New Gear

I LOVE running gear!! I've got the Diva half marathon on September 14th, so that means the majority of my long runs are going to be during the heat and humidity of August. I couldn't decide if I wanted to order a water belt or a camelback. The deciding factor was my duathlon and my new adventure into riding my bike on a regular basis. I found this one on Amazon (love Amazon!). It's got two huge sections on the back to store things...although how I'll reach them while running or bike riding I just don't know!
Another issue I've been having is my toe. I called the doctor and put in for a referral, so hopefully I can make an appointment with a foot doctor soon. In the meantime I went back to the running store and had them reanalyze my run. It took about 15 minutes, and they took me from a stability shoe to a neutral shoe. The guy said that my toe injury could be from too much stability. Well, I'm not sure about all that, but I'm willing to try a new type of shoe - after all, I'm on my third stability shoe and my toe is getting worse. Switching to neutral can't hurt any worse then those darn Asics have been.
I tried a few wide neutral shoes - Nike, Saucony, and New Balance. They all felt really lose on my foot. Saucony was probably the most comfortable. The next two shoes were Brooks and something...I can't even remember what the last shoe I tried on was because I was sold on the Brooks. I pulled them out of the box and just loved the color, then when I put them on and took a little run around the store - love!! They were so comfortable. Aren't they pretty?!?!

They make custom inserts at the running store too, but they cost $80. That's a lot of money even if they're good for an entire year. I tried the shoes with the inserts and without. They were a little more cushion-y with the inserts, but other then that I couldn't feel much of a difference, so I opted out. I'll see what the foot doctor says and how running in neutral shoes feel. I'm looking forward to breaking both my new running toys in on my long run tomorrow!!