New Shoes Treading Up Old Hills

What a great start to the day!  I opened a box of new, immaculate running shoes with the smell of new rubber soles.  Ahhh.  The familiar scent signals my brain that the upcoming days of training and racing are full of promise and possibility.  This is the day I retired my Brooks Ravena 3's detailed in purple with nearly 400 miles and replaced them with a fresh grey pair with neon green laces.  

The new pair has an intricate tread pattern yet to be worn away, and stories with these shoes are yet to unfold.  I studied the tread on two old pairs, and they told a story:  The shoes I retired have worn tread on the forefoot; the pair used before that have worn tread on the heel.  That shows a transition from being a heel striker to, well, whatever I am now, which is still a work in progress, but not a heel striker.    Yesterday's run was pretty miserable, but my outlook for today's run was very good just because of the mental lift from the shoes.  When I hit the pavement, I felt the sensation of a light, cushioned run.

It was overcast and a bit cooler this morning, so that helped to make my first true hill workout in a while bearable.  I found myself saying, "I eat hills for breakfast," which I must have seen on a shirt or heard another runner utter. Now that I'm training for my third KY Bourbon Chase, with its gently rolling hills,  I need one day a week dedicated to hill training.

Today I sought the steepest hill around, which is a mile from my house.  Luckily for me it has three different street approaches, so I can tackle it three different ways.  This hill and other smaller, nearby hills are familiar now, so they don't seem as daunting as when I first incorporated them into my running.   They are a necessity, so I embrace them.  I know to prepare well for my 19 miles having survived the hills of Central Kentucky last year and after acknowledging that I can't translate an elevation chart into a mental picture of the hills I will encounter.