New Race on the Calendar!

I might have gone a little insane yesterday. I signed up for the Atlantic City Marathon Neptune Challenge – Run the AC 10K on Saturday, October 22 and then the AC Half Marathon on Sunday October 23!

AC 2014 logo

I’ve done this kind of race before (AC April Fool’s Day Jester’s Challenge 2015). I had a much better fitness base to work with then, but barely did any training for it. But it was a ton of fun! The reason I decided to do this crazy thing is because one of my friends, Callista, is doing the half, which I had talked to her about before. And my other friend, Emily, is doing the 10K. I couldn’t choose so obviously the best thing was to do BOTH. This time, I have a serious plan though.

In order to prepare, I got a new pair of running shoes! My old ones are from a few years ago.  While they seem to be in pretty good condition still, they recommend not keeping running shoes for more than 2-3 years.  Even if they *look* good, the materials start to break down after a while.  With my past foot problems, I am playing it safe!  I present to you the Brooks Ghost 8s:

BrooksGhost8

I found them at DSW of all places! They carry some really nice sneakers (and then some lower grade every day ones too – gotta be careful). These felt AMAZING when I slipped my foot in and pranced around the store. Bonus is that they were marked down to and I had reward cash so I got $65 off the retail price!  WOOT!  The best part was these are the right sneakers for me:

emoticon Neutral build – has to do with how your foot hits the ground, I’m neutral.

emoticon Good for mid to high arches – like mine!

emoticon Higher drop of 12mm – Usually I like a low drop but have been having Achilles tenderness.  They recommend heel lifts for relief, so a higher drop it is!

emoticon Made for Road Running – perfect!

Well, that’s more than you ever needed to know about my running stride. I am very excited and have already been working on my training plan. I’m using Hal Higdon’s Novice 1 Half Marathon plan with some modifications for the double race weekend. All his plans are free on his website if you ever need one.  I’m excited for this new challenge!

5 thoughts on “New Race on the Calendar!

  1. how did you make out? I did the half yesterday. Im writing an article about it and googled King Neptune Challenge and came across this post. Im thinking I will do it next year!

    1. Congrats on finishing the half!! It was a rough race for me, I was just happy to finish. I just wasn’t totally trained for it this year. I will check out your article! If you decide to do the challenge, it is fun. I would definitely stick to the 5K though, especially if we have horrible weather like that again in 2017!!

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