New shoes, one day down, and wooohooo!!

Well, as a followup to my last marathon (no pun intended!) note, I thought I'd catch up. First of all...thank you so much for all of the feedback and encouragement! I truly am blessed with some amazing peeps! I am so grateful for my friends...old friends that go all the way back to Marble Falls, and new ones in Lake Jackson--ya'll are such gifts, and I appreciate you each one!So....I haven't had a new pair of running shoes since 2003, when I ran the San Diego Rock n' Roll marathon (and pre-kids). I think the last pair I got I used to train in for awhile and run the marathon itself in, and they have been used off and on since then on the rare occasions I actually made it out the door in the past 4 years! So, I decided it was time to invest in another pair of shoes. After all, these are the only legs I have, and they are carrying a whole lotta me on them! Back in the day, I went to Fleet Feet in Rice Village in Houston and learned I needed motion control shoes, and I ran in Saucony Grid Stabils for awhile and then discoved the Brooks Ariel, which is one beast of a shoe! (in fact, the man-version of it was called the "Beast"...don't know if it still is or not, but that is the lineage of the shoe...the Beast!). My Ariel's served me well, but since it had been so long ago that I'd had my gait looked at, I decided a trip to the Running Shoe store was in order, rather than just ordering willy nilly online (which probably would've saved a little money...but I needed the service this time). There is a great...I think fairly new...store in Pearland (and one in Clear Lake) called "On the Run" and that is where we went...by we, I mean myself, and my 3 sidekicks, who happen to be aged 4, 4, and 2. I had seen the Pearland store before, but couldn't remember exactly where it was, because Pearland is like...crazy built up these days! I remember way back in the day when Pearland was just podunkville out in the country south of Houston...no buddy, not anymore! It's a stinkin shopper paradise now! It pretty much runs into Houston and its hard to tell where one stops and the other begins. In the last 10 years since I've lived here, it's exploded like a seagull eatin' rice! Anyhow, we drove the about 40 minutes up to Pearland, and then drove around every little storefront place that looked like where I remembered seeing the store for about as long trying to find it! Finally, my synaptic misfire got straightened otu and I remembered where it was and we made it there. Of course, my sidekicks were MORE than happy to be out of the van by this time! So, I go in, walk around and try on lots of shoes....Sauconys, Mizunos, Addidas, Asics, not sure what all else, and then the Ariel...yep...they are still the one, baby! They felt so good on my feet, and I knew they would help motivate me to get to bed last night and up and at em in the morning. And I have to remember its an investment, because it takes me about a half shift of med teching to earn the 100 or so bucks to buy them....It's hard to spend the money, but I'd rather spend it on shoes to get me running and take care of my body than to spend it later on medical bills because I'm a big fat unhealthy slug. Anyhow....so I get my Ariel's and I'm so excited! Of course, by this time I had to reassmeble a few things at the store due to my kiddos and deal with the carnage, but overall it was a successful trip. And the kids were excited to eat at Chick-Fil-A while we were out and about. So......last night, I was actually ready to sleep at 10:30ish, which is amazingly early for me! My alarm went off at 4:45 this morning, and I snoozed only once to get me to 4:50, and I was up and at em! Brushed my teeth, got dressed, got the shoes on, and I was out the door....whoohoo! It felt great! And though I'm not breakin any speed records, I was able to run a little more than I was the other day..probably mostly due to the shoe situation. It felt so good...I was a sweaty mess when I got home, and it RAWKED! Of course, I was getting a little stressed about 5:50 or so when I realized it would be shortly after 6 that I got home. Craig was waiting on the driveway, but he was nice to me, so that was a nice surprise...I thought for sure I'd be in trouble for being late. (it was a fw minutes after 6 I got home). So, he left for work, I got to take a shower I felt like I actually "earned" and had about an hour before the kids woke up to spend time with my Lord....does it get better than that? Naw....not really, at least not for now. I'll take it....it's been a good day!Anyhow....lets see if I can do it again. Get to bed early, get up early, butt out of bed, go Stacy go...one foot in front of the other....repeat! We shall see!! I think I can, I think I can!!!