LUV Footwear review and giveaway!

Back in the day, I used to wear some killer heels. I mean killer. I was single, living in New York City, and in love with sassy shoes. So I wore them. High heels -- the higher the better -- all the time.

And that was all fine because I was in my 20s and I ran only sporadically so painful feet weren't really that much of a problem.

Now, though? I'm all about the comfort. I need to save my feet for long runs and speed work, so heels really don't fit in my life. Neither do pinchy, narrow shoes. My poor toe joints simply can't handle being stuffed into too tight shoes.

My toe joints don't feel so sore in my new LUV Footwear funky flats.

Check these cute shoes out:

Totally cute, right? I know.

And, yes, I also know that I have a horrible bunion on my right big toe. You can see it so clearly in the picture. Yikes. Yet another reason I go for comfort these days!

So, the shoes.

LUV Footwear sent me the shoes to review and I give them two thumbs-up. They are cute, as you can see. They are also comfortable, thanks to the wide-enough toe box and stretchy Lycra upper (the bottom is EVA). 

The only slight downside for me is that there isn't much arch support in these shoes. That's pretty common with flats, especially this style (somewhat ballet-flat-ish). So, it isn't a huge complaint. But, I do typically like more arch support than less.

The shoes come in several fun colors and patterns that you can check out on the LUV Footwear web site. If you're wondering, I chose metallic pink -- and I'm happy I did! One note: The shoes do run small, so the advice on the web site to size up if you're between sizes is sound. Take that advice!

They retail for $40.00.

Interested? Well, I have two ways that you can slip your feet into some comfortable LUV shoes!

The discount:

LUV Footwear is generously offering all blog readers 20% off through August 16th. Lucky, lucky! To order your shoes at the discounted price, visit their web site (LUVfootwear.com), choose your shoes and use this code when ordering: HappyRunner


Easy peasy!


The giveaway:

One lucky reader will win a pair of LUV Footwear shoes of their choice.

To enter, pop over to the LUV Footwear Facebook page and sign up for their newsletter. Then come on back and leave me a comment letting me know that you did.

Additional entries:

As always, you can gain extra entries. Remember, though, you must complete the required entry first! And, yes, I'll check. (Leave one comment per entry for the additional ones to count.) So, here's what to do:

• Follow me on Pinterest, or let me know that you already do (leave a comment)
• Pin the image from this post to share the giveaway on Pinterest (leave a comment)
• Follow me on Twitter, or let me know that you already do (leave a comment)

• Follow me on Instagram, or let me know that you already do (leave a comment)

• Link to this giveaway from your blog (leave a comment)

This giveaway will run through Monday, August 5th at 11:59pm EST and the winner -- chosen at random from all eligible entries -- will be announced on Tuesday. The winner will have 48 hours to contact me or I'll choose another winner.

Good luck!

Review disclaimer: I was sent product for review from LUV Footwear. I was not otherwise compensated and the opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Really running.

No fake stuff here. Last week I was really running -- stretching my mileage to include a 6-miler with friends.

It was terrific.

Check out the post-run smiles:

Karyn, Bridget and me after my 6 mile run -- my longest run since April!

It was so good to be back out running along the Hudson River. And 6 miles? Hey, that's no joke when you've been nursing an injury since the spring. The best part is that those 6 miles were pain free. Brilliant!

I only managed three runs for the week but they were quality runs. (Quality runs! Man, it feels good to write that . . .)

So far, this return-to-running thing is going well. I'm still icing and taking extra rest. I'm also seeing a chiropractor twice a week and I've been researching and talking to this chiropractor about having the Graston Technique done on my hip/thigh/hamstring. I think it could be very beneficial to me. I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, I'm still grappling with my marathon/no marathon decision. I looked into the deferment policy a little more and I can fairly easily defer my registration to next year. I can also try to switch to the half marathon. With that additional option that I didn't know I had, I'm feeling more undecided than ever!

Well, that's not true. I've decided I am not running the marathon this October. I'll either defer completely to 2014 or try to switch to the half.

Decisions, decisions . . .

Since I've taken the marathon out of the equation, I do have a little more time to make my decision. So, I figure I'll procrastinate on that one for a little while!

I have four runs in mind for this week, including another 6 or maybe even 7 miles on Saturday. Woo hoo!

Have a great week, everyone. Thanks for stopping by!

Double digits.

Last week I ran 12.8 miles.

It doesn't sound like a lot. Until, that is, you consider that I ran a whopping 18 miles in the month of May and (count 'em!) 7 miles in June.

So, 12.8 in one week? Outstanding.

Even more outstanding is the fact that they felt pretty good. Sure, I still run every step with the overwhelming fear that I am going to re-tear one of my hip muscles. And, no, my hip does not feel 100%. I know I'm not totally healed.

But I'm running. And that, my friends, is a win, whether I'm 100% or not.

12.8 miles. Those miles have made me wonder. You know, I'm registered for the Mohawk-Hudson River Marathon in October. Can I run it? Two weeks ago, I'd written it off. Now? Well, now, I'm not sure. I'm mostly convinced that trying to train for it is a bad idea and a sure set-up for another, potentially worse, injury. And, believe me, I don't want to go back on the disabled list. No, no, no.

And yet . . . I'm not 100% ready to write off the marathon.

I'll see what this week brings -- Sunday marks 12 weeks until the marathon. If I'm going to try for it, I have to start training then. This week will let me know if I should go for it or not.

Until then, I'm taking it one run at a time.

 

Crawling back.

You've heard it before but I'm going to say it again anyway: Running injuries suck.

For real.

First, they hurt. Then they force you to take time off from running. And then, once you're free to start running again, they flare just enough to let you know that they're still around and so you scale back on your grand return-to-running plans.

I've been "back" since the end of June. But, not really. I had three decent runs and then one that forced me to stop running immediately, and was followed by another week of full-on rest.

Last Friday, I tried running again, just a mile. No problems. So I went for 2.5 miles on Sunday. Again, no problems. On Tuesday, I went crazy and ran a little over 3 miles and -- woo hoo! -- no problems.

I'm hopeful -- very hopeful -- that I'm truly on my way back. Granted, it all feels like a frustrating crawl and I still can't tackle anything resembling a hill, but progress is progress.

Tomorrow, I plan to run again. Fingers crossed that it goes well!

Thanks for stopping by!