Baseball Champ, and 6km Run in New Shoes!

So, on the shoe search I went to New Balance Toronto last night and, lo and behold, indeed I am a 12.5 normal width footed homosapien. The NB1062 was definitely the shoe for me, but the store only had a 12.5 in extra wide at the downtown location. I was a swimmer, but I don't have webbed feet! After getting them to get another pair transferred from another location, I left somewhat dissappointed, but looking forward to the Monday arrival of the new treads...

Jump to this morning... I woke up too late to go for my planned 6km run before Owen's Championship Baseball game, so that's what was on the menu for the first half of the day. As a proud Dad I must report that my son's team won in a classic "come back" type game - they entered the bottom of the fourth inning (the last) four runs down, and managed to score 5 to win 11-10! Here are some pics of the memorable occasion for all to ogle:

Owen getting ready to play in the big game, Dad forces him to stop for a picture:

Mom and Malcolm: the tension is palpable!

In the on-deck "circle":

Loin-Fruit #1 with his trophy, happy endorphins coursing through his veins!

The triumphant "Green Giants" with their trophies, coaches, etc.:

Naturally I took a couple of videos of the Loin-Fruit's at-bats, and may attempt to load them up later... Let's just say they were spectacular for now!

After the game, the boys got hot-dogs, the parents reminisced. Once we got home I started getting antsy and decided to check the availability of my prospective sneakers at the other locations around Toronto. The first place I called had a pair and I made the decision to drive up there and pick them up. I even got a free running shirt out of it since that location was running a promo. I should have taken a picture of it, but didn't... Here are the shoes just before my run:

So, I strapped them on, put on the Garmin accoutrements, and off I went on my "easy" 6km run. I walked ten minutes, then started up on what I thought was a slow pace. The first kilometre was feeling good, the knee was cooperating, and I was yet to get blasted by the heat. Tears were streaming from my eyes on account of the friggin' ragweed, but I didn't care because the 1062's felt awesome! Not too plush, not too firm. Definitely a good first impression. By the time I dropped into the Park I was feeling great and didn't care that I was running well below the prescribed 6:00/km pace. I paid for this by about kilometre three, first with a stitch that would be my running parter for the duration, and then by the hill that would take me out of the Park back onto the roads. I ran the first 5km in 28:34 and was definitely pushing to hold the pace for the last km. The Garmin don't lie, and my HR was way higher than intended. I guess all I know how to do is "tempo" runs, but I have no idea what that actually means, just want to sound cool...

In the end, a great day! Hope everyone had a wonderful Saturday as well. Oh yeah, the cherry on the top: Red Soxs 0 - Jays 11!!! Oh yeah!!!

Details:

The google image of the run!