Because the Bikila is so much more form fitting than my KSO’s, there was almost no rubbing or friction anywhere between the shoe and my foot (I get back-of-heel blisters when I run sockless in my KSO’s, which is one of the reasons I opted to size down in the Bikila). It almost feels as if the Bikila is molded to your foot, and as it got wet with sweat, the upper material seemed to soften a bit and comfort increased Nike Air Max 90 Donne even more. While running in the Bikila, I was clearly landing on the forward half of my foot, and Nike Air Max 90 Dam the shoes make a cool tapping sound when contacting the ground. I’ve heard some people express disappointment with added cushioning in the Bikila, but to be honest it didn’t feel a whole Nike Air Max 95 Donne lot different to me – maybe a tad more rigid. It’s hard to say much after only two miles, but if first impressions are any indication, I think I’m going to like running in this shoe. Stay tuned!I almost didn’t run this race today. In fact, if it was up to my wife I would have stayed home. I’ve been pushing myself really hard lately on my runs, and probably doing more speedwork than I should. After a 5K last weekend, followed by 2 miles barefoot the day after, and then a near full effort scouting of the Bridgton 4 on the 4th course earlier in the week, Nike Air Max 90 Heren my legs were feeling absolutely shot. I tried an easy run on Friday, and was reduced to a run walk due Nike Air VaporMax Womens to fatigue, and wound up finishing only about 4.5 of the planned 7 miles I was planning to run. Things were not looking good with a race looming 2 days later.To make matters worse, after scout-running the hilly course in Bridgton at a sub-7:00 pace on Wednesday, I began to feel some soreness above the outside of my left knee – the telltale sign of ITBS. Unnecessarily hammering on the hills on fatigued legs was a very bad idea. I had a bad case of ITBS many years ago due to a bad pair of shoes, and I know how debilitating it can be, so I knew that I had to be careful or risk putting myself out for longer than I might be able to handle – hence my wife’s urging to skip the race. I’m pigheaded, and have been looking forward to this Nike Air Max 270 Femme race for a long time – it was the first race I ever ran, and I was determined to try for a 4-mile PR, which www.matthieugranier.fr stood at 26:04 and was set in the same race 2 years ago. After running some barefoot strides on the driveway with my son yesterday, the soreness seemed to have ebbed a bit, so I decided to go for it.
I woke up this morning to the hottest day of the week so far, but I was feeling ok. My dad and kids accompanied me to the race, which has always been good luck for me in the past (my 5K and marathon PR’s were both set in races where I met them at the finish). Didn’t have time to get in a full warmup, but I did a few strides at the starting line to break a sweat (wasn’t hard in the near 80 degree temps at 8:00AM), and waited near the front for the starting gun to go off. For those who might be wondering, I was wearing my new Brooks Nike Air Max 95 Femme Mach 12’s for the second consecutive race – loving these shoes.Elevation Profile – Bridgton 4 on the 4th Nike Roshe Run Mujer Road Race
The challenging thing about the Bridgton course are the hills. The first mile is fast, but there are two significant hills at mile 1.1 and mile 2.1 (see course elevation profile above). My plan was to run the first mile at a low 6:00 pace, ease up considerably on the hilly middle miles, and then finish as strongly as I could on the final downhill with whatever I had left. As it turns out, I excecuted this plan perfectly, and the strategy worked.I took off fast as usual and then eased into a comfortably fast pace for the first mile (split = 6:07). Once I hit the big hill at mile 1.1, I started to question myself – I wasn’t feeling good, and my mind was telling me to just stop. I told myself that I could just slow up Nike Air Max 270 Femme as much as needed on the uphill, and save my legs for later in the race. Knowing the course well helped, and I Nike Air Max Classic BW knew that the pain would only last for about a third of a mile. I wound up finishing mile 2 in 6:51, which was more or less on target, so my pace was about where I needed it to be despite my feeling of impending doom