Epicurious Runner

Manchester Marathon Training: 9 Miles

I set out this morning, not only on my first long run for the marathon, but my first long run in over 6 weeks! I knew it was going to be tough, but I certainly didn’t think it would be the slowest run of my life. Okay that sounds dramatic, but it was a really tough run and I ran really slow comparatively. I’m not focusing on speed, at all, endurance is key this time around.

Let’s start from the beginning though. The woman I went to see that fixed my foot suggested I get some shoe inserts to support my arch. She suggested the Spenco brand, so that’s what I ordered. I ordered these last week and they came three days later! I was excited to try them out because they got really good reviews. I also got them for a great price thru Amazon.com

Let’s just call this my official review for these Spenco Orthotic Arch Supports. These are the 3/4 length and as soon as I put them in my shoes, I knew I should’ve ordered the full length. They obviously don’t go to the top of the shoe and if I only have these inserts in there and I take out the insert that comes with my shoe, I can feel the edge of this insert underneath my toes and it drives me crazy! So, what I did was take out my shoe insert, put the Spenco supports in and then put the shoe insert back in over these, so that I would not have to feel that gap. My feet were a lot higher than normal, which didn’t seem so bad, but they were also a lot wider. I have narrow feet, so it was odd to have my sneakers look really wide and to have really short shoe laces.

I tried these out for the first time today on my 9 mile run. Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have used them on such a long run to break them in, but I don’t know how they work. Shouldn’t they automatically be comfortable or do they need to be broken in like shoes? Anyway, they felt all right in the beginning, but as the run went on, my feet felt heavier and heavier. Seriously, the last 2 miles, I might as well have been wearing bricks on my feet, they felt so incredibly heavy and terrible!

I honestly think these played a big part in why I ran so slow today. I didn’t think I was going to run very fast today, but I know myself and my running to know what I can and can’t achieve. I’ve never had a run like this and most importantly, my feet have never felt like that and I did not like it.

• Distance: 9 Miles
• Duration: 96:10
• Pace: 10:42
• Calories Burned: 908

Splits

1. 10:16
2. 9:39
3. 10:20
4. 11:08
5. 10:51
6. 10:53
7. 10:56
8. 10:58
9. 11:07

I’m not embarrassed to run slow, but this just didn’t feel or seem right to me. I’m not convinced I need arch support. I never thought I had high arches, until a few weeks ago. Granted, I haven’t been running 10 years, but I have been running 2 years without any major problems. All I know is that this was a tough run where I had to walk a lot! It was warm out and the sun was shining, but again it wasn’t that HOT comparatively, it was actually kind of nice and breezy. I’m not sure if I’m going to wear these inserts again, they add way too much weight to my shoe and if for some reason I do need arch support, I may as well find a whole new shoe that can support me in that way.

This was kind of a test run for me, but unfortunately I didn’t learn what I wanted from it. I wanted to test my body to know what it can still handle and at one pace. I never doubted myself being able to handle the 9 miles, but I didn’t see this coming. I guess I will have to wait and see what a real run will feel like without any inserts on my 10 miler next weekend. Sure, I will be doing shorter distances during the week, but like I said I need the longer runs to really test myself.