Hi there.

Happy March! 3 weeks until Spring! So much to tell you guys…

First, I get my MRI results on my shoulder tomorrow. Then on Tuesday morning I have my appointment made to see the sports injury chiro about the knee. Now let’s backtrack…

Last Wednesday, I hit the gym during my lunch break and tested out the stationary bike to see if my knee would be bothered by it or not. I’m happy to report that it went well.

Honestly though, for me, biking and not going anywhere is very boring. More boring than running on a treadmill. So I needed to occupy my mind. Before you knew it I had my iPhone in hand and was Googling a bunch of stuff that I wanted to know.

I wanted to see what the finish time limits are for the 2 half marathons I have this month. The NYC Half on March 15th is a 3 hour limit (or a 13:45 pace) and the Love Run on March 29th is a 3 1/2 hour limit (or a 15 minute pace). So basically I can walk/run both of these with an emphasis on the walk and probably complete them without my knee going crazy. Of course I’ll wait for professional advisement when I see doc on Tuesday before I say this will definitely be my plan. But honestly the knee isn’t phased at all by walking.

Thursday I made a delicious dinner.

I hardly ever cook so this is very blog-post-worthy. I also made some amazing discoveries. Party cake Peeps…

And, the best discovery of my life…

Nutella sandwiched between two Girl Scout Shortbread cookies. Oh my it was so good.

Friday, I got the Subaru to the car wash.

It was the ceremonial first professional car wash. I think I washed it by hand once or twice in the first weeks after I got it. Then, in the afternoon, I took the doodle for a 2.5 mile walk on the boardwalk. It took us 46 minutes.

Yesterday Mr. SOTSS and I, and the pooches went on a group pack hike. There was a lot of snow on the ground but we stayed on trails that had been used by snowmobiles so they were packed pretty well.

We covered 6.4 miles in about 2 1/2 hours. As usual, I was in my happy place: sweating out the small stuff amidst beautiful sights of glistening snow and sun filtered through the trees, happy dogs, and conversation with some great dog owners not to mention some quality time with my honey.

After the hike we all went out for lunch and then on the way back we stopped at Road Runner Sports. Mr. SOTSS takes a couple of months off from running in the winter but starts back up on March 1(TODAY!) and he likes to start with a new pair of sneakers. Road Runner Sports has a cool experience called Shoe Dog. Basically they test to see what the best type of running shoe and insert you need. They measure your arch, width and length and also test to see where you load the most pressure on your feet and then they  put you on the treadmill barefoot and video tape you running.

I ended up discovering I have high arches and I’m a 7-7 1/2 not an 8. Who knew? She said I have a wide forefoot which I already knew so I could get a wide width shoe or choose from brands with roomier toe boxes (which I also already knew). My toes point slightly out and my ankles are slightly flexible so she said I could use a light stability shoe but that neutral with plush cushioning and the custom inserts that they had molded for my feet would be better. So they had me try on 3 pairs. The Saucony Guide 7 which I didn’t like at all. My heels felt like they were slipping out. The Asics Nimbus, which felt good but to me, are too similar to the Cumulus which I already have 2 pairs in rotation. And the 3rd was the New Balance 1080v5 which just came out this year. I ended up loving them and bought them.

I’ve only ever worn Asics and Brooks so this will be my first try with New Balance. I’ll let ya know how it goes….you know eventually….when I am healthy and running and all that.

Oh, and Mr SOTSS got some new Saucony Guides which ironically are the same style as the ones he got last year but he didn’t even realize it. So apparently they are truly his perfect fit!

This afternoon after Mr SOTSS got back from his running season opener I went out for a brisk walk. Of course it started to snow. And then I laughed about that car wash the other day as I saw my car covered in snow when I finished the walk. Oh well, at least for 2 days I had no snow or salt or mud on it.

OK that’s it for now. I’ll report back at some point this week to let you know about my MRI results and my appointment with the Sports Injury doc.

Have you ever had your running analyzed or any other specialized tests done to determine the type of shoe you should be running in or do you just wing it?

I did once before at another running specialty store back in 2011.

Do you wear custom inserts in your shoes or just the ones that come with the sneaker?

This will be my first time with custom inserts.