Competition and Lime Green Shoes

Last night's CrossFit workout included "suicides". I remember this exercise as being called "running lines", and we usually did them in basketball and soccer practices when I was growing up. There are several "lines" set up, and to begin, you run to the first line, touch it with your hands and run back to the start. You repeat until you have run to every line and back. As an endurance athlete, these were not only hard for me, but frustrating as well. It was difficult to feel like I was just starting to pick up speed when I would have to bend down and turn around again! I joked during the workout that every time I bent down to touch a line, I felt like a tiger ready to pounce!

The rest of the workout was fairly straight forward with cleans (which almost killed me) and kettlebell swings. I always find it to be a hard balance when deciding whether to up the weight and not get down into a full squat, or have better form and go down in weight. It doesn't help that I get competitive, either and want to finish first!

On that competitive note, I never really considered myself to be a competitive person. At least not with others. I always strive to be better for myself, but never thought I was competing with others.

CrossFit has certainly changed that! Lately I have become so competitive it isn't even funny. I figured it was just in the CrossFit gym, and my trying to kill myself to finish first or second was just the nature of CrossFit in general.

On my four mile run this morning, however, I kept coming up on more and more runners and would immediately speed up so I could pass them. At some points, I was even hitting a 6 minute per mile pace! Who am I? At some point I realized what was going on and was wondering why I felt the need to beat all these random people at 5am. I was a little upset with myself for a quick second until I realized it doesn't matter! If this is is going to help me to become a better runner and I'm still having fun, why not be competitive? It's nothing to be scared of!

In other news, I finally took the plunge and spent too much money on another pair of shoes. As I said before, I was debating between the Nike Free Run and the Brooks Pure line. I went over to Road Runner Sports yesterday, and although I pretty much knew what I wanted, had them take me through their "Shoe Dog" experience. The employee who was helping me was so knowledgeable! When I told him my history, what I was using the shoes for and my injuries, he knew exactly how all of it would play out and even had some great ideas to keep my neuroma happier. I had fun going through all the foot tests with him and eventually got handed over to a shoe salesman, where I basically just tried on the Pure Connect and the Nike Free Run.

I had SUCH a hard time deciding between the two. I went in thinking that I would end up with the Nike's. Although I liked that the Nike's had more room in the box of the shoe, I ended up being happier with the Pure Connect's cushioning, especially in my insanely high dancer arch. It also didn't hurt that they were in one of my favorite colors: lime green!

So far so good! I've worn them to one CrossFit workout and am sporting them at the gym today. I have 30 days to return them, so I still have some time to decide!