Last review for a while! (Which is good, it’s more of my impressions than a real review… )
I’ll admit it. I like to run with music or podcasts. Given that many of my runs are solo, it’s almost a requirement.
I’ve been searching for the perfect earphones to run in for quite a while. Honestly, I’ll probably be searching forever.
This should have been a quick post, but oh well. I wanted to write it, as I specifically looked for a post like this before I bought the G5 GPS.
Synopsis: Yes, It works with the RS800CX. Yes, if you have an RS800CX you want to buy it. If you don’t own the RS800CX, don’t bother reading more.
The Walt Disney Family Fun 5k. An excellent reason to get up at 3am and freeze while waiting to run 3.1 miles on a Friday morning!
We went down for the Marathon. But, there is the 5k, thus an opportunity.
Don’t click to read more if you are on a slow connection. I have a camera and I wasn’t afraid to use it!
Heading into the Disney world Marathon, I ran into a quandary. One of the major attractions to the marathon are the characters on the course. And of course, if you are going to stop for a picture with the characters, it’s helpful to have a camera with you.
Alrighty. This one is tough.
I knew going into it that I wasn’t trained as well as I’d like. But I also knew that I can be pretty competitive, and the numbers had been coming up closer as I neared taper. I wasn’t as good as I was a year ago, but I wasn’t far off, either.
Last year, we debated about on twitter and in real life about what to wear – the forecasts were bouncing around all over the place until the morning of the race. Turned out to be close to perfect.
This year, there wasn’t any debates over what the weather was going to do, that I saw. It was cold.
Enter, the Komodo LS.
I bought a pair on the way to Walt Disney World, for the Marathon. In the store, they felt awesome. I’ve got a regular pair of the Komodo, and frankly, it’s my go to shoe, outside of running. I wear them everywhere.
Really.
I should get commission from Vibram for the sales pitches I’ve done in the Grocery store and about… 
The LS is the laced version, and it fits tighter. It felt high performance. Like a glove is exactly the description I’d use. The regular komodos feel very loose in comparison. I was excited. They felt great in the store. I REALLY wanted this to be the successor to my Blue Bikila’s, only more versatile.
Unfortunately, one hour of wear was all it took to wear a blister on the inside top of my foot, and pop it. The only other blister I’ve ever had in a Vibram shoe was in my original bikilas, during the rocket city marathon 2010. And I didn’t even notice that one until the day after, it was so minor.
I knew this time. It hurt.
I’ve had issues with Vibrams not fitting correctly in the past – I’ve got 4 pairs of the original Blue Bikila’s in 43. 3 of the 4 fit differently. One is too small for any run over 6 miles, one needs toe socks to be ok, and then one of them ‘fits like a glove’ and has been featured on this blog with over 1000 miles on them.
I’ve got a pair of Bikila LS’s that are my current primary running shoe. While they aren’t the near perfection of my original blue bikila’s, I don’t think the lacing system itself is the primary problem. I think Vibram isn’t consistent in their sizing.
So, they are going back. I don’t know if it’s a case of the shoe just fitting me perfectly wrong, or continuing issues with Vibram quality control in sizing, but I am not putting my feet in these again.
Well, I don’t. (Run for the Party, that is.) I run for the race.
This was the 3rd running of the Half Marathon, and the best.
(Btw, this race was in November. This post has been in limbo for a while, waiting on me to actually take pictures of the medals. Shiny reflective surfaces take a bit of care to get right. Laminated cards even more & and frankly, I didn’t want to take the time to do it. Sorry for the delay. )
Yes, it’s been sparse, neigh, dead around here. And that probably won’t change much.
But I do have a number of posts that are getting queued up now…
3 Race reports.
4 equipment posts.
Various images.
I’m not going to pretend that I’ll be updating this often, but I’m going to try to change to more posts, less words per post soon.
I have a tendency to want to get EVERYTHING into a post, and make it perfect – there are several drafts that I worked on for several weeks before I just got upset and stopped. So, hopefully, I’ll be able to get out of that habit simply by trying to push more out quickly, and add the details in later posts.
We’ll see how this works out.
Ouch.
And DUH!
My lovely wife had a Library conference at Montgomery Bell State Park this weekend. In an effort to get away from the kids for a little bit, I came along, figuring I would take advantage of the park while she did her thing.
I’ll gloss over the wild parties that ensued – I mean, it was a LIBRARIAN Conference. I’m sure that the word Legendary isn’t quite appropriate.
I did want to take a chance on the trails surrounding the Inn. Little did I realize it was actually a chance.
I posted an update to my saga of running in Vibram 5 Finger shoes yesterday. Unfortunately, I did not have any idea of the incredible weather events that started to occur about an hour after I posted this.
I had whimsically named the post : “Rumors of their demise are greatly exaggerated.” Given that I had effectively written these shoes off.
When I retweeted the post a few minutes ago, I thought about all of the weather detail I had posted the previous day.
I’ve re-titled the post. 1000 miles.
On a family note: Thankfully, all of our family, spread through Alabama, made it through the storms yesterday without loss. Mom visually tracked two of the Tornados from her safe spot, including the one that really tore up Cullman. Arab, AL got hit pretty hard, although not on the scale of Tuscaloosa or Birmingham. When I see the aftermath pictures, and remember the way T-town used to look, it’s pretty hard to not get choked up.
Mom and the rest of Arab are without power, and likely to remain without power for quite a bit, but she’s got a generator for essentials, and frankly, it’s such a small thing after the possible outcomes from yesterday’s events.
We are obviously very thankful today for their safety, and our prayers are out for everyone affected.