Say it ain't so.........

I just got the news that the first ultra event I ever did is now history as Wynn has canceled the Chippewa Moraine 50k for 2010. What a bummer, my thanks to Wynn, his family, all of the volunteers and to the Chippewa Moraine section of the Ice Age trail for putting on a great event. It will be missed.

So now what, great question. I was planning on using Chippewa as my focus to get through the winter with the intent of having a PR day there. I felt the course beat me last year, actually it was a partner in that but I was the main reason my wheels fell off, now I won't have a chance to redeem myself. .

What to do, good question but I have all winter to figure it out.

First I have to discuss my Bears who are in the tank officially with tonight's loss to the Vikes. Maybe, now the media in Chicago will recognize what I have been saying for years, it's the defense stupid, and/or it's the offensive line, and/or it's the offensive coordinator (please Lovie before you are gone, fire Ron Turner) and/or it's the running game, it's not Cutler or the QB's before him - Orton, Griese, Grossman, Hutchinson, Krenzel, Quinn, Stewart, Burris, Chandler and a whole pile of other QB's (ok some of them were the problem but Cutler is not the problem, he is the best we have had since McMahon) then again could it be George Bush's fault, it sure seems like some folks from Chicago are blaming him for about everything else?

No, folks it's the defense, O-line and Ron Turner. You see in Chicago, the Bears play defense and run the football, then the QB comes into play. That used to be called Chicago Bear football. Ok, at least that is off my chest, the only way this season won't be a total loss is if we beat the Packers and Vikes when we play them in December in Chicago.

Chippewa history, the Bears 2009 season history, can't wait to see how work goes tomorrow............

Spitting?

My wife and I ran the local Drumstick Dash 10k on Thanksgiving day, it was 2 loops around Lake Harriet and happens to be the first "road race" that I have run in over in a year. It was so weird to be at a road race versus a trail race or an ultra. There were so many people, probably like 500 (actually I just checked and there were 852 finishers, no wonder it seemed so crowed, it was).

Anyway, this is not a race report although I should say my wife and I ran a nice consistent pace and finished with a negative split. This is a report on spitting, I have often wondered how many times I spit during a run, for this run, I counted. When I took my last spit, I was on count 61, so that pretty much averages to spitting 10 times/mile, 1 time/minute, I am not sure this is normal but it does seem to be what I do. I do know that I had to consider my surroundings (said differently my fellow runners) for each and every spit and I can safely say that to my knowledge no other runners were negatively affected.

My guess is it might be allergy related or it might just be a learned behavior, the one thing I know is that it is a whole lot easier to do on the trails, yet another reason to stay off the roads.

Treadmills?

I was talking with Wayne and Karen a couple of weeks back about my relationship with treadmills which basically is that I don't like them and they don't like me.

In my almost 20 years of running I have run on a treadmill somewhere between 40 and 50 times (tops) and I have been thrown off of the treadmill at least 4 or 5 times. I was telling my wife and daughter the same story and they basically said what? My daughter's comment was (said as only a 16 year can say) "How can you run trails and not handle a treadmill"? Good question but I tend to drift as I mindlessly meander on a treadmill until I drift to the edge of the belt where I step on the belt and the side of the treadmill which stops the belt and propels me backwards onto the floor or into the wall. This has happened to me at home, at work and on a treadmill at a hotel. I still remember the funny look I got at work when it happened, thankfully when it happened on the hotel treadmill no one was in the room nor has it been witnessed at home but believe me this is something you don't plan or make up. The good news is that I have never been hurt (other than my pride) but I think it's only a matter of time when something bad might happen to me, so give me the trails, the roads anything but the treadmill. Heck, I will gladly take cold, darkness, wind and snow over a treadmill.

Now that you know my relationship with the treadmill, I have a new plan for using it this winter.

I have thought about the current barefoot running craze that seems to have taken off thanks to "Born to Run" and I thought about running barefoot myself. Then I thought about where would I try it? It's getting colder here and I figure I would look pretty goofy running barefoot plus I really like to run in anonymity and I think running barefoot would pretty much end that. Then it occurred to me, why not run barefoot on the treadmill. I would only run 2, 3 or 4 miles which means the odds of me falling off would be reduced. The other thing which my wife has reminded me of that a treadmill is good for would be to run speed workouts on it, basically some fast, hard controlled workouts, again this time of year it gets harder to do this outside, so between barefoot running and the desire to work on my speed, it might just work out.

