Day 11 (week 2, day 4)

Here I am again, up too late on a Thursday night. Mrs. F and I set our bed time for 9 PM, but that is tough to manage at times with a family, especially when we needed to pick up a birthday present this evening.

I still have a little bit of soreness below each of my knees, but less than yesterday. I'm almost looking forward to tomorrow morning, because it means we survived our sessions for week two, but I also am trying to be realistic--it's going to be hard.

We had one exciting development this week. After buying our Asics running shoes, I emailed their customer service department to tell them about our secret plan, and to let them know that I was really pleased that their shoes fit my big feet and were comfortable while training. In their reply (something I think I mentioned earlier), they indicated that they wanted to send us a little package to help us on our way with our secret plan. The package arrived today, and I was astonished by how generous they were!

Included in the box were three full sets of running accessories for Mrs. F, our son who runs cross country, and me. These included running socks, wrist and armbands, a headband, arm warmers, a mesh backpack, anti-chafing powders and gels, a sports towel, and a t-shirt for each of the three of us. From the context of our email exchange, the customer service rep also figured out that we had other children, so he included extra mesh backpacks, stickers, pens, and cross-country training logbooks. He indicated that he didn't want to leave anyone out. The email messages we exchanged were very encouraging. In one, he noted that he sent the arm warmers because I had noted in this blog that it has been quite cold on some of the mornings. When I asked him if someone on staff was a runner who could point Mrs. F and me to some resources we could use on our non-running days, he had someone email me with a link to a site with some information on stretching, and the message also encouraged us to make a wholistic approach to our training, including sleep and nutrition. [Okay, I'm feeling guilty now that I'm an hour past bedtime. I'll be brief.]

Wow! I've encountered companies that took extra care to develop good customer relationships before, but Asics went above and beyond. The way they took a personal interest in our story is something I've seen in few other companies--Lands End is one that comes to mind. They've gone beyond simply being a purveyor of running shoes and accessories--they treated us like we're a part of their extended family!

I'm so looking forward to using the running socks tomorrow morning. They're much thinner than the casual socks I've been using, so I imagine they will make my shoes feel even more comfortable. Our son was delighted to receive his share of the gear. I don't think his suspicions were raised in the least about our secret plan. Earlier this week, I told him that I had emailed Asics to compliment them about how much I liked their shoes, and that they insisted on sending a package to us. He doesn't yet know about our secret plan, so he's probably wondering what we're going to do with all of the cool Asiscs gear.

Anyway, Mrs. F has made her way to the bedroom. She'll be reading until I get there--she doesn't like it when I stay out here on my laptop too long after she heads back, and she doesn't sleep as well if I'm not there with her. I best head to bed now--far be it from me to further inhibit her ability to get some rest. ;)