Good Saturday Run

It's been a long time since I last posted -- since I first got to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Running in West Africa -- Burkina Faso and Ghana -- was a welcome change from running in Nairobi. Even though Ouaga is the capital city of Burkina Faso, it's not nearly as large as Nairobi and there is not nearly as much traffic. So, the air was cleaner. I did have to watch out for hundreds of motor scooters and bicycles (thousands as work traffic picks up later in the morning). It turned out that the safest place to run was in the middle of the road rather than on the side.

Much of my running in both Ouaga and Ghana was on dirt roads. My shoes got filthy!! After we got home, I left my running shoes outside, next to our door, as usual. The dear lady who works for us here commented that I must have run somewhere besides Nairobi. Curious, I asked her why. "That's not dirt from here," she said. She was right, but how did she know?

This morning's run was a good one. It wasn't long -- none of my runs these days are long -- but it was a good 3.9 miles. The first part felt especially good. Maybe I'll get my endurance back some day. The weather was great -- I left before sunrise in the pre-dawn light -- the temperature was 59° and the humidity was a comfortable 59%. I almost decided not to run because I didn't get enough sleep last night. But, I'm really glad I went.

I hope your weekend run(s) is as satisfying.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

A Cure for Smelly Shoes

I have an incredible gift! No, it's not the speed to run faster than (or anywhere near as fast) as a speeding bullet; it's not the endurance to run long distances and finish wanting more; it's not even something as exciting or desirable as the gift to make money hand over fist. No, I am an effective heating machine -- I have the gift of sweat! Yes, I know, GROSS! I can head out for a 3-5 mile run when the temperature is 51°, wearing shorts and a short-sleeved shirt and come back looking like I have stood under a waterfall for the past 25-50 minutes. One good friend saw me after a run one day and commented, "You sure do have an efficient internal heater!"

One downside of that "gift" is that my shoes are wet at the end of a run. Wet shoes lead to stinky shoes and that always happened. I tried Lysol spray; I tried Fabreeze spray; I tried newspapers stuck in the shoes; I kept them outside at all times; and nothing helped. Then, one day I listened to Ashland Dave's podcast on StuffItts. He said they had worked for him -- you know, the kind of worked like playing country music backwards -- your wife comes back, you get your pickup back, the bank doesn't foreclose on your home, your dog becomes your best friend again -- that kind of worked. So, I decided to try them. I went to the StuffItts' web site and ordered 4 pair of "Speed Demon Black with Neon Yellow Strap" StuffItts. At the time, they were having a closeout on an older model -- the inserts are not replaceable but they were only $9.95 each.

I live in Kenya, so I had the StuffItts sent to my daughter who gave them to someone else who was coming to Kenya for a meeting. Granted, the StuffItts caused quite the stir -- "What in the world...?" When I finally got them, I put them to immediate use. What a difference!! ... I got my pickup back, my dog liked me ... oh, wait, that's the country song! Almost immediately, my running shoes quit smelling like something that had stayed out of the refrigerator for way too long. Now, I have to tell you, they don't destink my shoes to the point where I want to drape them around my neck but I no longer pass out when I get within 20 yards of them and I no longer have to defumigate my suitcase when I travel. They are great and I would heartily recommend them to anyone who has sweaty feet (no, don't get anything for telling you that ... though, if StuffItts wants to compensate me for the endorsement, I wouldn't refuse -- LOL). I keep a pair in my morning running shoes (the worst offenders), a pair in my afternoon walking shoes, and another pair rotates among the shoes I wear for work -- one pair is still in reserve.

Funny thing. The other day, after our afternoon 3+ mile walk, I sat down to take off my shoes and insert my StuffItts and had this overwhelming flashback to my childhood. Do you ever hear or smell something that transports you to another time and place? Well, all of a sudden I had the sensation of opening a fresh bag of cedar shavings to put in my hamster cage. Now that's a great smell and that's what the StuffItts smelled like (and no, I wasn't holding them up to my nose), even after living inside my shoes for 6 months.

Running? Oh, yes, I still do that. This morning, my body did not want to go but my mind overruled for once. It wasn't a pretty sight but I managed a slow 4.4 miler. It was really slow and it didn't really wake me up and I'm stiff all over -- but it was a run and for that I'm extremely grateful.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

What Do Running Shoes Actually Do?

