The Brooks Launch really does rock

John reviewed the Brooks Launch recently. Before the Portland marathon I posted that I selected and why (John has a much more succinct review). It’s the first time I’ve opted to run in Brooks, and I wore the Launch for the Portland marathon as well and still have the same positive opinion as when I tried them on at the store.

Weak or in tune with my body

I wrote a few weeks about trying some new shoes out and specifically about running the Elixir instead of the Precision. One area of my foot that bothered me towards the end of my CIM training in 2008 was my toes. Specifically the joint of the toe which would get tight where I couldn’t really bend the toe down on it’s own and pulling it up would hurt. I haven’t had that issue with the Elixir and last week on my trip to Berkeley I decided to run in my Precision again and the felt a little discomfort again. I’ve realized and been told I have some weakness in my toes/foot and need to perform the towel exercises (an example) but what was up with the show change bringing it on. I then went back to my CIM race when I started wearing the Nike Lunar Trainer and when we arrived in Sacramento my toe joint hurt a lot.

Both the Nike Lunar Trainer and Mizuno Precision are very flexible, they pretty much bend with your foot. What that has meant is that when walking or running my foot and toes are flexing more than they really are capable of right now and that seems to be the reason for the soreness and tightness. The flexibility does mean I can get better push off but for now I have some work to do before the Precisions can be used for anything longer than 10 miles.

I was talking to somebody about this at the Rogue Equipment store over the weekend and it was one of those moments where I thought … really, I’m so weak where I can’t handle a small difference in the shoes because of my toes! Then somebody else said runners are just more in tune with their body

Get ‘em while they last – Nike Air Zoom Hayward 3

I was at the Rogue Equipment store today, realized my mileage on my shoes was getting up there and Josh mentioned that the Nike Air Zoom Hayward 3 isn’t being made anymore. These are the very cool looking shoes that are neutral that you’ll see people walking around with. The Rogue Equipment store has some still in stock. I have the yellow ones but think I might need to pick up the gray ones … they fit in a better with everyday clothing.