Geo-Runner

My shoes have finally bit the dust.  I have ran about 800 hard core trail Km's in them and have decided it is time to retire them.  They have been a good shoe but I feel that they didn't fit my foot exactly right.  Following is my review of these shoes. Sole : Advantages - The tread on this sole has a nice bite and seldom slipped.  The sole was also extremely rigid and I never felt any sharp rocks through the sole.   Disadvantages - The tread would sometimes hold onto pea and marble size gravel and then they would slide on harder surfaces.  I feel that a larger further spread out lug may be the better tread design. Mid sole : Advantages - I felt that the mid sole had plenty of cushion and the Gel was nice.  I only have started to feel problems from the cushioning breaking down.   Disadvantages -  The arch support would rub on the inside of my arch where it transitions into the ball of my foot.  This is more of a problem having to do with my foot not fitting right and not the

This week began my new semester and saw more time available to devote to my running.  How did it go, considering the last month has been pitiful?   Friday and Saturday were comprised of two horrendous runs of 15 kms each, where I almost died because of my decreased fitness from the wussy previous mileage.  I huffed and puffed, even walked up a few portions of the climbs.  I felt awful and I was sad because I was so excited to run after my nasty semester, but my body said to chill.  I took Sunday off to recoup from those painful and slow runs.   Monday was cool and rainy, and I decided to do some back-2-back-2-back-2-back summits of Doug (4 total).  I love hill repeats.  I ran these babies right up until I was about to puke.  Immediately following my speedy descent I would turn around and crank back up the mountain as fast as I could.  I feel that the hill repeats are huge for several reasons.  I think many runners have fear of hills and dread them.  I am no different but I have foun

This morning started like the last few have, cold and overcast.  The last few days it has really dumped buckets of rain over Victoria.  I went to school and continued to work on my projects that are due on Wednesday.  It was the official last day of classes so the beginning of the Summer Semester or break, depending on how you look at it.  On my way out from some seminars in the afternoon, I realized that the sun was out and it was warm.  Students had set up volley ball nets and were throwing f risbees .  There was music blaring and everyone was in shorts.  It was amazing the difference from the cold morning to the springy afternoon.  I absolutely loved it. Well I had to take advantage of the beautiful weather so I planned on running a 'shorty' 9 mile loop around the Mount Doug Gutbuster course + another quarter lap.  It had been a few days since I have ran due to my intense schedule.  I was amazed, it was as if the entire mountain sprang to life.  The wild flowers were bloomi

I needed to write about something other than my studies today, and so I decided to finally start a post on my postless running blog.  This will be a short post to kick-off my running blog, and will only discuss a brief reason or two with more to come on this subject in the future (I am writing this post instead of an important paper that is quickly nearing its dead line).   Running and I sort of found each other.  I can't think of the exact moment that I wanted to start running.  One thing I can say for certain is I knew that when I began to run there would be two important aspects that would dictate what kind of runner I  would be.   First off, I knew I would prefer trail running.  I have always been an obsessed outdoors man and have had a deep love and respect for the wild places of this marvelous planet.  I am a very solitary border line-hermit when it comes to many things.  The solitude offered by trail running was very enticing.  I love adventure and challenge.  I think that r