New shoes and training for an endurane test!

      Hey everybody, hope you are doing alright and having fun.  So I just wanted to update the blog with some news related to my running.  The first bit of news, as you may have guessed from the headline, is that I FINALLY HAVE NEW SHOES!

 

     These are the new kicks that I was able to get with some help from Mom.  (thanks Mom!)  They are Pearl Izumi M2s, and so far I am liking them.  I don't feel comfortable really endorsing them yet, as I've only sunk 21 or so miles into them, but they work.  They're also my first real pair of trail shoes (that I can also use for the road), and believe me, on some of the more technical terrain, that tread beats the snot out of the road shoes I was trying to use earlier.  Also, and I promise to make this the last shoe-related detail, THEY HAVE ORANGE HIGHLIGHTS!  (Orange is a underrated color).

      The second bit of news is something that I have been training for.  On November 14th, there is a run in my area called Run Your Can Off.  It's held at Gilbrook Natural Area, and for those of you who are Saint Mike's connections of min, that might ring a bell because it's basically that stretch of woods behind the townhouses.  The way this run works is that instead of a standard race fee, you donate canned food - however much should depend on the distance you run - in order to help out the local food shelf.  (Which is freaking awesome!)  The course is a 1.25 mile lap.  And they basically have the trail system out there for six hours.  

     Now, you don't have to run the entire six hours if you don't want to.  But because I have no concept of self-restraint and I needed a challenge, I have decided that I am going to run the entire six hour length of the event.  Doing this, I anticipate that I will not only run longer than a marathon distance, but also potentially longer than 50K (or 31 miles for those of you who are metric-challenged).  The long and the short of it is that either way, that's longer than I've ever run in one sitting to date.  And that is why I have begun training pretty hard.  So if I mention in some future posts something about 20+ mile long runs or the like, you'll know why.  I have to say that I'm both kind of excited and kind of terrified that I'm doing this - which is a good feeling!

     In any case, that's about all I have right now.  Until next time, I gotta run!