On Monday I wrote Inspired To Run A Marathon, but I didn’t talk about what my running had been like before.  Even though I had been running for years, I rarely ran farther than about five miles.  I wasn’t putting a lot of extra thought in my running because I was too busy raising two little boys and working.  Running was a fun thing to do early in the morning before Bill headed off to work, and it was a way to keep this busy mom sane!

Prior to training for a marathon, my morning run took me on the exact same loop.  This wasn’t necessarily a good idea if I was being stalked, but I did it so Bill would know where to come look for me if I didn’t make it back home.  Remember, at that time I didn’t have a mobile phone and when I finally got one, it was attached to my car with a cord!

My early running attire was mostly cotton, especially the shirts because all race tees were cotton.  My old 1980’s running shorts were florescent and short-short and buried at the bottom of my dresser, so I chose cotton shorts for a while until I bought replacements.  I’m sure my cotton outfit gained ten pounds on this particular rainy run!

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Nike Air Pegasus circa 1997

My first shoe of choice was the Nike Air Pegasus, not because it had been sold to me as the perfect running shoe for marathoners, but because it was current running shoe that I happened to own, and probably because I’d gotten it for a good price at a discount shoe store!  Mine were gray with blue swooshes and I wore those bad boys on most of my runs for eight years!  I loved those shoes!

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Nike Air Pegasus circa 1988 (Women’s Nike 8K)

Two month before my first marathon my friends talked me into buying new running shoes.  By then my trusty Nikes had huge holes between the soles and tops on the medial side of both shoes, and my waffle bottoms were about to fall off.  They may have looked ridiculous, but my feet were very happy in them, or so I thought!

Eventually, I went to our local Footsteps and was greeted by a guy that recommended I try a pair of Asics because they had a little more room in the toe box.  He fitted me and had me go out onto the boardwalk and run in them.  I immediately realized how much support I’d been missing with my “open air shoes.”  I guess I was running as a minimalist long before it became fashionable!   I’ve been an Asics lover ever since, and now replace my shoes every 500 miles.

I later learned that the guy that had helped me was their UPS guy.  He was off that day and just happened to be hanging out at the store.  The other employees were busy with other customers, so he decided to help me with my shoe selection.  I suppose that’s what brown can do for you!

 

  • Questions:
  • Have you ever had a favorite pair of shoes that you just couldn’t get rid of?
  • What has been your biggest running fashion faux pas?
  • Have you ever run in a cotton t-shirt?