It *looks* like I've done 10, 9, and 8.5 mile runs for the past few Saturdays, but really I've broken them up because I'm afraid of doing a "long" run. But Eric said that I needed to start doing the miles all together, so I plotted a little loop that included the gym (water and potty) and set out for my 10. But then the wind slapped my butt and I came home. And even though I was less afraid of doing 9.5 than 10, I still procrastinated the rest of my run for pretty much as long as I could, making it to the Orem gym just in time to get it all in before midnight. One of the things I did during my day of dallying was finally get those Altras. Yes, I love Launches, but they're not perfect; I love the cush, but they don't fit exactly right and they don't feel as fast as my Kinvaras. And I love the Kivaras because they feel fast and flexy, but they seem to wear down/out pretty quickly. And they're a little too narrow. So it made sense to at least try Altras. And even though runningwarehouse.com is amazing I got them at 26.2 so that I could have the option of exchanging them within 10 days (fear of commitment, yo). The first thing I noticed after I put them on was that I had fewer injuries. The second thing was that my feet were super cold outside - that mesh upper is for reals. Once I started running on the treadmill I felt like the shoe stayed out of my way; where I usually scuff or skid on my normal shoes there was nothing. That was nice. The shoes also felt pretty good - not as cushy as the Launches but still cushy, and almost as flexy/fast as the Kinvaras (and much roomier). I started with the thinner insole because I figured that I had already gone through the crazy calf pain of getting forefooty and so would be fine. My calves didn't hurt, but I noticed some stretching in my arches and a little twinge to the left of my left achilles. I probably should have switched to the "support" insole as soon as I felt the twinge, but I didn't switch until my 3-miles-left bathroom break. I iced it when I got home. I think it's just sore. While I was running I watched that Justin Bieber movie on my phone. Cute kid, cute story. I hope that there's a Justin Bieber for Elliott when she gets a little older. The ending was pretty inspiring. I did two quarters at 6:00 in the last mile because Justin said "never say never." Also because I switched the treadmill to the -3 decline. During the first quarter I had some uncomfortable friction on the balls of my feet, but Eric says this might be because my feet haven't found their home in the insoles yet. Later I read some comments on Netflix and felt dumb for being inspired by a kid whose hard knock life included becoming a millionaire in his teens and stuff, but whatever. When I got home Eric showed me that there are purple Altras and I wanted to cry because purple is my favorite color. Oh well. 
(Also - if you're on facebook and don't mind a facebook app, want to vote for our picture?)
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