Running store!

At long last, I went to a real running store. I live well over an hour away from any "real" running stores. (Being the running snob that I am, I don't consider the mall stores "real.")

I had to pick up Emma at camp about a zillion miles away. On the way up, I took Emma and the baby through Columbus, Georgia (curse you Columbus with your "one wrong turn and you're in Alabama" lack of signs!) We went on a bit of a side trip to Calloway Gardens. Unfortunately, I only remembered how boring it is when we got there. (Okay, it may be lovely when it's not 100 degrees). We then went on a side trip to the Wild Animal Safari Park. Hello, surreal! We bought some food and hopped on the zebra bus with no windows. You hand food to the animals, unless they have "horse-like" mouths in which case they may grab a finger, so you throw it.

I'm totally digressing.

My mother and the baby and I went back a couple of weeks later to get Emma. I had a gift card from the Turtle Crawl Tri (or as I think of it, the ocean horror) for Big Peach Running Store. So, off we went. After a few map reading glitches, we found ourselves at a little store in some Atlanta suburb. Small, but packed full of tasty treats! The guy helping me was about 18 and had a very "hands off" approach. Really nice, but I almost felt like I needed to ask if I could you know, buy something. And this after I mentioned we were on a pilgrimage! Strange. He put me on a treadmill and some funny scale type thing (I don't think it weighed me- wouldn't have agreed to get on that!) Turns out I have high-normal arches and should run in a neutral shoe. He said I had a great steady gait, which was odd since all I could see in the replay of the video was my duck landing. When I pointed it out, he said something to the effect of I land like a very steady duck with very little deviation. Uh, okay. Trust me, I still look stupid.

So I tried on a bunch of shoes- I ended up with some Asics and some superfeet liners... and a new sportsbra... and some socks... and gels. I asked about Newtons, but they were a bit dismissive in a "I don't really know much about them" kind of way. And then we had to leave- my mom was growing a bit impatient (even after the high of finding new people to tell she ran a half-marathon) and the baby was starting to sprint on the little fake track they had for shoe testing.

And that was it.

Oh, and I've run twice in my Asics with the green superfeet. Did three miles on each run and was absolutely crippled. Thanks, trained shoe fitter guy! HA! It worked out in the end because they are really comfortable for walking and seem to help with my PF, but still...

Liking the sportsbra and the socks as well, and haven't run enough to try the variety of Hammer Gels I picked up. Probably should check the expiration dates. You know, now that I think about it, I'm not really sure why I'm left with such a good impression of the whole running store experience. Weird.