A week ago, Alex and I were having dinner with Chris and Anna and they told us about The Human Race. A 5K walk or run put on by The Greensboro Volunteer Center. The Human Race is all about helping local non-profits and Triad Ladder of Hope is participating. The cool thing is that when you register for the 5K, you choose which non-profit you want any money you raise to go to. Needless to say, I signed myself and my friend Jill up. That's right, this non-running girl is running her first 5K on March 31st, only giving us right at 30 days to train.
I'm sure all my runner friends out there probably thing that I, someone who hasn't ran a mile since 8th grade, is crazy to sign up for a 5K with such a short training window, you are correct. I am crazy, but I am excited about the opportunity to raise some funds to help end Human Trafficking. Please consider donating $5, $10, or whatever you can to help Triad Ladder of Hope. You can find my donation page here.
Anyone who knows me knows that I don't do anything halfway. Running a 5K meant time to get some new gear and where else to go other than FleetFeet. Don't know what FleetFeet is, well let me explain. FleetFeet is as their website says "so much more than a running store" and that they are. Yesterday morning Jill and I headed to Huntersville so I could get fitted for my very first pair of running shoes. The process begins by taking off your shoes and socks and a fitter looks at your feet. Right away based on the location of calluses on my feet, Mark was able to tell me that I am a pronator, and right he was. Pronating is when your feet roll to the inside when you walk. He then watched me walk about 20 feet and finally measured my foot. There is a 1/2 size difference between my left and right foot. After getting the measurements he was off to the stock room to pull me different shoes to try out. The first pair I tried was a pair of New Balances (not sure what style), they fit well, but my foot felt like it was slipping out when I walked/ran. Mark then told me because my foot was so narrow that I needed to be tying my shoes using the bunny ear method. Who would have thought I was tying my shoes wrong all these years. This bunny ear method isn't with tying, but just how your shoestrings are looped through each other before tying, securing your foot in the shoe. After trying the New Balances, I tried a pair of Sauconys. I didn't even bother trying to run in those, they didn't fit my narrow foot well. Lastly I tried a pair of Aesics. They fit like a glove, they were snuck around my arch as well as my toes. I went for a short run in them, but my foot was still pronating, so we tried out some insoles. Now, I know there are people out there who have the thought process "If you buy a good pair of shoes, you shouldn't need insoles" which is great if you have a neutral foot, but I'm a pronator. My foot wiggles around in shoes trying to overcompensate for its rolling. We put in an insole to hold my heel in place and the shoe was now perfect. I went for a run and my foot no longer rolled inward.
**Disclaimer: the next section is about being fitted for a sports bra, I will not be offended if you choose to skip ahead :) **
Now that I had my shoes, insoles, and I picked up some wicking socks, I was almost ready to leave until I was told they would fit me for a sports bra. I was very excited about this, because being larger chested has always been a set back from running. It's painful and when I already have a back that is in pain 95% of the time, I didn't need or want the added stress. Did you know that when running the breast naturally move in a figure eight pattern? I had been a fool buying sports bras before, I thought the best kind were the kind that sucked you in just a compression sports bra, you know the tighter to your chest the better off you are. So not true. Compression sports bras are only ideal for B cups and smaller, and for someone quite larger than a B cup, this is just not acceptable. Just like a regular bra, the support from a sports bra should come from the band, not the pressure or the shoulders. I tried on an Enell brand and it really fit perfectly. It would take some getting use to the tightness, but it did fit well. However, it was not fashionable at all. It had about 20 clasps in the front and a full back, but after years of searching for "cute" bras, there really isn't much offered for us over a C cup. I wish I could say I purchased the bra, but at $65, I couldn't quite get it after my other purchases, but I do know what to be looking for today when I go shopping for a new one!
**End of Disclaimer**
After all was said and done, here were my purchases:
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| Aesics 2170s |
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| Superfeet Berry Insoles |
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| Balega DrynamiX socks |
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| SweatyBand - not in this pattern though |
I am super excited about my purchases and about running for such a good cause. Please consider visiting my donation page and helping out Triad Ladder of Hope. Any proceeds raised go directly to them, no covers or percentages are given to the Human Race.
And for those of you wondering what my time goals are for the 5K, I don't have one. I just want to finish. With only a a month to train, I doubt I will be able to run the whole way either. I want to finish and not feel like death. Two weeks after the Human Race, I will be running another 5K in Lexington, and I will have a better idea of what my goals will be. Check back to read how my training is going!
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