In his blog post, Looking at Pronation, Cushioning, Motion Control and Barefoot Running, Steve Magness challenges some strongly-rooted assumptions about the benefits of running shoes and puts forth his opinion that the current categories used for running shoes -- cushioning, neutral, stability, and motion control -- should be rethought and replaced based on what really happens in a runner's stride.

Magness surveys several research studies that tried to look at the real relationship between impact forces, shoe correction, and injuries. The thing that struck me the most was Magness' contention that shoes, or at least the wrong shoes, interfere with the body's natural adaptation to forces.

The human body is an incredible organism. Judaism and Christianity have long acknowledged that fact. The writer of Psalms said: ...I am fearfully and wonderfully made... (Psalm 139:14, NIV)

Science agrees and Magness affirms that viewpoint:

we underestimate the human body! It’s an amazing thing, and we never give it the credit it deserves. The body adapts to the surface that it’s going to strike, if you give it a chance. The body adapts to both shoe and surface adjusting impact forces via changes joint stiffness, the way the foot strikes, and a concept called muscle tuning.

My take-away from the article? For now, at least, I have no intention of giving up my running shoes. Though I love going barefoot*, I've worn shoes while walking and running for 55+ years and suspect that my feet have adapted, for better or for worse. Besides, they are definitely not tough enough for Nairobi roads. However, I think I'll work on mimicking the style of running that the body seems to naturally use when running barefoot -- attempting to ensure footstrike beneath my body's center of gravity rather than out in front, shortening my stride length, and increasing my turnover rate.

Provocative article. What do you think? Would a change in your stride or you shoes make a difference in your running?

Run well, y'all,
Bob

*...barefoot... -- I like the dress code for my current office. Since I office in my house, I can and do go barefoot a lot. It's great. TCK's (third culture kids) in Africa are notorious for going barefoot whenever and wherever possible -- I'm not one but in that respect, I'd make a great TCK! :-D

Cost of Running: Shoes

the Ringmaster, who blogs at Mile by Mile, posted an interesting blog the other day. She talked about the shoes she had used during 2009 and had figured out her cost per mile for shoes. As much as I like numbers, that is one calculation I hadn't done.

So, I went back and ran the numbers for all the shoes for which I've tracked miles over the last 3+ years. Interesting. In that time I've run in and retired 6 pair of running shoes. I currently have 2 active pair. My average cost per mile was $0.134 per mile. Some other stats that caught my attention:

Most expensive: Brooks Adrenaline GTS7 (2007)

$99.75, 454 miles - $0.22/mi

Least expensive: Etonic Jepara SC 1 (2008)

$72.00, 714.4 miles - $0.10/mi

Longest lasting: Etonic Jepara SC 2 (2008)

$93.00, 817.7 miles - $0.11/mi

During 2009, I used 4 pair of running shoes. One pair, Brooks Adrenaline ASR, was a pair that I bought at the end of 2005 for cold, wet runs. When Richmond, VA had 9+ inches of snow in March 2009, I dug out these shoes for 2 or 3 runs to keep my feet as warm and dry as possible. I would not have wanted to run on dry pavement or for very far with those shoes as they were worn out -- but, they kept me drier than other shoes would have done.

I wore out a pair of Etonic Jepara SC 2's that I had started wearing at the end of Oct 2008. I used those until June 2009 and had 817.7 miles on them. Then I started using a pair of Etonic Jepara SC 1's. When the rainy season started in Kenya in October, the SC 1's became my mud-run shoes and I added in a pair of Etonic Jepara SC 2's for drier runs. The SC 1's now have 504.6 miles and the SC 2's have a measly 62 miles.

Enough stats for now.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

Stinky Shoes

Ashland Dave talked about stinky shoes in his podcast of 26 September 2009 -- it was somewhere in the first 15 minutes of the podcast:

Running in the Center of the Universe

Stinky shoes are a real problem for me. I am a profuse sweater, so my shoes are always pretty soggy when I finish a run. They are relegated to a place on the porch when I finish running. They do all right until...

...until I run in the rain. For some reason, that seems to push them over the edge. Even though I take out the insoles and stuff the shoes with newspaper to get them to dry, getting them soaked that way seems to bring out the smell and make it permanent. I can wash them and, while it helps, they still stink. I've tried to spray them with Fabreeze and that works until I run again.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Until I find a solution, though, Shoes, you stay outside!

