These kicks were made for running!

In efforts to start getting serious, Stephen and I visited the "shoe guy" to see about getting shoes that would support our feet for the marathon. Stephen was running in shoes he "got a good deal on" and I was running in shoes that "worked with my Nike+ running gear." You can imagine that neither of us had great shoes. When we had travelled to Brussels to visit Eric (the shoe guy) before, we were turned away because he was too busy. So, we crossed our fingers and were able to see him on Saturday. It was awesome.

He began by having us run a short distance in his shop. Instantly he was able to tell us things about our feet and strides we had never noticed before. It was pretty incredible. Then, we jumped on this treadmill and ran in our shoes, while he videotaped our strides and how our feet hit the ground. We were able to watch it on the computer, and he showed us problem areas and ways to train to help us in the long run (no pun intended). He then brought out shoes that he thought would work, mind you knowing our sizes by just looking at our feet. We put the new shoes on, which felt like walking on clouds compared to what we had, and ran on the treadmill again. The difference was unbelieveable.

After a few alterations to mine, and a few shoe changes for Stephen, we were out the door with new kicks, socks, water belts and smiles! Yesterday, we tried them out on our long run (9 miles) and both of us escaped without a blister or pain. Pretty awesome! You guys need to find yourselves an Eric...he's pretty cool! Or, just come visit and get some new kicks :)