Nu Shooz: Adrenaline 19 and 20

After taking off all of 2018, I returned to running in 2019—June 29, 2019, to be exact. I have been running ever since, and basically injury free thanks to Brooks’s Adrenaline series.

A Nu Shooz post is long overdue, another post I did not get around to writing in 2019 or 2020. So, poised to start using my third pair of Adrenalines (I plan to use two concurrently), I decided it is high time to get it done.

After developing overuse injuries on a regular basis for years, I decided to change the one thing I had not: my running shoes. Having run in Brooks’s Ghost series since soon after I returned to Iowa in 2010, I realized they were probably not the best fit for me, my feet, or my personal mechanics. I have developed a pronation (I think) and need more ankle support than the Ghost offers, so I paid a visit to We Run in North Liberty and was recommended the Adrenaline, a shoe very similar to the Defyance 2, the best running shoes I have ever worn. (I still have my last pair, though they are very worn and stained with grass after being relegated to mowing shoes.) So I bought a pair of Adrenaline 19s (lower left in the pic) in June 2019.

Though anxious despite being pain free for over a year, I decided to do the 13-week run-walk program again. I want to say that starting off on that first run, on a 92-degree evening, was nerve-racking, but the notes in my running journal say something different:

Though it had been so long, it did not feel special when I laced up my shoes and headed to the track. I expected to be very excited, but I was cool and nonchalant. I was not nervous or worried at the track. I walked to the finish line from the chicane by the hill, set my bottle of water on the short stands, and walked for two minutes. When my watch beeped, I reset it and started running. It felt like I had never stopped. It was natural, easy.

 

I eased back into running throughout the summer and fall of 2019. I was training for five days of RAGBRAI when I restarted, so I repeated the first week of the run-walk program once or twice before riding my bike across the state. Afterward, I started rebuilding time, distance, and endurance.

I realized if I followed the run-walk schedule and did not miss any days, my last run would coincide with the Run for the Schools charity race. Having always wanted to run a “race,” I registered and did not miss or repeat a single day of the run-walk program—which was quite the feat since I had done it a few times before and always developed an overuse injury, which would force me to take days off.

On October 27, 2019, I ran the Run for the Schools 10k nonstop. I was the 101st runner to finish and was 15th in my age group—out of 16. I did not mind; I’ve never run for speed, but I did register a sub 10-minute-mile pace (9:48 gun time and 9:35 chip time).

I have not been completely injury free since I returned to running. I strained my right calf shortly after the Run for the Schools and took off some time. My right foot/ankle hurt last year, so I started doing a new stretch to target that area. And I developed plantar fasciitis in my left foot last year as well, requiring some stretching adjustments, regular maintenance, and a new pair of shoes (the Adrenaline 20, the middle pair above). My hips ache and calves and hamstrings feel tight every now and then, but nothing has kept me off the dusty trail for long. Though I experience discomfort sometimes, I still do it. And I plan to keep doing it.

The day I started running, I heard Extreme’s “Hole Hearted” for the first time in forever. As I ran later that day, the lyrics “There’s a hole in my heart that can only be filled by you” kept repeating in my head. That’s running for me. There’s a hole in my heart that can only be filled by running. It is my healthy addiction; it keeps me fit both mentally and physically. I miss it a lot when I can’t do it, and that year and a half break was really tough. I missed the high a lot and have savored it since I restarted.