Return from Mars

I had another absolutely great run this morning. In fact it was another personal best, 4.09 miles in 28:25! That is 6:57 per mile and a full 52 seconds faster than Tuesday, which was my former personal best. I have no idea where this new found speed has come from, but I have some sneaking suspicions:

1) Working around chemicals and magnetic radiation has somehow changed me into a SUPERhuman. While my son would find this extremely cool, I still have my doubts, as I have failed to levitate several times today and my x-ray vision seems to be on the fritz.

2) My watch battery is dying, and the stopwatch feature is counting the minutes much slower than actual time. This is just too depressing to think about. Plus, my new Nike+ sportband (Thank you, Grandma!) has served as confirmation.

3) (The definitive answer) In the immortal words of Mars Blackmon, "It's gotta be the shoes!"

With the gracious Christmas gifts of my sister and in-laws (Thank you!), I was able to purchase a brand new pair (cause buying just one would be silly) of running shoes. After long and heated debate, I settled on the Brooks Trance 9. Take a look:
Pretty sweet, huh?! When I arrived at the store,I was pretty sure that I was just going to get the same shoe that I had been running with for 2 years, the Asics Kayanu(sp?). It has been a great shoe for me, and I was completely comfortable with it. The salespeople were extremely knowledgeable, and were able to show me in graphic detail just how bad my flat feet are. But there was hope! They brought out 10 different pairs of shoes, in all kinds of shapes and sizes. As I was nearing the end we tried on the newest Asics, and I was immediately sold. It felt comfortable (or maybe just familiar) and there was little doubt that this would be my shoe again. But the salesperson had one more shoe for me to try on, the Trance. Grudgingly, I tried the shoe on, and was immediately taken aback. I didn't know how, but the Trance was actually more comfortable than the Asics. I ran on the treadmill for a couple of minutes and my life was completely changed. The Trance was going to be my new running shoe. The salesperson suggested that I try on one shoe of each the Trance and the Asics. So again I obliged, but only for a few seconds. I turned to the sales guy and said, "There is no doubt. The Trance is just more comfortable." I could not be happier with my decision! Not only are these shoes more comfortable, but they have tapped into some sort of "speed well" that has lied dormant for the past 2 years. Two personal bests down; sub-orbital flight to go!

Lastly, there is a (only slight) possibility that all of the hard work and weight loss (weighed in at 195 on Wednesday) has improved my runs times. But I am going to need to see a lot more empirical evidence before I am gonna believe that one.