Birthday Weekend in Louisville

 

Saturday Steve took me to Louisville for my birthday weekend.  He booked a room at 21C & made dinner reservations for Proof on Main.  Both were amazing.  21C is a hotel & a museum.  I have never seen or stayed in anything like it.  A couple of friends met us for dinner & we had a great night.  Proof has great cocktails & great food.  The only complaint I have is that it was the noisiest hotel I have ever stayed in.  All night long there were people walking back to their rooms making all sorts of racket.  Made sleeping pretty difficult.

For some reason, I wasn't much in the mood to take pictures Saturday night but here are a couple that I took Sunday morning.  

The only thing I really wanted to do on Sunday besides getting coffee was check out the Fleet Feet store.  I had read that they do gait analysis when fitting you for your shoes.  Since Coy's post about her Mizuno experience I really wanted to get into some new shoes.   We got to the store about 20 minutes before it opened.  Thanks to the lousy night sleep I was tired & a bit cranky.  Also, I was wondering if this was a really good idea since I am not running yet.  There was someone in the store that came out & yelled at us to let us know they were open so I decided we should just go in. 

Jeff, the owner, immediately introduced himself.  I explained to him that I was looking for some new shoes but was suffering from Piriformis & probably wouldn't be able to run.  I had my new Mizuno's on.  He took a look at them & said they were too small for me.  He also told me this style is for larger runners.  The cushion is really hard on the Wave Creation.  He explained it like a heavy duty spring that needed a lot of force to get it to move.  He didn't blame the shoes for my injury but did say it probably didn't help the situation. 

After sizing my feet (I am now an 8) & watching me walk he brought up a lesser cushioned neutral shoe.  He brought out a pair of New Balance, Saucony & one other brand that I forgot.  They all felt so much more roomy in the toe box when compared to my Mizuno's.

I decided to give the treadmill a shot.  I started walking then dialed it up just enough to run.  Jeff video taped my gate.  It revealed that I am a heal striker (which I already knew) but also showed that I run with my toes pointed out which I didn't know.  The video confirmed that I should run in a neutral shoe.  I tried out the other 2 pairs but settled on the New Balance.

I have never owned such a bright pair of shoes!

While talking with Jeff he said he was also suffering from Piriformis.  I asked how he was treating it & he said mostly with trigger point therapy.  He took me to another area of the shop.  We both got on the floor where he demo'd some trigger point areas.  He showed me 3 different areas to work with my lacrosse ball.   Two were specially for the psoas muscle which was new to me.

While I was rolling around on the floor Steve was also trying on new shoes.  He deserves them since he is running.  Me, not so much but hey it is birthday week & I get to call the shots.  They are now sitting on the floor next to my lawn mowing shoes, aka my Mizuno's. 

I highly recommend stopping in at Fleet Feet if you find yourself in Louisville.  The service is top notch & the staff is really knowledgeable.  If only they had a magic wand to fix my piriformis it would have been a perfect experience!