because my ankle hurt. {sigh}

I iced my ankle; it felt better. I ran track; it hurt. I ran this morning; it hurt. BUT, my junk in the trunk hurt too. As did my hamstrings. And my calves. Heck, even my toes felt a little weird. Is this a trickle up effect where a change in the shoe impacts the entire leg and it’s just a matter of adapting to the change? Or, are these new shoes the spawn of Satan??? How am I supposed to know? (This stuff actually keeps me up at night. My poor tormented little brain.)