Faster than a lunar rover

Jeremy convinced me to return the expensive running shoes I bought at Fleet Feet. I hate complaining or returning things, but the Brooks stability shoe they recommended just didn't work for me. Plus, I think the shoes are what caused the bursitis in my hip. The sales dude took one look at my flat feet and said he would have recommended a stability shoe for me too, but admitted that he can't argue with what my feet say (apparently what my feet say is something along the lines of "Take a hike, stability shoe, you're not the boss of me!") He brought out some neutral shoes for me to try and I ended up trading the Brooks for Mizuno Wave Riders.

Definite upgrade. I love Love LOVE my new Mizunos! If I'm going to spend $100 on running shoes, this is how they should feel. They're light and bouncy and quick. The first time I wore them, they carried me through Saturday's 11 mile group run without so much as a blister. It feels like I'm not even wearing shoes.

My hip pain isn't completely gone, but it's getting there. I'm down from 3 Ibuprofens a day to 1 and I don't need the ice anymore. I think I'll keep going to acupuncture for a while. My hip is feeling better, though I don't know to what extent, if any, acupuncture contributed to the improvement. But acupuncture is alternately amusing (when there are other patients there) and relaxing (when there aren't or when I'm wearing headphones), and it's nice to have 45 minutes of scheduled rest/recuperation time a week. We're now in the tapering phase leading up to the race, and so much nervous energy is building up that I'll be needing all the reminders I can get to just relax and breathe.

So I just finished reading Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach, from which I learned that lunar rovers average about 6 miles an hour. So now whenever I run faster than 10 minute mile pace, I picture myself outrunning a lunar rover.

Lyric of the moment: "How long before I get in? Before it starts, before I begin...Where to, where do I go? If you never try, then you'll never know..."