Run well, y'all,
Bob

TIART -- Ode to My Running Shoes

I'm running the Ashland (VA) 10K Railroad Run this weekend. Should be fun -- relatively flat course, limited to 750 runners/walkers, and I'm running with my pastor who wants to break 50:00 and set a PR. It's called the Railroad Run because most of the race is run next to the tracks that run through town -- last year at least 2 trains went through while we were running.

Read the longer post/review here. The Runners Lounge's Take It and Run Thursday topic is our running shoes -- why do we like them, describing them using the same number of words as the dollars we used to buy them -- that gives me 71.95 words, plus shipping.

Etonic Jepara SC -- they were relatively inexpensive online; they have great cushioning in both the heel and the forefoot; unlike every other brand I've tried (Brooks and New Balance), I can get 700 miles out of a single pair; and they fit, even my wide feet.

The updated version for 2008, Jepara 2 SC, are not as well cushioned and they are narrower in the toe box. Bring back the old ones!

Seventy-two words.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

My Review of Etonic Jepara Running Shoes (For Men)

A couple of years ago, one of the Richmond running stores, Runner Bill's Sports, recommended I try the Etonic Jepara SC. At that time, I had used about 3 pair of Brooks Adrenaline ASR's and was going through them very quickly (250-300 miles). They always felt great for the first few miles but then the cushioning compacted or something and they felt hard and stiff. I found that the Jepara SC was heavier but had GREAT cushioning in both the heel and forefoot. Over the next couple of years, I used 4 pair and got 700+ miles out of them. Then, Etonic changed the shoe and replaced the Jepara SC with the Jepara 2 SC. Bad decision. The new shoe feels longer, stiffer, and seems to have less cushioning. But, the original Jepara SC seemed not to be available anywhere in my size. Over Christmas, however, I looked again and found them in my size at Sierra Trading Post for about $56.00 -- I snatched up 2 pair. I would buy more but am concerned that they would deteriorate some just sitting on the shelf. Sierra Trading Post asked me to write a review (as I'm sure they ask all their customers) and I did. That review is below with some slight editing. By the way, my one purchasing experience with Sierra Trading was an excellent experience -- they delivered exactly what I ordered and did so on time and with no hassle. They even included a return shipping label just in case:

Originally submitted at Sierra Trading Post

Closeouts . Rated best shoe for motion stabilizing by the Running Network, Etonic's Jepara running shoe helps keep the foot on a neutral plane while maintaining ample cushioning and breathability as you transition from heel strike to toe off. Perfect for mild over-pronators Microfiber and air...

Etonic Jepara Running Shoes (For Men)

Etonic Jepara SC (NOT J2SC)

By AllenKenya from Richmond, VA on 1/6/2009

 

4out of 5

Sizing: Feels half size too small

Width: Feels true to width

Pros: Absorbs Shock, Stable, Comfortable, Durable

Cons: Need better arch support, Slightly heavy

Best Uses: Endurance Training, Pavement, Running

Describe Yourself: Competitive Athlete (Well...not exactly but the next choice down was casual/recreational runner -- I'm somewhere in between -- maybe a competitive running enthusiast.)

Arch Type: Low Arch

I buy a full size longer and 1 width narrower than my street shoes (my street shoes are Rockport ProWalkers and are 11EE; I buy Jepara SC in 12D). Great cushioning in heel and forefoot. Durable -- I get 700 miles out of these versus 300-400 out of other brands, even though I'm at the break point between being a "normal" and "heavy" runner (180#). I have flat feet and think the Jepara SCs need a bit more arch support. The Jepara SC is far superior to the new Jepara 2 SC in both fit and comfort. A tad heavier than other shoes but cushioning and durability make it worth the weight.

Etonic Jepara SC (men's)

Tags: Picture of Product

(legalese)

6's and 7's

Miles, that is. Today, I passed 600 miles run YTD (603.2) and 700 miles on my shoes (702.2). In one of his posts, David H mentioned that he notices interesting number patterns -- All In a Row. I do, too, and hitting those two numbers on the same day was mildly entertaining.

Not to mention the fact that I'm pretty impressed that a pair of running shoes would actually last me 700 miles. That's the most I've gotten out of a pair in 5 years of running and keeping records. My last 3 pairs of shoes have been Etonic Jepara SC's and I'm sold. And, yes, of course Etonic has said they're discontinuing the Jepara SC and replacing it with an improved model. That probably means one that will cost more and won't last as long.

Run well, y'all,
Bob