Pain free run????? Holy cow!

Before I get into the nitty gritty of today's post I need to report my weight.  I was nervous about this weight.  Last Friday I weighed in and then I had a gluttonous weekend and on Monday when life returned to normal I took a sneak peak at the scales and I was up 3 pounds.  EEEEK!   SO today's weigh in made me nervous. Low and behold...2 pounds down from last Fridays weight (5 pounds down from Monday's weight!)  WOOO HOOO!    I will take that and run with it!!!!!  

And now on to the scheduled programming for today.  (

I suffer from a few ailments:

            * I was diagnosed with arthritis when I was about 29 years. I played around with a lot of different remedies and fixes.  I don’t like medicine so I looked at copper bracelets, braces, garlic and other natural arthritis busting foods.  

            * Last year I was felled by a case of plantars fasciitis and tarsal tunnel.  I have tried various remedies and fixes for these ailments also.  I have done the rest, lotions and potions.  I know that the biggest relief I have gotten is when I tape my foot up tight, so I do that, but then lament at the continual cost of the tape.

These conditions are ongoing, something I've had to learn to deal with through various products and practices.  So when I heard about TommieCopper, I was really interested.   Tommie Cooper is a company that makes compression garments and sleeves (elbow and knee sleeves ….or what I would sometimes call a brace).  What makes Tommie Cooper unique?   “Activated copper is at the core of every Tommie Copper garment……it is permanently and densely infused into all performance yarns”   That interested me from the get go as I had long ago looked at wearing a copper bracelet for it’s benefit on my aching joints.   Secondly?  I’ve heard really good things about compression garments…..so to combine copper and compression into some exercise gear sounded like a REALLY good idea.  I nosed around on their website.  I liked what I saw, except for the price.  But I vowed to get some socks whenever I had a bit of extra money.  I pushed the thought aside.  And then I was contacted by the company to do a review on some of their products.  I was over the moon happy!

My box arrived this past Tuesday.  I opened it up and looked at my new goodies.  I had received a pair of ankle socks, a pair or black calf socks and a pair of Capri pants.  I refrained from digging right in and instead vowed to wait until my next scheduled run…which was for Thursday morning. 

Thursday morning rolled around and I was up and ready to try on my new items.  The Capri pants were the first thing to go on.  They felt comfortable and fit me like a glove.  I looked in the mirror and was like “ok” not bad.  I moved around in a few weird gyrations to make sure that they would be fine for a morning run and noticed no problems.  I was ready to roll.

My socks and shoes were the last thing to go on.  I chose the ankle socks for my run.  I slipped the sock onto my foot and I immediately let out a long sigh.  Ohhh heavens, they felt GOOD.  The tight band that wrapped around my foot and supported my arch was AWESOME. (Can you hear the angels singing that word….because I can?)  You see, when my plantar is really bothering me, the quickest relief is when I tape it up nice and tight.  This pair of socks did that without the tape.  Ahhhh….. did I say heaven?   

Yes, the blur behind my foot is my cat Desi, he is such a camera hog, he sees a camera and he comes running!  

I was quickly out the door and ready to roll.  I drove to Hagerstown to meet up with Paula, my friend for our fun.  She snapped the pictures of me showing off the pants.

 

 We started at the Fairgrounds and meandered down to Pangborn Park and back.  (Shhh don’t tell my family, but I actually ran right by their houses…and we didn’t stop…I did wave at my parent's cat who watched my run by from his perch inside the storm door.) 

  3.44 miles completed….in our normal crazy fashion

(yes, we actually stopped to smell the roses…or rather daffodils)

 As Paula and I stood talking by our cars after our run was complete. All of a sudden I started to jump up and down and move around.  She looked at me like I was nuts….which I probably am…..but I was quick to realize that my plantars fasciitis was not bothering me at all!   YAY!  That is awesome!  And I wasn’t taped, I went running with just socks and shoes.

After my shower, I got dressed for work   I decided to wear the calf socks to work…..

Of course, maybe wearing them with these shoes may be counter productive.  Ha ha ha

And the verdict on Tommie Cooper……

   The pants…nothing rubbed wrong, it actually felt as if I wasn't wearing any pants (which would be a whole different issue were that the case).   My knee felt great under the compression…maybe it was the copper, who knows.  I liked running in the pants.  I will definitely be using them as frequently as possible in the normal rotation of my workout pants.  Very comfortable!  When I am next looking for exercise pants (when my size goes down) from what I experienced today, I will be quite favorable to buying another pair of Tommie Copper pants. (Plus, Paula told me that they made me look slimmer…..and that my derriere looked fantastic in them…..heck, that just made these pants even better in my book!)

The socks are what I am in love with.  IN. LOVE. WITH. THE. SOCKS.    I have long suffered from foot problems and my feet actually felt great after running.   My feet felt wonderful in the black socks while I was at work wearing my pink boots.  I was actually sad about taking off my socks to get into the hot tub that evening, and seriously contemplated putting back on a pair of dirty socks so that I could experience them longer!.  I have quickly been converted to become a huge fan of these socks!!!!!    The only thing that will keep me from running out and buying a drawer full of Tommie Copper socks is the price.  In fact, I’m petrified that these pairs of socks will be one of the ones that mysteriously lose their match in the wash.   Ehhh....Cost aside, owning a couple pairs pairs of these bad boys are well worth it!!!!!!!!