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Title: New Shoes Written by: Susan Lynn Meyer Illustrated by: Eric Velasquez Published by: Holiday House, 2015 Themes/Topics: Shoes, Segregation, Discrimination,  African American Interest, Human & Civil Rights, Fairness, Justice & Equality, Determination, Genre: Historical fiction Suitable for ages: 5-8 Opening: My cousin Charlotte … Continue reading →

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Super excited to announce that our Bee Bully is being featured in Bookbub today and is only $.99 for a limited time.  To celebrate we have some free gifts to tell you about.  From April 1st – April 5th you can download our latest release, Caterpillar Shoes, absolutely free from Amazon.  Check out what’s troubling Patches the caterpillar and the silly decision she makes to live her life to the full.  There are some interesting caterpillar facts in the back of this book.

 

I’ve also got more surprises to share.  My friend, Laura Yirak, is also giving away a copy of her delightful bee book, Bumble Babees during this same period.

 

 

Scott Gordon has another treat for you. His book, The Most Beautiful Flower will be FREE April 2-April 6.  This book is only $.99 on April 1st.  Don’t you just love spring!  Enjoy these goodies while they last.

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So, that's why I recommend having a 'spare sketchbook'. You'll find so much in there too relight your fire. And, so to these drawings. Both of the two (bottom) drawings came about from developing themes I played around with in the top spread. By taking the notes and ideas and pushing and pulling them in all directions.

And, another thing, the envelope spread is what can happen when something goes wrong on a page; collage. The best way to cover all of your mistakes.

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While I may play running shoe favorites, you get the idea. Get running and in any shoe that meets your fancy…cuz ‘stopping’ just aint all it’s cracked up to be.

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More RUNNING MOTIVATION

#SweatsintheCity Runnerchick Chic

More CARTOONS

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I always love getting mail from readers and I often get questions which, because I could talk/write/draw about running all day, I’m always happy to answer. The other awesome thing about bloggy-land and our cyber-culture is constantly making new friends. I enjoy hearing updates back from the runners I’ve ‘met’ after they’ve sent questions and it’s always cool to watch them go on to run healthy and set new PR’s.

Well because great minds think alike, or at least I’m certain questions I’m emailed are ones others probably have, I decided to share a few. If you’ve got a questions feel free to email me at: [email protected]

Without further adieu:

Q: Hi! Do you do your calf strengthening exercises before or after running or on days off? Just curious… I am 45 and returning after a 2 month hiatus. After a 14 day streak (7 @ 20 min and the 7 @ 30 min, my calfs are starting to get cranky)

Do you think everyday is good for us over 40 runners or should I be taking days off?

Thank you so much. Your pages are very helpful?

~ Dan in Portland, OR

A: Hi Dan! Thanks so much for your readership! First off, CONGRATS on finally getting back to running!!

As for your questions: I’d suggest doing the strengthening exercises every other day, but do lots of stretching every day. Always post-run on both of those, for the stretches do the standing wall stretch both standing with your leg straight and and then with a slight bend in the knee, that will work both calf muscles. Also do one with a heel drop, so stand on a stair and just let your heel drop, slowly working deep into that achilles stretch.

As for your running, every single person is different, so it’s a matter of figuring out your running ‘sweet spot’. For now, with being cautious for your cranky calfs, tailor back to 4-5 days and you can totally do some cross training that doesn’t bother it. Then as the calfs calm down, gradually try increasing total time running, be that either running longer OR with added days running. Aim for only increasing 10% total miles each week, then let those calfs be your guide.

Finally, don’t overlook that the body is a whole unit, so be sure to check out if you’ve got other imbalances that could be setting you up for calf pain, and stretch the whole body. Check your biomechanics and you might need some insoles for added support. Also, make sure you’re running in the right shoes and they’re not ‘dead’…you’d be surprised how ‘easy’ things like needing to replace your shoes can totally clear up your symptoms!

Hope that helps, sorry for the novel reply, and say HI to Portland for me…miss that awesome city!

Happy Running!!
Cait

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Related Reads:

The Imbalanced Runner: Pinpoint your weaknesses and avoid injuries

The Low Mileage Runner: How to maximize your performance off of low volume

3 Ways Running Can Fly By and 500 Reasons to Update Your Running Shoes

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Imagine a running world much different than our own.

Get up, lace up, and regardless of what’s actually on your feet…get running.

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So lots of exciting things to share here!

