Picking up the running ...

A few days after my last post I broke down and got some more running shoes. I should've done it sooner. There are a lot of hills in our neighborhood and running shoes don't last as long on a big guy like myself. Imagine a semi having to go up and down mountains constantly -- the tires are going to wear down as are the brakes. Going down one hill near my house in early July I found myself looking for the sandy pit off to the side for an emergency stop.

While visiting my in-laws in Alabama, I looked into getting the Nike shoes that sync up with your iPod and monitor your progress. I've never spent more than $40-$50 on a pair of running shoes and didn't like what I saw in these things climbing to $80, $90, and more than $100. I finally saw a pair that had been marked down to $50, presumably because they weren't that great looking. Being a dude, I didn't care. The idea is I'm going to be running in these things, not modeling on the catwalk ... on the catwalk, hey ... doin' my little walk on the catwalk ...

Well, I'm hooked. I was worried the technology would be cool but the shoes would hobble me like an arthritic Budweiser horse, but that's not the case. Yes, I'm giving them a thumbs up. Just wanted to give my endorsement for those crazy kids at Nike and help them get their little business off the ground.

Last month, I set a goal for myself of running 60 miles. You gazelles out there do that in a week. For Clydesdales such as myself it's quite the undertaking. Well, not only did I make the goal but I started on the 6th and finished on the 30th. I love how you can track your progress and goals online. Your results from your latest run(s) are instantly sent to Nike Plus when you hook up your iPod as well.

Goals are to use the training program to get my 10K time under an hour. I'm hovering a few minutes above that right now. Soon hopefully I can go from being a semi to at least a moving van or something.