March 2011 Summary

Runs - 26
Work Outs - 0
Injured - 0

The Bad:

Tired. I now have a new definition of what tired means. I thought I knew what I was getting into with raising a new born with regards to a lack of sleep but never did I think it would hit me this hard. For the record, our little one couldn't be any more of an angel. She eats great, sleeps great and is a chill baby. It's just the lack of consistent sleep that just wears you down over a 6 week period. Two to three hours here and there and before you know it's time to get up and go to work. Coffee has become a close friend of mine over the past month.

Cherry Creek State Park. I've made it a weekly goal to run at least once a week during my lunch break. Cherry Creek St. Park is in our backyard and I've come to dislike this place so much over the past month. The wind is always blowing hard and mix in the dusty aspect of the park and I feel like I'm driving thru an Indian Reservation in Oklahoma. I am holding out hope that spring brings on some nice color and a little wildlife to the area. And dusty prairie dogs don't count.

The Good:

Consistent Miles. As tough as it was at times, I've stayed damn consistent all month without my running getting in the way of family or work. I had a long trail run every weekend (capped at 3 hours regardless of how I was feeling) followed by a 10 to 14 miler the next day on the streets around the hood. During the middle of the week I mixed in some good speed work, tempo and plenty of conservatively paced miles. What I'm most proud of is I felt like I could have gone longer on a majority of my runs. A great sign for me as I feel extremely confident in my base and feel that I can step it up once summer comes around.

Being a dad. As of month end, it's been 6 wonderful weeks of seeing the little one grow in front of my own eyes. Loving every second!

Looking Forward:

April will be an interesting month. A few weeks at work will be straight hell as we wrap up our Budget for the next fiscal year. The wife gets back to work starting the last few weeks of the month. The in-laws move in for that time frame to help out with baby. Yeah things will be interesting come April. Just hoping I can maintain some decent running as the Collegiate Peaks 25 Miler is just around the corner.

My random thoughts on shoes:



For most of my running life, I've relied on two shoes to carry me around the streets and trails. The Mizuno Percision's and Elixer's. I've posted on this way long ago so won't rehash my love for either shoe.

Feeling that I needed something more specialized as my miles increased in the high country, I started running in La Sportiva Crosslites last year. I really do like the shoe but wanted to mix it up a bit so I've purchased a pair of the Saucony Peregrine's. The lightweight, minimal drop and lower to the ground heights really grabbed my attention. Have yet to run in these so can't comment on them.

What always grabs my attention with trail running shoes is their tread. The tread on most trail shoes just seems excessive to me and both shoes I mentioned are no exception. I run in the 101's a fair amount and the lack of tread on that shoe has never been an issue to me. Heck, the Elixer's have even less tread and they never seem to hinder me. Maybe it's just me but a glove like fit is so much more important to me then heavy duty traction nobs. Or is it knobs?

The T7's were a shoe I decided to try after Mizuno made some slight changes to the Percisions that I didn't care for. The T6's, now T7's, are really fun shoes to run in and outside of weight offer up the same heel and forefoot height compared to the Percisions. I honestly don't notice much difference between the T7s and Percisions.

The big difference I do notice is I beat these shoes up quickly. Must be my fat frame (6'3" 185lbs) or the rugged terrain I run on (Wash Park dirt path). Either way the life span of these shoes ain't long and I have a feeling this is the last times I invest in these shoes. I likely would have gone for something different had the T7's not offered up a new fun look. In a few months I'm sure I'll go back to my trusted Mizuno's or if I really enjoy the ride of the Peregrine's, I'll take the Kinvara for a few laps around the park.

Oh and if you were wondering, I do pretty much all my shopping at the runningwarehouse. Zero issues with them over 2 plus years of shopping.