Quest for Shoes 2

Continuing my quest to identify 2 more replacement shoes.

The next on the list to be replaced is the Saucony Grid Phoenix 3 These was bought only in July last year and to date has only got a mileage of 329km. Have never worn it in any races either but this is a pair of shoes that I enjoyed running in very much. The only problem with it is that it is half a size too small so I only wear it for short and easy runs with most of it on the Thursday Running Lab Run. I think I will go for another pair of Saucony and I am beoing the Progrid Jazz. Actually I don't think this is very suitable so why is this my choice? Because in comes in yellow color and I have decided to migrate from orange to yellow.

My very last pair of shoe with whom I have a love/hate 'relationship' is the Nike Lunar. It is the Nike Lunar that has convinced me that I can switch from stability shoes to cushioning shoes and I do not need the thick heels of the normal running shoes. The Lunar is by far the best cushioning shoes I have worn and coming from a previously non-Nike fan, this is really saying a lot about how Nike shoes have evolved. This Lunar has only seen 378km and was only acquired in August 2008 (courtesy of Nike sg) so why I am looking to replace it? It is because the 2 calluses on my 2 big toes are growing bigger every time I run in the Lunar. It was blisters initially but the skin has hardened so much that there is no more blisters only hard calluses. So regretfully I have to replace this. But with what? Maybe another Nike - the coming Nike LunarGlide perhaps? But do I want to wait?

Okay so why I am voicing out all these craps? Because I got a hope. A big fat hope, I hope not and that is? Maybe just maybe some kind soul out there from some footwear company is reading this and decide to sponsor the shoes. I promise to write nice review about them (even if it ain't true) ha ha ha....

Save bus fare run

Sent the car for service at Ubi and since got time to kill, decided to run back home instead of taking public transport. This Uncle's guesstimaton getting very bad. Thought the distance to be around 15km. Also thought after the rain, weather should be fine. Wrong on both counts.

Immediately after the rain, the sun came out and it was as if it had not rained at all. Hot and humid + slippery floors. Not very good combination for a run especially since I started at 9am. No energy to run fast so did jogging pace run. My suppposingly '15km' run turned out to be only half the distance measuring 7.4km on Google map. And I ran faster than I thought. Almost 45mins which with the numerous traffic stops wasn't too bad.

Maybe should run back there to collect the car?c

Quest for New Shoes 1

Unfortunately for me, somehow I am now staring at a situation where I need to replace all 4 pairs of my running shoes at one go. So that's going to burn a big big hole in the pocket and as I realise for the past few days as I hunt around, it's not so easy and not as enjoyable as I thought.

The first pair to be replaced is the Asics 2120. This was bought in Dec 2007 and is my primary race shoe. To date it hasonly  clocked 499km but seen me through all the long races except last year SCSM. Probably can last a little bit more but the cushioning is no longer there. I am not considering a one for one replacement of the Asics at the moment as Asics has got too damn expensive! Moreover, I am also contemplating moving away from stability shoe and going to a shoe designed more for mid foot running. With that in mind, I went down to the New Balance store to tried out the M800. Unfortunately, the largest size for this series is only size 11 and I am a size 12!. So sad. So it's back to NB and the choice is down to the 769, 1063 or 904. The latter 2 being cushioning shoe.

The next pair of shoe to be replaced is the North Face Arnuva 50 Boa bought in March 2008. Just over a year old but it has clocked up some 500 + km more than I thought it capable of. Worn mainly for running at Bedok Reservoir, and a few short races, it will always be remembered as the shoe that gave me 5 black toe nails after the SCSM. So the replacement is not going to be a NF. At the moment, I would like to have another trail shoe never mind that there are no real trail in Sg other than MR which I don't go that often. Top of my list is a pair of Adidas or Brooks. Adidas because I haven't tried on a pair of real Adidas running shoe before. The one I am eyeing is the Revolt which is going for a 30% discount at the outlet at Tampines 1.  Likewise I never own a pair of Brooks before and with Sportslink giving 20% off, the Cascadia 4 is very tempting especially since it is very much cheaper than the Revolt. Actually what I want is not a pure trail shoe but an all terrain shoes suitable for light trail and road and those are carried by NB only if I am not wrong. 

So these are the choices for the time being. Headache. Which one to pick? At the end of day, I think I will likely make my decision on 2 factors :- price and of course colour and all the above shoes have at least one colour in common.  ha ha ha

Walking Like a Duck

I got it bad. The chafing. Despite having got chafing from this particular NB short several time, somehow I still persisted in wearing it knowing that my Neat and Bodyglide are at home.  And my 'reward' for my loyalty to this pair of old short. The worse case of chafing I ever got. And now I'm walking like a duck. Quack quack.