My friend, and distance running’s #1 Fan Girl, Lynn Cox and I just launched Shoeprints Ink!! It’s a greeting card line devoted JUST FOR RUNNERS! Yea!! Go check out all the action and there will be more cards being continually added. Visit: Shoeprintsink.com

The first instructional comic book for runners, “Effective Mental Strategy: Race faster by out-thinking your brain”, that I created was just reviewed by author Mark Matthews. He’s an awesome writer and I always enjoy reading his blog, so read my review and then get sucked into HIS writing for hours and hours.

My latest Running Times article that ran in the Dec/Jan issues is now online. Go read “The Power of Protein Timing: Three windows to refuel the runner”

If you’ve yet to read another seriously awesome blog that I stalk on the daily, The Anxious Girl’s Guide to Dating, (seriously, I think many runners can relate erring a wee bit on the anxious side!) I contribute posts there and you can go read my second one: “Table for Four: Ditching the judging, critical, killjoy”

And on Instagram…I’ve been hanging out with Ariel. She likes my latest running shirt a lot.
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Enough of me yet?? Fine, then go run.

1) Speaking of shoes and spikes, what running shoes are you currently loving at the moment?
2) What kind of food related shoe concoctions would you toss into this comic remix?
3) Anxiety and all that jazz…what do you do when you are feeling stressed, anxious, nervous, etc.? What keeps you sane and balanced?
Well, besides what I already shared…can I state the obvious: #runforsanity

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Oh I’m so proud, I’ve been diligently helping spread the running infection. Last night I ordered my cute little high school friend a pair of running shoes. I’ve been working on her for months, when she told me she wished she could be a runner.

“Be a runner?” I said, “Anyone can BE a runner.” That’s the funny thing, most people think you either pop out with your Nike running shoes on or you don’t. The ones who don’t are sadly shunned from society, left to wallow away through life sans any endorphins via miles. Just kidding.

But I told her anyone can become a runner, at any age, and regardless of starting fitness level. Probably the greatest thing about our sport, regardless of genetics, if you are consistent with your running you WILL improve and get better.

The beauty of running a PR (personal best for any of you newbie runners) can be felt by ANYONE. You just have to work for it. Earning that sweaty, glorious time is tough but so worth it. It becomes tougher the longer you run, the improvement curve doesn’t always sky-rocket away like it does soon after you become a runner. That just means you have to work harder AND smarter.

Back to my friend though, I’ve been so proud watching her go from barely making two miles and now busting out 6 miles. I was, however, APPALLED…I mean appalled at the raggedy-@$$ shoes she was running in.

When I say I was appalled, I’m not in ANY way judging her or disappointed in her AT ALL. Most new runners just really don’t have any idea how crucial it is to have the right kind of shoes. Also the age of their shoes. “My foot kind of hurt after my last run, I think I need a new pair…I love these shoes but maybe a year and a half is too long to still be using them.”

A YEAR AND A HALF!! My mind freaked the freak out, only because I know how much a ‘dead’ pair of running shoes can turn into an injury bomb. Granted, she did other things and wasn’t logging mega miles in them, but still. A pair of shoes should never be out there on the mean streets logging miles if they’ve seen 500 miles or more. Time for a new pair, baby!

So I assessed her foot type and we’ve gotten her squared away with dem new running shoes. We also got to talking about things that make running go by faster and what makes those miles feel like an eternity:

1) The Scenic Route: Per minute, running on the treadmill feels like about 10 minutes. Just kidding.
2) Training Partners: Having a training partner makes those miles zip by quicker too. I mean that figuratively AND literally if the workout for the day are repeats or a hard run. Working WITH someone and getting ‘towed’ along during intervals will wind-up with faster splits that ‘feel’ easier than if you were running alone.
3) Being fitter. The reason most non-runners think they can’t ‘be’ a runner is because running a few minutes feels KILLER and they don’t understand how anyone could run multiple miles. The reason is because they just aren’t fit enough. The body adapts, it grows stronger, cardiovascular fitness and endurance improves the more CONSISTENT you are with your running. Eventually you get to the point where 2 miles are easy because you’re comfortably able to run 4 miles, then 4 are easy because you’re regularly running 6 miles. You get the picture.

So now it’s your turn. Keep spreading this running thing across the lands…prove to the non-believers that ANYONE can ‘be’ a runner…they just have to try.

1) When did you start running? What caused you to try?
I sucked at all sports requiring an ounce of coordination. I can turn left.
2) Is there anyone you have inspired to become a runner?
3) What’s one thing that makes your running go by faster?

