At any typical Ironman race you will find this type of pile. Rows upon rows of bags that have your items needed for the next sport. In what they call T1 you will have your items needed for biking and in T2 you will have your run items.
This is a picture of T1 I believe. Being a person who overthinks everything, I pack like my wife when it comes to an Ironman race. I not only have every possible thing jammed into that bag, I have everything inside a 5 gallon zip lock back incase it rains overnight. Nothing is typically left out of that bag. [Helmet, cycling shoes, gloves, shirt jersey, cycling shorts, sunglasses, towel, creams, suntan lotion, extra contacts, different pills in case of need, mints, and any and everything else I can fit]
Why this subject, this day? Shoes....
I went to buy shoes yesterday. My 'go to' shoes have been Hoka for many years now. They fit well and I guess that is good enough for me. Like many things though, they change designs year in and year out. So one style of shoe that worked well, will get replaced yearly by Hoka for their newest technology and style and maybe not fit me as well...
Ugh is all I can say. Trying to find the perfect shoe is something of a challenge for me. Thankfully I found a shoe store that is willing to work with me and help me find the perfect size 15 shoe. It is a little funny that less than ten years ago if you would have told me that I would spend over 100 dollars for a pair a shoes I would have laughed and said "NEVER!" Payless was my shoe store back then and it had to be on the sale/clearance rack under 25 dollars!
So yesterday I ordered two pairs of shoes, each pair over the 100 dollar mark. Before you roll your eyes, I think shoes can make or break your day on the course. In 2019 I believe I chose the wrong set of shoes for the race. They were comfortable for running, but they were worn out and I paid for that around mile 10 on the run course. Lesson learned!
Back on track, shoes ordered. While driving and telling my wife what I had done we got on the subject of this race and training for it. We talked about the journey and finishing this race. We both agree that I have not failed at this, I am continually learning. It would only be failure if I gave up and never tried this again. So under the lesson learned column, finding the right shoes is an important mission. So hopefully in a week or so I will know if the new shoes are a good fit and I am actually changing brands.
Hoka as I like to say it, is not paying me to wear their shoes. I actually asked! Why not! I sent an email with a picture of my Hoka shoe collection to one of their reps [it looked like a certain Filipino president's wife's shoe collection] and a brief story of my journey and got nothing in return from them. No response, no thank you for buying these shoes, nothing.. So if I find a better fit for me, I am moving on up and out to quote the Jeffersons! I will let you know the brands in another post.
Well today is a bike day. I will do a quick 1 hour workout on the bike. Yesterday I did a one hour run/walk. It felt good. It was slow, but it was good. Consistency is the name of the game.
Just an update, I got an email from a fellow brother/pastor who gave me a little encouragement! Thanks for that John. That might mean that we have more than one typically reader of this rambling blog. My stats will begin to go through the roof!
Peace to you all
Paul