New Shoes

Have you ever smelled new running shoes?

The smell of running shoes sits up there with baseball gloves, lilac bushes and bread hot out of the oven in my world. I could stand in a shoe store by the tennis shoes and drink in the smell all day long.

Today I bought a new pair of running shoes. In less than four months I have run 300 miles. At that distance, my shoes break down and I find my shins and calves taking the brunt of running’s impact. After Monday morning’s run, the second or third in a row with my legs bothering me, I calculated my mileage. I was shocked to come up with 300, a number that usually takes me 6 months to reach. I shouldn’t be. I know I am running at least twice as much as I used to. Nevertheless, the mileage numbers and the worn down shoes stood as a tangible representation of the work I have put in. Staring at these two things, my calendar with the miles ticked off and the worn down treads on my Mizunos, I was hit with the magnitude of the distance. This time not of the marathon, but of the training. I’ve never run this far, or this frequently for this long in my life.

Like all changes that happen over time, it’s difficult to see the total impact when you are in the midst of it.

My worn running shoes triggered a bit of reflection on the last 300 miles.

When I went for my 8 mile run this weekend, I wondered what good it could possibly be doing—since it was so short! Running 4 miles barely seemed worth changing for. It takes me 3 miles to get warmed up. 6-mile runs seem easy to fit in on a morning before work.

The reality is the 8 miles I ran this weekend were on a retreat. I was working. I got up at 5:45 a.m. to fit them in, and in a strange place with unfamiliar routes. Pre-marathon, I took weekends I was working or traveling off of working out completely. I certainly didn’t get up before 6 a.m. to work out. Four runs a week or two days of running in a row seemed like too much. I do that regularly now and twice as far. Prior to these four months a 9-mile run on a Saturday would wear me out for the day. When I ran 16, I didn’t do much, but I was able to do a couple of errands and didn’t need a nap. I’ve learned more about nutrition, rest, hydration, and focus than I ever have in my life. I have gone to bed earlier, gotten up earlier, and shelved dozens of the excuses I used to have for not running.

Today I took my new shoes out for a four-mile run. It was 60 degrees and sunny. I saw more dogs and strollers, cyclists, and other runners in that short run than I have seen out over the past 4 months combined. I felt like I was running on marshmallows in the new shoes. It felt like spring.

When I put those old shoes away, with them I put away three hundred hard miles of training. 300 miles of growth and transformation. 300 miles of winter running. With the comfort and support of the new shoes came renewed excitement. These shoes will carry me through the marathon and beyond. I am excited to see where the next 300 miles will take me; one mile at a time.