So this week, I will give it a go and see if it helps change anything about my relationship with the treadmill.

Buying trail shoes online

Some might say I am bit obsessive, compulsive, self-absorbed, focused and probably a few other adjectives when it comes to my running shoes. Ok, maybe I am but this post isn't about that it's about buying shoes.

I used to buy shoes only at running stores and I will still if they have the brand I want. If I need road shoes, they have great selections but for trail shoes the running stores I usually go to only offer a couple of brands usually Inov8, Nike, Brooks and/or Asics and none of these really seem to fit my foot. Very few sell Salomon, Vasque, Teva, Merrell, Montrail, Saucony, Asolo, Oboz and all the other brands of trail shoes that are available.

In the last year though all of my shoes have been bought on-line. I have bought from Sierra Trading Post, Backcountry or REI (make sure you check out BackCountry outlet and REI outlet in addition to their main sites). I have looked at shoes at ZombieRunner, Zappos, Altrec, Running Warehouse, Holibird, RunningShoes.com, Road Runner Sports, OnLineShoes, RnJ Sports, Shoes.com, Kellys Running Warehouse and I am sure many others.

The way I go about it is fairly easy, I know my foot type very well, somewhat wider forefoot and a narrow heel. What I have always called a Saucony foot. Anyway, what I do is read reviews at Zappos, REI, Backcountry, Sierra Trading, Altrec plus many of the other websites above have reviews along with the running magazines (Running Times, Trail Runner, RunnersWorld) and a handful of other sites like Trailspace, Outside Online, Competetive Runner and then many runners who blog do reviews, there is just a world of information available. Just google the shoe you are looking at and add the word review and you will get links to look at.

One other thing, always assume you can get a coupon for extra dollars off and/or free shipping. I have found with Sierra Trading and Backcountry that by signing up for their email deal notifications they send me coupons and all of their specials. Then when I see something that strikes my interest, I take a look, do the research and if I have a need, I buy otherwise I just continue to look for other shoes which I might consider later. In the process, I usually discover a model or a brand I wasn't aware of and then I make a mental note of it for the future.

As an example of this, one of the shoe brands I would like to try is Oboz and the model that I think might work for me is the Ignition which just so happens I could get at Sierra right now and to give you an idea of the prices, take a look at the Oboz Ignition. I am not sure if the link to the Obozs will work but if you went there you should see the cost for these shoes would be $40 (with the coupons and discounts) plus $7.95 shipping. So for a total of $47.95, I would have another pair of shoes, tempting but right now I am doing ok for shoes. (Update 11/22 - Got an email from them this morning, reduced again to $35.97, total = $43.92, patience can pay off, still not buying though). They do send you a return shipping label if they don't fit (no extra expense for you - make sure whoever you buy from offer this as it does remove the risk if you do have a bad fit) and the receipt says that you can return them if problems arise for credit or replacement. I should mention that usually the shoes they have are last years model which doesn't bother me but might some folks.

With Sierra Trading or Backcountry Outlet and probably most of the online sites, you have to be patient with sizes and shoe availability so if you always run in the same model of shoe, you might have trouble finding your shoe at the 50+% off discounts. If you need a certain model, shop around and you just might find a deal.

If however you are like me and willing to experiment a bit (and like to do some research) or are still in search of the perfect shoe, it's a great to way save some money and time. I like the fact that I can usually get 2 pairs for the price of 1. The way I look at it is, if one pair doesn't work out more than likely the other pair will and then I am no worse off in the pocketbook. Truth be told, I have had as good of luck buying on-line as I did when I bought in the store, might be do to the research I have done or the fact that there is no pressure to buy so I don't just settle for what's in the store.

The way I can tell if shoes work out is the mileage I put on them. Thus far I have bought 9 pair of shoes on-line over the last 2 and 1/2 years. I have retired four of the pairs with an average of 400 miles/pair, I have four pairs that I am running in right now and I expect the same mileage from them (meaning no losers) and I have one pair that I love but the shoes have prematurely started falling apart in the heels. I have not quite 250 miles on them and I plan to nurse another 50+ miles out of them this winter and if I am lucky I think I may have figured out a way to repair them. Yes I can be cheap but when I like a pair, I like to get my miles from them.

So from my viewpoint, buying trail shoes online has worked out great. Just remember that I know my foot type, do my research and I have never found a model that I will or can buy year after year. So if you are somewhat like me give buying online a try, you will save money and the part I enjoy the most is doing the research to find the deals and the shoes and being willing to experiment with different shoes.