I mentioned before heading down to FL I wanted to check out a pair of Hokas. I’ve been wildly curious about them and considering I’ve falling in love with cushion I like the idea of MORE! Maybe they would help with some of my aches and pains?
Anyway, it just so happened there was a Hoka booth at the WDW expo. A very nice sales woman answered my questions, namely “are these just for ultra runners?”. I do tend to jump on running trends and I wanted to make sure I wasn’t too overzealous. The saleswoman took me through three different variations and I really liked the Kailua Tarmac shoe, which doesn’t have as much cushion as the trail or other road shoe. Two immediate things I loved? I loved how it cupped my heel and still had a decent size toe box. A happy mawwiage since I love the toe box of my Brooks and the heel cuppage of my Mizunos.
Per Sweat Once a Day, I found a great deal at RunningWarehouse so I placed an order. We’ll see – I’m hopeful and excited. I mean, c’mon, NEW RUNNING SHOES!
Also prior to my trek down to sunshine and heat, I was ruminating on getting a running coach. My friend, Ragnar running buddy and fellow blogger Jamie at Running Diva Mom recently started coaching full time. Jamie is so inspirational and so encouraging; when we ran Ragnar she squelched my worries about being a “good enough” runner for the group. She started numerous couch to 5k programs in WI and has inspired so many new runners!
Why a coach? I want to shave some time off of my 1/2 marathon time. Recently, I ran a 2:24 and my PR is 2:04. I would LOVE to run a sub-2 hour! While I understand speed work and other things are necessary to get there, I am not quite sure what those “other things” are exactly! Or how/when/why to do them. Jamie is a certified coach and she will become my running guru! As a swimmer in high school, I did really well with a coach and I feel this extra motivation will help. I’m filling out my information and am looking forward to this different approach to running. I’m nervous, although I can’t necessarily describe why!
These upcoming changes make running feel exciting again! I was all hopped up on these fist in the air feelings and jumped on the treadmill. I ran 3 miles and they seemed to last forever, haha. At least I did a few intervals! It didn’t dampen my spirit though and I’m filling out all of my pre-coaching paper work!
Amy's Recipe for Disaster 
I’m anxious to see how you like Hokas. Everyone I know that runs in them is a mega ultra miler with insane miles, so its nice to see a runner like me test them out
I will keep you posted for sure! That was my impression at first as well so it was nice to here they are for all runners.