Welcome 2011 and Nike Free

Do you remember when New Years was just another reason to get crazy drunk and act stupid, slutty, ugly..whatever your poison? Sometimes…for a second or two..I miss my 20’s. We stayed in last night…brought in the new year with our children…I could barely keep my eyes open and it was lovely.

So today I started marathon training. I had 3-5 easy on tap and woke to 25 degrees with 25 mile per hour winds…..have I mentioned that I hate the wind? I don’t mind it at my back…but we can’t always have it that way can we? Shit..that reminds me I need to call Jules. Anyways…I was all dressed and ready to head out and Skip says..Lori just went by. Lori is my rocking next door neighbor. We’ve ended up in a number of the same races and her and her husband Mike are some of the only real life runners that I know. So I haul ass out the door and tell her to hold on. We ended up knocking out 5 miles at a bit faster then my ‘easy’ pace. It was an awesome way to start the new year and I hope we do it again. Whether she believes it or not…I think we’re pretty evenly paced..and Lori…if you don’t want me blogging about you, you need to tell me now….because I tend to go on…and on.


On another front…after not much thought and only a little research…I bought my next running shoes. I ended up with the Nike Free and took them on this run. And if you have to wear shoes even if you’d rather be barefoot..this is a decent alternative. It was nice not to have to consciously adjust my footstrike because I’m running in a normal trainer. These take that out of the equation..and I love that. Midfoot strike came naturally..as I want it to. They are ugly..and there really isn’t a tongue to them. They slip on like a bootie and are wide at the front. But they let me run how I want to without so much work and I dig that. Here’s some pics.

28.4mm heel height...hardly barefoot..but there it is.

You really can curl them into a ball.

No tongue..slips on like socks kinda.

I see tons of stuck rocks in my future.

Are they awesome?  Kinda.  Do I love them?  Don't know yet.  But like I said...if you have to be in shoes..this is a nice alternative.  But I'm hoping that between these and my gravel marching...this spring is going to be amazing for barefooting!!!!  Can't wait!

So what did you guys do for new years..eve or day?