Flight of the Bumblebees

I dithered and dithered and dithered some more as to which shoes to wear for today's run.  My initial intention had been to wear the Bumblebees but this morning, they revealed themselves to be MEN'S SHOES.  That explains the colour then.  The website from which I bought them very clearly says that they are women's, as do all of the tracking emails; unfortunately, the box and the shoes themselves (once you know where to look) very clearly say MEN. 

I just wanted to run in the shoes that I know.  I didn't want to wear another gender's shoes on my feet, with the subtle differences in construction that might mean unhappiness for my legs.  But with the alternatives being either run the current shoes into the ground or start over again in a model that I've never worn before, I decided to give the Bumblebees a go.  (Although now that I know that they are boys, perhaps I should be calling them something a bit more manly - Wasps, perhaps?)

Today's run was 7 miles, with 5 of those miles meant to be at a 10min/mile pace.  I haven't managed to do consecutive pacey miles yet and, given my uncertainty over what might happen with these new shoes, I was hesitant to push myself.  So I didn't.  I just tried to run a bit faster than usual and ended up having a really good run.  After my warm-up mile, the next 5 miles were at 10:21, 10.20, 10:36, 9:57, and 10:07 paces.  I didn't feel that I was pushing myself at all; legs and cardio settled into a nice rhythm that didn't take too much thinking about to maintain.

I had to stop a couple of times to faff about with the lacings but otherwise the boys felt fine.  And I'm wondering whether the slightly wider toe box might end up being a good thing for the long runs and their attendant blisters, with more room to accommodate my swollen feet.  They're still yellow (even after running through the mud), but somehow I'm able to be more detached from their yellowness now that I know that they are shoes for men.  Yellow shoes?  Nothing to do with me, guv.

They're still on trial and I'll wait and see how my legs feel tomorrow, but these could end up being the marathon shoes.  Buzz buzz.