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You know the kind of feeling where your running shoes are staring up at you, two gaping black holes where your feet SHOULD be.

In case you ever need that extra shove out the door I introduce to you the latest line in running shoes. Other quotes include:

* Love me.
* Erase me.
* I see you.
* That pint will taste better earned.
* You can’t see any writing on a winner’s shoes.

Whatever your shoes are saying to you, don’t let them mock you. Shut them up. Put your feet in them and get running.
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MOTIVATION posts.
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1) What should be another quote/quip to add to our line or running shoes with sass?

2) What’s something you tell yourself if you’re lacking in the motivation department?
Remind myself that my own running guilt is NOT worth putting up with if I weenie out.

3) If we were to offer a line of spikes with writing on the soles, what should they read?
I think if we were to let people sharpie in some PR goals…just be ready to scratch out and re-sharpie.

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When minimalist running turned from a concept into some kind of near-cult ideology, I’ll admit to shaking my head. More correctly I was soured that with the launch of the Vibrams and ‘Born to Run’ book release the masses became obsessed with immediately running barefoot. Everyone wanted to jump headlong into this running trend with no other reason than they thought it was the cool thing to do. I mean “Waaaaaaz up” was the coolest thing to do for a time too, no?

Misinformed runners were getting hurt, and THAT was really what I was stuck on or against. Well, and in all honesty I think the Vibram toe-thing is silly. I’m not anti-minimalist, in fact I began implementing Nike Free running in 2004 in order to increase foot strength and mobility. The key word there is IMPLEMENTING.

Scott Douglas, multi-running book author and editor for Runner’s World, just released “The Runner’s World Complete Guide to Minimalism and Barefoot Running” for which I was given a copy to read and review. I was nervous at first only because of that buzz word minimalism but I also have read enough from Douglas to have faith that rather than just glorify barefoot running the book would be true to name and act as a manual. There IS sound reasoning and logic behind minimalist running, it then becomes a matter of ensuring enough runners learn and understand just HOW to go about running in ‘less’ without just getting themselves hurt.

I was relieved because right off the bat because Douglas tackles the logistics and starts not at the aspect most minimalists and runners begin, the foot, but instead explains that the running body is a package. A runner’s body is an interconnected machine, you can’t take a single injury or problem at face value, but rather trace it back to the underlying cause of it. A problem with your foot can be stemming from your hips, you have to fix the underlying cause before the foot gets any better.

Douglas starts by taking running and your BODY as a whole, explaining the interconnectedness of it all and then delves into minimalist theory. I believe with most things it’s a matter of understanding the ‘whys’ before you can get to the ‘hows’. It’s also refreshing that, while the author states from the beginning he’s always loved running in less shoe, he shares both sides of the story, and in quite an engaging tone. The book’s informative, but it’s not a text-book read.

Some of the actual running shoe stats and numbers may not have been absorbed as fully by me as others, as I’m not a total running shoe ‘addict/geek’, but I still got the gist. What I was more interested in was that the book tackles more than shoes and feet: the importance of running form, the importance of GRADUALLY transitioning and that injuries aren’t caused or cured merely by a shoe-swap and there is still the need for strengthening and mobility work (the book includes exercises). These are all, in fact, fundamentals of running people should read outside of shoes and minimalism.

The book was written with the input and thoughts from an array of different running coaches, shoe experts, and exercise physiologists. Among them, and someone I’ve often sought keen insights from for my own articles, was Steve Magness. I appreciated his parts not just because of the knowledge and science there, but explaining why elite distance runners aren’t all striving to run barefoot all the time, but that they still get minimalist style miles in the form of racing flats and spikes. Finally, the drills are things all runners should do and the suggestions for cooling-down or doing striders barefoot get back to that gradual implementation.

Bottom line, both from the book and in line with my own reasoning: Shoes and whatever people end up running in shouldn’t be dictated by a running trend or fad, but rather what keeps them running healthfully and ideally as fast as possible. Everyone wants to be faster, right?

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Scott Douglas’ “The Runner’s World Complete Guide to Minimalism and Barefoot Running” can be purchased in stores or online.
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1) What are your thoughts on minimalism and/or barefoot running? What kind of shoes do you prefer to run in?

2) Have you wound up with an injury tied to making the jump to minimalism too quickly? If so, have you learned and then gone forward with a way to include minimalist style running without an injury?

