Progress & Brooks Ghost 4-5-6 and Goo Goo Dolls & Matchbox 20 concert

I think I am making progress.

Finally a little light at the end of the tunnel.

Today I did my first back to back run in months.  I am nervous about how I will feel tomorrow.

I only did 3 miles each day nothing crazy.

I have not gone over 3 miles yet.

Last 2 runs I increased the running portion to 4 minutes. So I now do 4:2.

PT wanted me to go from 3:1 to full 30 min running.  That scares me. I decided to increase the running   at a slower pace to be safe.  I want to make progress and avoid setbacks.

I will not do more than 2 days in a row for now, for a while actually...maybe for good. 

Next I will go for a long run of 4 whole miles :)

The fitness....ayayaye...that's tough...it is a little better.....but oh so frustrating still....

The shoes...

I had to accept that my Brooks Ghost 5 were not going to work with my orthotics.  I had aches and pain and it was not getting better.  I wanted them to work.  They were brand new.  I feel bad not using them.   I still have 2 pairs of Ghost 4 so I went back to those and they feel a lot better.  The reason is they have a wider toe box.  I went to the local running  store and tried the 6 again and they felt better than the 5 and the 4.  They are a better version of the 4.   So I ordered a pair and they arrived Saturday.  I ran with the 6 both yesterday and today and so far so good.

Here you can see the 4-5-6

See the stitches on toe box on the 5 (middle one) are closer and the shoe is narrower.  The 6 have  flat shoe laces and I prefer those.

I still go to PT but I am planning on reducing the frequency of my visits to maybe once every other week.  If I continue to feel better and not having setbacks I think I am good to continue on my own.

Well I do have my personal trainer to help me at home

I went to a great concert on Saturday night!  Goo Goo Dolls and Matchbox 20! If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen clips I posted, it was a great night.  Both bands sang ALL their hits.  It is hard to beat IRIS live.  This weekend I am going back to the same venue to see Phillip Phillips and John Mayer!

Concert pics not the greatest except that one

During SLIDE it was not dark yet 

Matchbox 20 : how far we've come

Matchbox playing 3 AM, my favorite of theirs, for 14000 folks!

If you have the chance to see these guys on tour...GO see them!

Both Johnny Rzeznik and Rob Thomas have really great voices live they do not disappoint.

GGD favorited not one for 2 of my tweets today...that is a serious sign that we are now BFF...that or they do that to  all the tweets from fans....I am going with BFF option...

Looking for the one...you know running shoes..for my orthotics

I am at the place again.

Looking for running shoes.  I have been happy with my Ghost for a while and I was not planning on changing model anytime soon.

Sadly my Ghost 5 (or 4) are not perfect with my orthotics.  Feels to snug and I get pain on the top of the foot and also still have callus.  So I went to Dicks to try a bunch of shoes with my orthotics.  I was planning on taking my sweet time but the guys working in the shoe section were really annoying...every 3 min "can I help you with anything ?" "Still doing ok?".... At the 5th time I snapped a little "Like I said the 4 previous times..I am good and I will tell you if I need anything..and I am really close to leaving now because you refuse to leave me alone". He was overweight and wearing VANS so I assumed he was not a runner.  I could be wrong of course.

Anyway.... I tried these shoes

Brooks Ghost 6

Mizunos Wave Rider 16

Saucony Kirvana 4 and Guide 6

New Balance 1080 v3

I did not like the Saucony.  

Mizunos were OK not great.

Ghost 6 feels better than the 5 so that is good..more room at the toe box.

New Balance surprised me...feel like slippers....very comfortable. Those are pretty pricy for me at $134.99!

I did not buy any just yet.

I was hopping to try the new Mizuno Sayanora...have you heard of them?!! Just kidding. You would have to not be on Instagram or Facebook or any running blog to not know about these shoes... I went to 3 stores and nobody had them so no luck there.

Makes me nervous to change shoes especially since I have been happy with my Ghost but I also need to run with less pain and right now I am not pain free.  I don't have knee pain but my feet are not happy and neither is my hip.

On the recovery progress now.

I have not been to the PT in 12 days now.  I did not have enough free time to go and have my visit there be worth the $40 I have to pay each time.   I will go back on Wednesday.  I am wondering if I should still go.  I am better but not 100%. Far from it.  I don't want to keep going and paying if I can do all the PT here at home.  

I have been running with walking intervals every other day.  Right now I am on a 3:1 ratio.  I have very minimal pain in the knee...I do have plantar fasciitis that came back. Boooo

I am listening to the PT and I am not doing more than what she said is OK.

My fitness is still horrible...this is a hard pill to swallow.

I get tired very quickly and welcome the walking breaks...:(

But I am doing some running so that is a huge plus.

