Rockin' the Kneesocks

I read a lot of what Ryan calls "mommy blogs." Oh, I read plenty of Trail Monster blogs too, and regular books when I find the time or am feeling so inclined, but I have found a handful of random mother-runner/athlete-type blogs that I read regularly. I'm interested in what other mothers who run or are athletes have to say, how they juggle things, what their workouts are like, what their thoughts are on the balancing act that is life, how they feed their families, etc, etc. In any event, last week, one of the mothers, Natalie over at Lil Runner, did a giveaway for a free pair of compression socks from Nabee Socks, a new company that just recently launched through Kickstarter. I never win this sort of thing, but decided, what the heck, left a comment and liked Nabee Socks on Facebook for an extra entry too. And lo and behold, I actually won the socks! Woohoo. When I looked at the design, there was no question. I was going with the "bubble" design. I love the idea of fun compression socks, because, well, who wants to wear what look like boring old black kneesocks?!

I figured this morning's run was the perfect time to try out the compression socks. To be honest, I've never worn compression socks before, but after a week off and a 50k last weekend, it didn't seem like a bad idea to wear the socks and hope they would give my legs some extra spring and support. So, out I went, with Ryan shaking his head, and me smiling, because, come on, what's not to love about the look of these socks? Look good, feel good, right?! Or is it, look wacky, be wacky :-)

I headed out into the bright blue sky morning towards the Cathance, meandering the trails by the high school and alongside the Heath before crossing the road and scaring up a snowshoe hare at the start of the Barnes Leap trail. The woods were greening nicely, with lots of false lily of the valley, wild oats, starflower and a few ladyslippers popping up on the forest floor. No blooms yet, aside from some patches of violets and bluets out in the sunny field sections, but growth nonetheless. The river flowed peacefully, and I saw a turkey take roost in a tree at a bend in the river, its awkward form looking out of place up high in the branches. It felt great to be out running in the woods again, especially on such a nice morning, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that my quads were a bit leaden and I felt a bit sluggish overall. I will say my calves and ankles felt great, but I'll have to try out the compression socks a few more times before I completely give that to them :-) Still, the socks felt good, they didn't shift in my shoes, they stayed up, weren't too tight, and didn't seem to bother my legs at all. A good start, for sure. 

Got in 7 miles in 1:12, which is slow, yes, but not all that bad for the Cathance trails, and came home to have pancakes with the kiddo before we headed to the playground for some fun while Ryan got out for his own run. 

Cute kiddo :-)

Lovin' the swings

Climbing

We rounded out the day with a late lunch at Frontier with Zak, Lenka and little Emma followed up by gelato at Gelato Fiasco. No complaints about such an all-round good day!