An Equipment Check

This morning's run was about my new semi-minimalist Nike's.  I love 'em.  I have always wanted a pair of these new light and airy shoes after I ran barefoot on my treadmill a year ago.  That treadmill run was pain free and comfortable although I did acquire a blister on my toe from the rough tread.  No big deal though.

I ran again with out sneakers while in NC.  I ran along the ocean's edge dodging the ringlets of water that repeatedly washed up onto the well packed sand as the tide rolled in.  It too was cool, but I needed to wear sneaker's I decided by the end of that beach run; there are too many shells, sharp pieces of wood, and stones beneath the sand.  I found myself dizzy from looking straight down at the ground hoping to spot a protruding, sharp annoyance.  No fun.  Yet the free feeling of not having shoes felt awesome.

So, I made the plunge and purchased some light, semi minimalist sneaks.  The most challenging and time consuming part of getting these shoes was finding the color I wanted.  I am not a fan of black, nor solid bright colors, nor do I like running shoes with, what I consider feminine, purple lace holes.  I may have been a little too direct with the salesman on these counts.  Kids today are way too sensitive.  If you want to sell me a pair of running shoes, please drop the pc attitude; its not necessary, HR is "not in the house".

I ran well this morning.  No pain at all...

Well, somewhere around mile 6, I felt some discomfort near the side of my foot below the toe.  I feared the dreaded blister being born.  It may have been that the laces were not tied snug to prevent my foot from moving toward the side of the shoe or it could have been the insert beneath my foot was cut poorly at the factory causing a "short edge" feeling.

I did not have a blister.  My joints were fine.  The sneakers, I believe, were a success.  I will run in them again before the Boilermaker this weekend and determine what I think the issue is, a short edged insert in my right sneaker.

So, I apologize for boring Richard, the fellow I ran with on Saturday morning for boring him with my shoe review as we ran our eight miles from Ophaelia's to the zero marker to the OLP's end and back.  It was a necessary evil. Yet, his Nike GPS, which we also reviewed, had us running 8.7 miles.  No chance.  He said this first edition attempt by Nike to create a GPS system has had set backs, namely it loses its signal often and reverts to the sensor system which ruins any potential accuracy.

Maybe that should be our next run, a product test run.  Let's review what works and doesn't work.  Shoes, laces, wrist bands, GPS, compression items, or whatever.  Having knowledge is always a good thing.  Saving money for something that works is better.

See you on the road.