New Horses in the Stable

Highway robbery!

When I played hockey, I loved nothing more than getting new equipment. My favorite, my baby, was getting a new glove. I used to play goalie and I relished stretching out across the ice to snag shots out of the air and commit a robbery with every save. I honed my skills in our dark, unfinished basement where I’d relentlessly hit tennis balls against the wall and do my best impression of Patrick Roy. I won a lot of Stanley Cups down there. When I took a year off of school between high school and college to play up in Connecticut, my coach, who was not one to sugarcoat, told me, “You’re a lousy skater, but you do have a great glove hand.”

I still remember a Christmas morning when our family room had turned into a wasteland of opened presents and wrapping paper. I sat there exhausted, surveying my haul (I'm an only child). And just when I thought another Christmas morning had come and gone, my parents pulled out one last box. The old Red Rider BB Gun behind the cabinet act. I tore open the box so fast that I didn’t notice my parents staring eagerly at me. I pulled out a pristine, black Vaughn glove. It creaked like an old ship when I opened and shut it, still straining against its own tautness. It still smelled like leather and not the unmistakable cologne of sweat brewing in a zipped up hockey bag. It was a thing of beauty.

The newest addition to the stable.

So, what, you may be asking, does this have to do with running? Well, I still channel that younger version of myself whenever there's a package on our door step. The anticipation grows the moment I hit "submit." I track it online and race home from work. I head straight for the kitchen and a pair of scissors to slice open the box...and pull out a brand new pair of running shoes. Miles of possibilities are etched into those pristine treads, and oh, that new shoe smell.

This time, it's the Asics Gel DS Sky 2. Oh, how I've coveted these shoes. Finally, distance running shoes with some color, with some swagger!

I hesitated to pull the trigger on this model because I continued to make my way through the various incarnations of the Asics DS Trainer family. But my last pair, well, they just seemed incredibly wide. I remember taking them out for the first time and thinking that I had a pair of bright red clown shoes on. I wear a size 14, so it's not a stretch.

But the DS Skies, according to Running Warehouse, are the ancestors of the DS Trainer 15s, a much narrower shoe. Don't you love that shoes have genealogy now? And the thing is, they were right. I don't have to cinch up the laces on these babies like I'm starting a lawn mower every time.

And after slipping them on, I was like Cinderella headed for the ball...or out for a run. Everything just felt right. That planned easy pace suddenly slipped into a tempo run. No matter how much I tried to hold back, I just wanted to run fast in my new shoes.

In fact, I love them so much that I already bought a second pair. In orange. Don't want my horses to be lonely in the stable.

Flashy Shoes: Not Just For Sprinters Anymore

Women and shoes. That’s the stereotype, right? But I haven’t met a runner yet who doesn’t share some sort of infatuation for their running shoes…myself included. I once wore the pair of shoes I qualified for Boston in to Boston just to generate some good shoe karma. I’ve written extensively before on my attachment to my shoes.

My training partner cozies up to his new
pair of Brooks.

Some people have pics of their kids on their cell phones…I have shots of my Asics. One last way to memorialize them before they head off to that great garbage bin in the sky, right? Right?

I’ve always wondered though why the track shoes get to be so flashy. Why don’t the distance shoes ever get stitched with bold colors? Is it because we’re not as cocky? Do we not swagger? Is there not enough bad-assery in covering courses that rise and fall, that take more than one minute to complete? Since when did going anywhere from 5K to 26.2 become boring enough that we don’t deserve a flair when we lace up?

Well, people, our time has come. Feast your eyes on these:

These shoes are walking sex. Or rather, “running sex.”

I can’t wait to lace these babies up and take them out for their first spin. I wouldn’t be surprised to turn around and see scorch marks on the pavement.

Do you have the same love affair with your running shoes?

Magic Shoes

Jack had his magic beans.  Tomorrow, I shall have my magic shoes.

In my OCD world, there's always room for more superstitions.  Although "superstitions" can be such an ugly word.  I prefer the term "routine."  Yesterday, I watched a quick video on the pre-race track workout that Galen Rupp does before his next 5,000m race.  I made a couple quick mental notes about his dynamic warmup routine, incorporated them into my own this afternoon, and lo and behold, I believed I was more limber than ever before.  I cranked out my 5x1,000m workout with, I wouldn't say ease, but with a renewed freshness.

When relaying this to my wife, she asked, "Do you think it's real or just a psychological thing?"

"It worked, so I don't care what it was."

When approaching speed workouts, I have what I like to call my "fast clothes."  It's usually a newer singlet or pair of shorts that have earned their way up the ranks by either successful workouts or breakout PRs in races.  It's a mindset (or illness, what can I say).  And this goes right down to the shoes I lace up.  For speed workouts, for races, there is always a varsity pair, and God I hate giving them up when they've worn their course.

Reading Kenny Moore's book, "Bowerman and The Men of Oregon," there's a chapter that discusses Bowerman's magic shoes.  He used to build custom racers specific to each of his athletes, but he'd only let them out of the box on race days.  For the runners, the shoes took on a mythical status.  As if each time the box opened and they slid their feet into the magic shoes, the race was on.

I've certainly had my share of "starter" shoes, the ones that came out on race day, tapped the night before by slipping the timing chip through the laces.  You know, give them time to mentally prepare for the task at end the next morning. 

When I went to Boston, I wore the shoes I had qualified in on the plane and around town, and let them pass on their good karma to the shoes I'd be racing in (holders of 5K and half marathon PRs).  

And, it is with great anticipation that I wait for the UPS man to come tomorrow to bring me my next pair.  But these are special.  For months, my dad and I have been talking about the benefits of racing in flats or trainers.  In fact, the speed development podcasts I worked from this summer began with the elites and their coaches talking about doing these workouts in "racing flats."  I didn't have those.  For me, my old Asics would have to do.

Then last month, my wife and I found ourselves in a Pacers, perusing for new gear, when I decided it was time to find out what was so great about these shoes.  The saleswoman was amazing.  She sat with me, explained why I should be racing and doing my speed workouts in them, and what shoe I should be wearing.  I listened.  I took it in.  It all made sense.  But I wasn't converted...until I slipped on a pair.  It was like an extension of my foot.  I took 'em for a quick loop around the block, already taxed from a 12 miler that morning, but felt  a light bounce in my legs.  Quelle difference!

And so, on a particularly stressful day at work last week, I pulled the trigger on the shoes.  I am now a proud owner of the Asics DS Trainer 15 (the white/black/lime coloring), and I'm in love.

I have a tempo run scheduled for Wednesday afternoon and can't wait to take 'em out for a spin to see what these magic shoes are all about.

Do you have a magic pair of shoes?  Or any other must-have piece of gear that puts in you the fast lane?