Monday, October 19, 2009

How to tie a marathon knot

In my last post about my adventure with Bicycle up to Spikes Athletic Footwear I mentioned a "Marathon Knot." It's so simple and so cool that I want to share it. I'm sure some of you super runners out there know about it or know other knots, but perhaps I can pass it on to at least one person out there that needs a way to keep their shoes from loosening up during their runs.

After inserting the first (of many) orthotic insert into my running shoes the employee at Spikes began to lace me up. I immediately start lacing up my other shoe not wanting to make her work too hard. She stops me and says, "you need to tie a marathon knot like this," and reconfigures the lacing on my shoes. I gaze down at her work in amazement. How cool?

To tie your own marathon knot just follow these steps.

1.) Lace up your shoes as most people normally do, but use that last hole... the one that you've probably never used in your life and make a loop with the shoe lace tip coming out inside the shoe.


2.) Put on your shoes and pull the laces as tight as you desire. You'll have to pull on the loops (not the lace ends) to tighten the last bit.


3.) Now for the only part that I can imagine anyone getting confused about: Take the end of the shoe lace and thread it through the loop on the OPPOSITE side of the shoe.


4.) After threading both laces through the loops pull tight.


5.) Now go ahead and tie your shoes the way you normally do before your run. I prefer a double or triple knot. The difference is now it will be harder for your shoes to loosen up even if your knot becomes lose or untied.
Brilliant!


In other news:
It was 11 days since my last test run, a 3 miler, that just made my Achilles
worse, and this morning I attempted another test run. This time with my orthotic inserts (I'll review in a future post) and I only pushed it for 1.6-miles. The pain was minor, but it was pretty much unchanged since my last run. This Achilles tendon stuff TAKES FOREVER to heal! So I cut the run short, and hit the gym to cross train with weights. It's only 13 days until the Daytona Half Marathon and I'm really starting to wonder if I'll be able to complete it or if it'll be a bust? I feel like endurance wise I'm find with the distance and cardio of a Half Marathon, it's just I already know how frustrated and disgusted I'm going to be if I'm in shape for it, but unable to run because of this Achilles business. By the way it has finally cooled down in Florida. It was a chillaxing 50-degrees when I left my house this morning. I quickly realized that all my routes from this summer are moot because they feature a lot of shade for if the sun is up. Now I need to re-think them all for the most possible sunlight to stay warm! Who would have thunk!?!? Here's me and my Florida cold running get up!











8 comments:

  1. Do not stress TGS... if you have to just "run" rather than "race" the Half do what you gotta do. Your goal is Disney not this Half. Run smart and recover strong.

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  2. So I am that one person who needed to learn how to tie a marathon knot aparently. I'm bookmarking this page ...
    I have orthotics and my shoes always get a little loose by the end of my run ... but if I tighten them too much my arches cramp up! I'm so trying this, but I think I need longer laces ...

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  3. Go GATORS!

    Definitely don't stress the race. A half is a good run and your legs will at the very least be rested. The achilles does take a while to heal. Rest up and hope you are back to running full speed soon. (Trust me, I know how annoying injuries are!)

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  4. its supposed to be back up to sweltering by the end of the week. don't change ur routes just yet.

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  5. before I started blogging, I had no idea so many people struggle with their laces coming undone--something I never have to deal with (well, I will not that I've just said it).

    but I like your know, I'll give it a try.

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  6. So much for those cool temps that you were talking about! :-D What a tease that was for all of us!!!

    Just found you via Morgan. I just decided to do the Daytona Half next weekend, with a 13 miler on my training schedule (training for Disney, also) and she told me that she's thinking about going to cheer you on.

    Spikes rocks the house and I posted a *video* a few weeks ago of the same exact shoe lacing!

    BTW, If I can finish this half, *you* certainly can! I have a torn meniscus in my left knee and my right knee decided to be a literal pain after my 12 miler yesterday! Hell, 16 mm pace requirement? We could probably crawl and finish without DQ'ing. :-)

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  7. I quoted your bit about surfing, failure, and dreams on my own blog: http://oldmanwalking.net. Thanks for the idea. J J

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