I’m going to kill three birds with one stone/post. They’re all about pain anyway.

I spent one week growing out my underarm hair. Yes, this is going to be a sexy post. /snicker/ I went to dtox Day Spa in Atwater Village and got my first underarm wax. I had been to dtox before for a brow waxing. I love this spa – it looks teeny on the outside but it’s a nice space inside. I was expecting excruciating pain. But… it didn’t hurt as much as I thought. It’s similar to getting your brows waxed except the wax is a hard wax and the esthetician doesn’t use cotton strips. She just rips the wax off… along with your hair!

While she was prepping and ripping, I told her it was my first time. The esthetician was nice enough and kept my mind off of it. I told her about the California Dreamin’ Series and my big honkin’ medal. Then rip rip rip. Then more on the running store next door to them – A Runner’s Circle. Then the next underarm. Rip rip rip. I’m a weirdo and I asked to see what the wax looked like after the pull. Ick. Well, that’s that.

She did recommend that next time I should wait til I had two weeks of hair growth before making an appointment. My one week’s worth of underarm hair was a little short, but she pretty much got EVERYTHING. The rest of the day I wore a tank top, and my underarms were red. But after day 1, all is well. There’s a couple of loose hairs but my underarms are smoooooth.(We’re on Day 3 and still smooth and bare!)

Next up, in the afternoon, I headed to the Laguna Hills Road Runner Sports store to get a new pair of running shoes. When I’m in OC, I usually go to the Costa Mesa store but there was so much traffic on the 55 so I kept going. Big mistake. While I did get my feet fitted there the first time, my feelings about this store remains the same. The Laguna branch sucks and the Costa Mesa branch is better. The sales rep brought me the newer version of my old shoe and that was it. I tried them on and asked if he could bring another pair that was less stiff. (I got assessed last year and was told to get stability shoes.) He brought a pair of Nikes without a word.. Thanks, guy. You’re the best. Contrary to my gut, I bought the newer version of my shoe, which I thought was too stiff, and ran with them on Sunday morning. I just wanted to leave the store. What I should have done was leave without buying anything. I kick myself for that.

On Sunday morning, I did a 4-mile “run” and also brought along my new iFitness belt! At the end of Mile 1, the top part of my right foot was in pain. It started near my pinkie toe and spread to the top and side. Then it spread to the outside of my leg. I took a break and loosened my shoelace, just as a fluke. That didn’t really help. Mile 2 was just pain. I gave up then. I turned around and started walking back. I also tried to run some more, thinking it was just that it was my first run since the SF Half. But no, it was the shoe.

That afternoon, I drove up to the West Hills RRS store to exchange my new pair for the right pair. Wow. What a difference a Valley makes. This store is at the top of my list for running stores. So far, this one had the best customer service of the three. I pulled the new shoes out to the sales rep and described how I bought the shoes, felt they were too stiff, and wanted something similar to my old pair (which I was wearing). The rep pulled three different pairs of stability shoes and explained what the plusses were for each pair. WTF – no one had done that before.

The first pair was the Brooks Adrenaline. Then I tried on a pair of Asics (not sure what model). That was definitely on the stiff side. Then he pulled out another pair of Saucony. Ohhh the battle was going to be between the Brooks and the Saucony. In the end, I chose the Saucony because of the hug it gave around my heel. But I’m definitely going to consider picking up the Brooks when the Saucony wears down.

Brooks Adrenaline - top contender

Saucony Progrid Omni 8 - the winner - looks almost exactly my old pair

We’ll see how these work tomorrow.

About the iFitness belt. I think it’s great that you can squeeze so much stuff in them. My hydration belt is my security blanket; plus all of women’s shorts suck and don’t have proper pockets for stuff. I threw my BB, ID, and cash in one pocket, and my keys in the other. My mom called and I felt the BB vibrating. I unzipped and pulled out my BB. It also popped out my cash that I had in the same pocket. That’s a sign. I’ll have to put the cash and ID in the other pocket with my keys.

My new iFitness belt - sassy

I also own the iPod “classic – ie. the giant (read: heavy) iPod from a couple years back. Clipping it onto the belt makes the belt wobble. I figured out how to unwobble it by placing the pouches on the side. The weight on one side of my hip helped balance out the iPod’s weight on the belt.

The iFitness belt will have to be for shorter runs or when I know there’s a water fountain close by. (I’m too dependent on having a water bottle with me.) Overall, it’s a cute belt that works and doesn’t bounce much. I had it placed up high, above my hips, on my waist -same place I have my Nathan 2. I liked how it sat and didn’t move. Good job, iFitness. I’ll post another review if/when I run with it on longer runs.

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