3) Douglas also asks a very poignant questions in his book along the lines of: If you are a minimalist, where does your journey to ‘less shoes’ end? It doesn’t necessarily become when you’re running barefoot all the time.

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Be prepared is my motto.
ZenBrush on iPad. Click to enlarge.

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Two new pages for my forthcoming Memoirs.
Paper53 on iPad. Click to enlarge.

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Two more pages from my forthcoming Memoirs.
Paper53 on iPad. Click to enlarge.

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The Korean Cinderella

A lush Korean version of the story of Cinderella....

To honor her birth, a pear tree is planted and the newborn baby is named Pear. She is beautiful and loved by her elderly mother and father. When Pear's mother dies, her father remarries a woman with a daughter the same age as Pear. Beautiful Pear's stepmother is jealous of her stepdaughter's beauty and requires her to perform many impossible chores, while her own daughter, Peony watches.

With the help of magical creatures (frog, sparrow, and black oxen) Pear successfully completes each chore and is able to attend the festival. On the way to the festival she loses her shoe. The magistrate sees the beautiful Pear and calls out to her. Believing he is yelling at her, she runs away without her shoe. At the festival the magistrate looks for the girl without the shoe...

If you liked this, try:
The Irish Cinderlad
The Rough Faced Girl
Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters
Lon Po Po
The Golden Sandal

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A test page from my graphic novel.
Gouache. A3 size. Click to enlarge.

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The school year always brings an end to the hot dry season in Utah.  Temperatures cool off, and we finally get some rain.  And if there's rain we must play in it.

My favorite place to get children's rain products is Kidorable.com.

They have a fun selection of umbrellas, raincoats,

 and even backpacks.


Rain gear can be uncomfortable.  Because Kidorable products are so whimsical and fun not only will my girls wear their gear, but they ask too.

Since we'll be walking Kik to the bus stop this year, I thought that Bid needed her very own pair of rain boots.  And since every walk we ever take turns into a bug hunt, I thought the Ladybug Boots would be perfect for her.










I received a product to review from the above company or their PR Agency. Opinions expressed in this post are strictly my own - I was not influenced in any way. I received no monetary compensation for this post. 

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My daughter has been walking around the house with a video camera the last couple days, recording everything.  Because I want to support her creativity, she is going to introduce us to today's Back 2 School Must Have - Pediped Shoes.

When we received the Flex Bailey shoes in the mail, Kik was so excited.  Until she found out they were Bid's size.


Luckily Bid loves them too.

They are a classic, black, mary-jane style, and great for school or even church.  The shoes are made from leather and have a flexible sole.  My only complaint is the first time she wore them, she didn't put socks on.  And they turned her toes black.  She thought it was awesome.

To Buy -  Besides the Bailey shoes, Pediped just debuted its Fall/Winter 2012 Collection. It features an innovative line of athletic shoes featuring Ultra Light Technology™, a collection of waterproof cold weather boots and more than 80 new design offerings. You can buy these and more on Pediped.com.

For more info, you can sign up to become a Pediped insider, or follow them on facebook and twitter.





I received a product to review from the above company or their PR Agency. Opinions expressed in this post are strictly my own - I was not influenced in any way. I received no monetary compensation for this post.

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I was shocked to find these shoes copulating at the back of my wardrobe.
Marker pen with digital colour. Click to enlarge.

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Both my girls could crawl by the time they were 4 and a half months and walk by the time they were 9 months. Baby Co is 6 months old and a bit behind.  He doesn't crawl so much as scoot.  He does a sort of push up, sticks his bum high in the air, and pushes backwards on his tippy toes.  As hard as he tries he just can't seem to go forward.  It's super cute, but his legs and feet are always getting stuck under couches and doors.

Because of this what Co wears (or doesn't wear) on his feet is very important.  With bare feet he gets scratched up.  Socks are slippery.  And most shoes fall off his sausage feet easily - which means he either has bare feet or slippery socks all of the time.  One of my very favorite brands of shoes for transitioning babies are Pedipeds.

Co has the Original Adrian Chocolate Brown Shoes and I absolutely love them.

• All Natural Leather Sole
• New Diamond Patterned Tread 
• 2 Layers of Leather plus soft foam insert for protection

To Buy - The Originals Adrian - Chocolate Brown shoes retail for $33.00, and are a great buy!  For more information and special deals check out Pediped on Facebook and Twitter!



I received a product to review from the above company or their PR Agency. Opinions expressed in this post are strictly my own - I was not influenced in any way. I received no monetary compensation for this post.


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