Erin, we may need you

Erin, we may need you for the relay on Sunday; we haven’t found anyone else yet. Whaddaya think?

It was a glorious three-day weekend with gloriously little to do. Friday: slept late, had breakfast taco, watched TV, saw Borat (don’t waste your money), had dinner. Saturday: photo shoot with Buzz for my advertising design assignment, shooting the Run Through the Brooks 5K/10K, had lunch, watched TV, dinner at Ichibon. Sunday: slept late, went running, worked on homework, played soccer (scrimmage because the other team only had 6).

My long run yesterday wasn’t really that long. I decided to take it easy after going so far last Sunday and went ~5.5 miles on the Seabrook trails — 2.5 with Jose and 3 alone. It took me a bit under 1:02:00. My average pace with Jose was ~11:45/mile; on my own it was ~11:00/mile. I wasn’t really feeling it at first, but got loosened up in the last half. Next week it’s back to some distance. I may try to do my 5+ miles at the 25K relay and tack 2 more miles on at the end for a nice 7+ miler.

On Saturday I bought my third pair of Brooks Adrenaline shoes. It’s a little early (my current pair has a few more miles in them) but I needed a shiny white pair to photograph for my advertising design assignment. I switched to the Brooks in February, after running in Mizunos for quite a few years. Here’s where I suddenly had my epiphany:

Remember how I developed some knee pain during the last half of my marathon training in fall 2004? Remember how that knee pain continued through all of 2005? And remember how it was still bugging me at the beginning of this year? You may not remember, because it was never enough to keep me from running entirely. But it was annoying.

I haven’t worn my knee brace in months. My knee hasn’t been bothering me in months. Only on Saturday, after 9 months of running in the Brooks Adrenaline, did I realize that my knee pain disappearing within a few months of switching shoes was probably NOT coincidental.

Funny.