New Running Shoes: Mizuno Wave Creation 11

Mizuno Wave Creation 11

Yes, I know this was not in the budget until April, but I went to buy new insoles for my old running shoes (Mizuno Wave Rider 12′s) and the store I went to was having a weekend sale – 20% off certain brands of shoes, including the Mizunos, to celebrate the Gasparilla* weekend here in Tampa. Anyway, instead of buying insoles at $35 that would have to be put in a new pair of Wave Riders at around $90, I bought a pair of Mizuno Wave Creation 11′s for $108 (they retail for around $130.) I feel a bit guilty for breaking the bank yet again (last month it was spinning shoes), but I think these will be well worth it and will help my nagging right knee injury. I ran five miles last Saturday and only two and a half on Wednesday, due to my knee. Ran only a mile last night (a slow, crappy mile), so looking to just run a couple tomorrow to start breaking in the shoes, and being careful with the injury. (I wouldn’t call it an injury just yet – it’s more like a pre-injury state. If I’m not careful right now, it could be come a full-blown injury, hence why I am resting today. I’m aiming to add lower-body strength training to my weekly regimen to power up my quads & hamstrings, which will in turn help support my knees.)

A friend of mine, Jen, is going to start her 5k journey tomorrow, so I will be rooting her on! She’s doing the C25k program (I downloaded a C25k app to my iPhone a couple weeks ago because I think it will help me get faster) and I know she’s going to do great.

I stopped in at Starbucks earlier today and there’s a young chap who works there that recently started running as well. He commented that he is slow, only running a mile in 9 minutes. I had to do an internal little cough because I was like, my fastest mile is only around 10 minutes! (I was not built for speed, that’s for sure, with my lousy bio-mechanics.) I did give him a little warning though as it seemed he was building his mileage too quickly – that can lead to injury if you just dive in and start thinking you can run five or six miles right away.

I purchased John Bingham’s book, “No Need for Speed: A Beginner’s Guide to the Joy of Running” last weekend and so far so good. I definitely don’t have a need for speed – my goal is to just keep running and enjoy it. There’s nothing wrong with a 10-minute mile, and there’s nothing wrong with an 11-minute mile (and so on and so forth.) As long as you’re out there enjoying yourself & staying fit, just keep running! Or jogging, wogging, or even walking. Maybe one day I’ll get fulfill my dream of completing a marathon, but I will always have that nagging voice in the back of my head (my physical therapist from last year) reminding me that I was not built for distance running.

*Gasparilla: series of running events every February in Tampa, including the Half & Full Marathons. I wanted to run the 5k this year, but I didn’t train as seriously as I needed to. I’m not running another 5k until I can beat 30 minutes.