My two left feet

I had the ultimate "blond" moment last week. Jason is still shaking his head and wondering how someone with so much education can be so dumb sometimes.

My knees had begun to ache on runs; a sure sign that I needed new running shoes. So even though the shoes only had 280 miles on them (I can't even make it to 300!), I dutifully picked up a new pair. Brooks Adrenaline size 10A, which I've been wearing for years. I took out the insoles and put in my orthotics and took off for a track workout.

I eeked out painful mile repeats. Mile repeats are always painful but today was particularly so. I figured the extra cushioning of the new shoes was making them uncomfortable but they seemed really uncomfortable. Painful actually. And lumpy. I couldn't figure out why they were so lumpy. Maybe they just needed to be broken in. Still, I didn't remember my feet hurting so much the last time I broke them in. Plus, I couldn't figure out why I was running so slow on the track when I was exerting so much effort. Despite the blister I developed on my arch and my pinched, numb toes, I eeked out an 8:15 min mile with all my might. Satisfied, I called it quits, forgoing the recovery mile afterwards due to my sore feet.

Saturday, after my 40 mile bike, I put the shoes back on for a 5 mile brick run afterwards. My body was pretty tired and my feet were kind of numb at this point so even though the shoes were still lumpy, I didn't really care. I just wanted to get the workout over with.

Sunday, we were driving to Penasquitos Canyon for our 12 mile long run. I had taped up the blisters on my feet and was wearing my lucky socks but was dreading the run in my new lumpy shoes. I took a careful look at the shoes. Yes, they were the correct size. I removed the orthotics and examined them carefully.

"Jason, are these in right." He looks at me and then the orthotics and then me again with a raised eyebrow.
"No!" he chortles in amazement. Yes, that's right. I had them in the wrong way. The left orthotic was in the right shoe and the right orthotic was in the left shoe. All that arch support was on the outside of my foot, in a stability shoe, making me a super-supinator. I had logged 2 runs in the shoes with the orthotics in the wrong way, including a gruesome track workout. I'm still trying to figure out how I didn't injure myself.

I slipped the orthotics in correctly and put them onto my feet. It was like Cinderella and the glass slipper. Luxurious. I've never been so comfortable on a 12-mile run before in my life. It felt like butta.

Maybe all this training is killing my brain cells. Maybe I'm not as hydrated as I thought I was. Maybe I'm not getting enough rest. Better go take a nap to be sure. Definitely my brain-fart of the week. Glorious.