Inside the Nike Free

I was cleaning out my room here in Afghanistan getting ready to head back to the states and I found some old Nike Free running shoes that I wore when the Army banned VFFs. I no longer use them since I bought some Merrel Trail Gloves so I decided to cut them in half and take some photos. I did cut away at the heel when I was wearing them to make them more zero-drop.

Update On My Marathon Training Progress...

Or should I say my lack of training progress. Since February 19 (my last post where I said I registered for the North Shore Marathon ) I have been attempting to find time to get out there and run, or at the very least do some sort of cardio exercise.

Over the last 22 days I have accumulated 50 minutes on the treadmill, 25 minutes actual running, 10 minutes rowing, 10 minutes spin bike. That leaves me with 34 days until the marathon. But it has not been all slacking off.

We are in the midst of switching out units so we can go home after our year deployment. Between the paperwork, base security, missions/patrols, and flying all over the place to do customs inspections there really has not been alot of down time. On our patrols we tend to do alot of walking with all of our gear (around 75lbs) so I have that in my favor.

I am by no means out of shape, but I am not on the same level of running as I was before I deployed when I was running twice a day. and able to turn out 6:30 miles with ease. I know that I can run the marathon in my current fitness level and I do not have any high goals. I just want to finish it, and hopefully in under 4 hours. I am going to have some fun on this marathon. I am bringing my Flip HD video camera along for the run and try and catch some views for everyone as I run.

I think I should call this my "un-training for a marathon" adventure.

Its Been So Long, I Forgot My Password

Not myself, but good representation of my pain

That's right, I forgot my password to long and write this blog post. It has been awhile, over 2 months now, but with just about a month left on this deployment I can't wait to get back to the states and start running/posting again.

If you read my last blog post I mentioned running in the Remembrance 5K. Well, things don't always work out the way you want them too, and mission comes first so I was unable to participate. Part of getting ready to go back home means packing up everything we took out here and I was volunteered to go around to all of the COPs and FOBs to check everyone's gear and containers to make sure they were good to ship back. So, I missed the run. I did however get the t-shirt anyways.

But enough of the past, lets look towards the future. I leave Hawaii in July to go to my next duty station and it just so happens that the other marathon held on the island of Oahu (there is only two) is on April 15th. The North Shore Marathon starts in Haleiwa and ends up running all the way out past Dillingham Airport and then you run along the ocean, it is only limited to 1000 participants.

I already registered for it and its time to start somewhat training for it. I do tend to have a bad habit of not preparing for races. I just like to run them spur of the moment. It works out for me because I am not a PR runner. I just enjoy running and the environment surrounding the event. This one will be the same because I am way out of shape to be running a marathon. Things have yet to slow down out here but I will try and post up my lack of training to not prepare for the marathon.

Altra Instinct

I will however be running in shoes. I know my feet are in way less condition then they were when I ran the Honolulu Marathon in a mix of barefoot and my five fingers and I got a stress fracture then so who knows what would happen.

So any recommendations on barefoot shoes with zero drop and some cushion? (I can't believe I just said that- don't shoot me as I believe that barefoot shoes are politically correct now, I am not sure been out of the game for a while) I have been looking at the Altra Instinct to run in, anyone have any experiences with them?

Task Force Bronco Remembrance 5k

While I was home on leave I ran in the Love Your Body 5k and while I was not trying for a personal record pace, being only my 3^rd 5k I have ever ran, I was a little disappointed with my time and said I was going to really train for a 5k time. Well I have been given both a chance and an opportunity to do that.

The chance, train for a decent 5k time (I would like to be sub 20 minutes). The opportunity, represent the fallen soldiers of our brigade and just recently 2 soldiers who were killed from my company.

The Task Force Bronco Remembrance 5k is going to be held at the end of January and I have been given the opportunity to fly there and participate in the run. The run is in honor of the fallen soldiers of our brigade that we have lost during this deployment. The proceeds and donations from the race will go to the memorial at Schofield Barracks, our home station.

This gives me about 5 weeks to train and prepare for the 5k. This is the first race I have ever trained for and I am pretty much going to wing the training as best as I can around our patrols and other daily activities.

I am still following the Maffetone Method of building an aerobic base and I am planning to incorporate a little speed work by running the hill that our combat outpost (COP) is built on once a week. If you have any training tips feel free to share them. Like I said, I have never trained for a time, I always just ran for the run.

The route is going to be flat as we will be running around the airfield where our brigade headquarters is located. I know I will see an improved time since my last 5k because the last one was very hilly. While I still do not expect to post an amazing time, just given the opportunity to run a 5k to help build a memorial to remember the soldiers we have lost here is all that I can ask for.

Challenge Accepted

A few days ago my friend Christian, The Maple Grove Barefoot Guy, wrote a post talking about the latest rage brought upon us by Chris McDougall in this article called a 100-Up. At the end of his post, he instead proposes a different method to improve your barefoot running called the 100-Squat Challenge. Now who am I to pass up on a challenge like that?

So here it is MGBG....

You Expect Me To Pay To Run?

Manchester Road Race, The Dipsea Race, New York Marathon, Western States 100, Army 10 Miler, think of any of your local races in your hometown. What do they all have in common? Masses of people willing to spend money on something as simple and easy as walking out of your front door and moving your own two feet. 

A common site on race day

What is it that drives people to spend their hard earned money to run in race? Is it the desire to compete competitively? Do they strive to see how fast they can run? The t-shirts? Do they enjoy being around like minded people? To show off their costume? Do they enjoy the spirit of the race? Is it instilled in our genetics, our human nature to collect in a certain area and run? Could it be that we a part of us misses the true spirit of running, where back in the days when we massed together to run down our food as a group. 

The choice to pay to run is different for every person. I know for myself I enjoy many aspects of races. Sometimes I like to see how much my physical abilities have improved and test the limits of myself and run for a time. Sometimes I choose to hand over my money and pay to run to support a charity or good cause. Sometimes I just enjoy being around like minded individuals. 

Crowds cheering you on in a moment of pain and agony

There is just something about being around a bunch of people doing the same activity you are with numerous numbers of people volunteering their time to be there to support the race whether it is in the form handing you water or cheering you along a tough part of a course. If you have never participated in a race, then you are missing out on a huge part of why we choose to run and I strongly suggest that you get out there and take part in a race whether it is a 5k or a marathon.

Yet, it is a strange idea to pay to do something that you can do for free, but yet so many of us continue to hand over our money.

So, why do you choose to pay for a run, or participate in any activity for that matter? Share with us here or on my Facebook Page