Rail Trail Chicks Night Out +more

Yesterday morning, I woke up to a couple of inches of snow.  Rather than wait a little for the plows to go through, I put on my yaktrax put the Halti on Pepper and took off for an easy 5 miler.

A fresh snowfall always looks pretty.

But this was not pretty.  While running with Pepper is great for both of us, it's also incredibly messy.  I truly had dirt splattered all the way up to my chest.  

And as promised, a picture of me with the incredible yaktrax.  

Last night, the Rail Trail Chicks had a night out on the town in Hallowell.  We went to Slates.  One of my favorite places to eat for sure.  It's extra nice going there with the girls and we get to wear real clothes and we're actually showered.  

Jill, Kim, Jess, Stacy, Carrie and myself

I mentioned on yesterday's post that I had some money to spend on new running shoes.  I've been slightly obsessed lately with what shoes should I get.  I really wanted girlier shoes - purple or pink, but mostly I wanted something lightweight and with a wide footbed.  I was hoping to not have to buy men's shoes this time around.  

I went to Maine Running Company with the kids yesterday.  I had in my mind that I was going to be buying the Mizuno Elixer.  But the heel to toe drop wasn't what I was looking for and the heel was awfully stiff.  I could definitely see myself doing a lot of heel-striking with this shoe.  Bummer.  They are a beautiful shoe for sure.  

I then laid my eyes on the Mizuno Precision.  They felt really good but unfortunately, MRC didn't have my size.  Again, bummer.  I tried on the Saucony Kinvaras and New Balance 890s.  But both pairs had really narrow footbeds and smaller toe boxes.  

When I started thinking I should head on over to the mens section, I spied the Brooks Pure Flow.  Not girly looking, but really, when it comes to fit, does it matter?  Plus I did win some incredible pink shoe laces that I would look incredibly fun with these shoes.  

These shoes fit quite well and I loved the light, airy feeling.   They just felt right to me.   So that is what I went with.  However, before checking out, I grabbed a container of Nuun.  I haven't been lucky enough to win any of the Nuun giveaways, and I really needed to find out how good Nuun is.  (verdict  - I LOVE Nuun!)  

Because I'm quite impatient, and really wasn't thinking, I took my new shoes out for a run today. But it wasn't just a little run.  The girls and I had a 12 miler planned.  At first the Flows felt awesome: light, airy.  But around mile 7 my ankle felt a bit achy and feet were not feeling the greatest.  I wasn't in pain at all and I didn't get any blisters.  When I came home, Ward saw that I had on the shoes and told me it wasn't the smartest things to do.  I cannot make any judgements on them until I've given them a couple more (shorter) runs.  Luckily, MRC has an incredible policy so I can return/exchange them for another pair if these don't work out for me.  

Now I need to share some more awesome birthday gifts.  Stacy bought me some eye candy, I mean a Bob Harper Kettleball DVD.  The Kettleball was shipped separately and will be here soon, so for now I can just pop in the DVD and watch Bob.  I do love you Jillian, but you are not eye candy for me.  

Next up, Carrie MADE me a medal display rack.  She has got to be the craftiest girl I know.  She totally tricked me the other night on facebook when she was asking me about getting a medal display for herself.  She is sneaky.  

She even had all the girls sign the back of the rack.  How sweet.  I have the greatest running group ever.

On a sad note, today was my last day of vacation.  Back to school/work tomorrow.