This is the 3rd year that on Labor Day weekend the Grand Prix has been held in downtown Baltimore. Many of the city’s major streets are closed off completely, causing terrible traffic delays and huge headaches for anyone trying to get in or out of the city from Thursday-Monday.
Luckily, even though I live right where all this madness is happening, I also work close enough to walk if I need to. My coworkers talked about delays up to 2 hours on Friday. So since I haven’t had to leave the city, its been ok so far. The race cars are kind of loud though.
Some pictures of where the street closures will be, taken before the race weekend even started.
Last weekend I ordered new running shoes- the Brooks PureCadence.
I have been wearing the Pureflow 2s since around February and mostly loved them. The first pair I got I adjusted to nicely, and put about 400 miles on them and ordered a new pair. The second pair (exact same model) seemed to fit a little differently. I got some nasty blisters at first, but they went away and I wore that pair for about 300 miles. I still plan to use them, but since I was trying out a new shoe I wanted to make sure my old ones were available if the new ones didn’t work out.
I took them for a 1.5 mile test run on Thursday afternoon. I had to pick up something from my sister’s friend who works downtown, so I figured it would be faster to just jog there and have a chance to feel out the new shoes. For the first few steps they felt a little different, kind of like the first time I ran in the Pureflows. But pretty quickly I got used to them and they felt great for the test run.
I tried them again on Friday for 3.6 miles. They still felt good but I think the way the laces were tied they were pressing on a weird part of my foot, which bothered me later in the day. I think I will just have to try lacing them differently next time.
Sunrise from Federal Hill
I think I will like these shoes, and I wanted to try something with just a little more stability than the Pureflows since my mileage is getting higher and I am so prone to injuries. I have also used the Ravennas for a few years, but I think my form is much better in the Pureflows because I am no longer heel striking (as much as before).
Maryland Half Marathon-May 2012. Wearing Adrenalines and possibly orthotics too. 
Red Shoe Shuffle-April 2013.
So I will probably post in a few weeks about how the PureCadences compare. Today I am working on recovering from my 20 mile run this morning. More on that later.
Is anyone else addicted to Brooks running shoes? I would love to hear other’s opinions of some of the shoes from their PureProject line!