I noticed that the distance I cover in the time I am allowed to do gets longer so that is good also...less grandma running :)

I am now in the danger zone.  The place where I am making real progress and could get carried away and do too much too soon.  I don't want to be stupid and I won't be. I cannot wait to see at least a 5 for the distance....:)

One week from today I am going to a concert! We are going to see Matchbox 20 and the Goo Goo Dolls and I cannot wait!  It is an outdoor concert so it should be great!  I love both these groups ..I have seen the GGD once and they were fantastic. 

The week after that I will go see John Mayer and Phillip Phillips with a friend because Bill does not care for John Mayer... 

How about you? Any summer concerts on the agenda?

Watched the first episode of Scandal on the TM today...and I am HOOKED.  I get why it is so popular.

4th of July 5000 Freedom race

A race recap...

There a nice change from the injury saga.

I signed up for this 5K with the plan of doing it with my kids.  I thought this would be a great way to stick to the run-walk diet and not try to do anything stupid and also to share this one with the boys.

I have done this 5K 3 times before and this course is no PR course..the last mile is all uphill and if the sun is out well it is brutal.

I was a little nervous about running on the road.  I have not done that since the OC Half Marathon.  I did not try any running with my orthotics on the pavement.  I was not concerned with my time, I knew it would be terrible.

So things did not go as plan.

My kids picked that morning to act like little brats.  I will not go in details but I ended up going to the race alone and heartbroken.    Being a parent is the best and hardest job in the world.

I went and I decided to stick to the plan I have from my PT and do 2:2 run/walk.

So that was grand ma running and walking.  That was not a race.  It's ok.  It was nice to be with other people and to be at a race.

It felt strange to run on the pavement.  I felt like I was running on rocks, that's the best way to describe it.  It's the orthotics.  I am used to them for walking and also on the treadmill but not on the road.  I did not have knee pain during the race.  I felt completely out of shape.  It is no joke.  Wow.   That is so depressing.  I think that even if I could have run the whole distance I would have not been able to do it and not walk during the last mile up hill.  It was also sunny and hot.  But it did feel good to be kind of back even if this was a very humbling experience.

My time was terrible, probably 7 minutes slower than my 5k PR (27:xx ) but at this point it is not important and I know that so it is OK.

I am happy that I did it.  I am happy that I did not do anything stupid and I did walk half of it.  I a, happy that the knee was ok...I felt a tiny little pinch and that was it.  So that is the good.

The not so good...besides the fact that my kids were not with me...was that I had pain in my right hip again.  It really is soreness.  It is not during running/walking but after I am done.  I did talk to the PT about it because I am worried this is caused by the orthotics...although I had this at the OC half and I did not have orthotics then so maybe I am wrong.  Maybe it is my gait that is messed up because of my left knee and I favor the right leg?  PT said right hip flexor is very tight.   That worries me.  I don't want to have to deal with hip problems after having knee problems....enough already.

I stretched and rolled as soon as I got home and today it is much better.  

Hope you had a good 4th of July!

We went to see the fireworks at the baseball stadium and it was great!

If you follow me on Instagram you saw pics and videos of it!

Are you on Instagram? If I don't follow you let me know you are there!

Watching young girls (same age as them)  doing a dance number before the fireworks...Notice the level of attention??? I mean this is serious focus my friends.... :)

Humility 101

I have not been a good blogger lately.
I feel disconnected.
I don't like it.

I read blogs and I feel like I am out of the circle...everyone is running and I am falling behind....

Poor me...ok enough of that.

I am on week 3 of the running diet.
So now I do 30 minutes...2 min walk- 2 min run.

As far as knee pain goes...it is much better.  It is not zero pain all the time but most of the time for sure.    I have developed painful calluses.  They are on the ball of the foot where the pinky toe is.  I think it is because of the my orthotics...not sure.  The Top PT said I needed shoes with a bigger toe box.  He tried to convince me to get some New Balance shoes.  I am not sold on changing shoes.  Not even a little.  Takes time to find the one.  I think I have the one.  Maybe I could try 0.5 size bigger...I run in Brooks Ghost.  Right now I have a pair of 4 and 5.  The 6 are already in the store but I have not tried them on yet so I don't know if the toe box is different..sure hope it is not narrower.. that would be a problem.

So the running "comeback"...that is a major wake up call or what I like to call humility 101.  So the fitness is GONE.
All of it.
I am starting over.
It sucks.
It is hard.

When I started the 2 minutes intervals I could feel it.  Not my legs the problems...that is fine..but the cardio....wow...I suck.
Lots of work to do before I can go back to where I was.
It is so frustrating.  If you have had an injury...you know.

Are you running a 4th of July race?
I signed up for a 5K.
No I have not lost my mind.
I signed up with my kids.
It will be their first 5K and they cannot run this distance so we will run/walk.
I will start them on 2:1 intervals for the first half and then we will see if they can do 2:2
This will be fun!
I have ran that race twice before and it is not a very serious race...they time it with a stop watch!  So it is more for fun and to help the local cross country youth club.

Happy 4th to everyone!


A note regarding Google reader's death...I am still following all your blogs on bloglovin.  It works great.  You can find me there as well!!