New Shoes and GYMNASTICS!!

Being a distance runner for 8 years, you would think I would be pretty adept at monitoring when it's time to get new running shoes. But when you're running a lot of long runs, it's also really easy to keep track of your mileage. On the track however, it's hard to know how many miles you run on a weekly basis. During the first few weeks here in Knoxville my legs have felt shattered. The short morning jogs and stretching have been keeping me going, but it was rough. I figured my body was just adjusting to the new training load, but it felt pretty bad. I was actually worried I might be developing some injuries at the end of last week. But I had a revelation and finally bought some new shoes on Monday. It's like night and day! I feel like I have taken a week off! Now I am incredibly excited for the weeks to come. My workouts are changing, we're going down to some shorter sprints, different plyos, and different drills on the runway. Should be lots of fun now that my legs are back!
I also got to relive some old dreams last night. I was given the option of weightlifting or going to an adult gymnastics class for my second workout yesterday. Can you guess what I picked?? :) It was a blast! I surprised myself (and a few people in the gym!) with how good everything felt. I didn't want to push it and get hurt, so I didn't try anything too crazy. We mostly tumbled on the rod floor and stuck to the basics. But it was awesome. The guy coaching the class said I could head over to the other rod floor and try some harder tumbling (yes, this gym has 2 rod floors. Full T&T length. Plus 2 full size floor ex, 4 pits, 6 competition tramps and all the other goodies you'd expect...... it's massive!). But I decided not to push it. I don't think my spatial awareness is still there after 9 years. I did get to play around on the beams a little too. Maybe next time I'll be a little more daring and try some stuff into the pit... :)