New Gear

Many articles have been written on the virtues of running as an inexpensive sport. "All you need is a pair of shoes and some will." The extension of those articles is always to satire the geared-out runner. The copy is usually pretty comical because it is usually very close to the mark. Without fail, at least 2-3 times per run, I will come across someone who has spent more on what adorns them for their run than I have for my car. The sellers of said gear promise huge returns. Braces that keep you from injury, clothes that keep you warm in the winter and cold in the summer (all while looking fabulous), gadgets to track your every step, waterbelts to hold a camel's hump worth of fluids, your wallet, carbs, and a mobile hospital, iPods and accessories to keep your mind on everything but running, headgear, the WORKS.
Personally, I have always been resistant to becoming a cyborg while I run. Mainly for financial reasons but, more importantly, because I do actually enjoy running. I enjoy listening to things that are happening around me. I enjoy watching things go by. Watching people interact around me. Watching animals go about their business. I tried to run with headphones once. My run actually did go at a little faster pace. But I certainly got no particular enjoyment from the run. And I probably missed a slew of fascinating things that happened in the real world around me!
I am not, however, immune to the hype. Saturday was my first day with a new pair of running shoes. I paid $115 for them. They retail for $135. They boast an august nomenclature: Asics Gel Kayano XIV. At this point, you are undoubtedly asking what in the world could be so special about these shoes that could make them cost that much. My answer is that I'm not entirely sure. What I do know is that my legs felt awesome after both my Saturday and Sunday runs. My feet didn't have blisters and my toes were pointing forward. Could this have been the case if I had just bought new pair of the current shoes I had worn out (for about $80-$85)? Maybe so. Who knows? But I will give in to the hype and continue to wear these expensive shoes until, in my mind, they disappoint me for some reason.

But the madness doesn't stop there. Anyone who knows me on a personal level knows that I obsess about running. Hell, I even have a blog about it that, most likely, no one actually reads! Part of the obsession is the numbers game. Part of the fun of running for me is trying to manage the intricate balancing act of obsessing about paces, mileage, duration, hydration, nutrition, etc, etc, etc, ad nauseam, and just letting everything go and enjoying the primal side of the act itself. When I flounder too far to the former side, I do things like buying this. The Garmin ForeRunner 405 is a watch that secretly houses some insanely advanced computing. To make a long story short, I hit start when I begin my run and stop when I finish my run and I'm rewarded with a cornucopia of information. Do I need all of this information? No. Have people run for millennia without this sort of feedback? Yes. But damned if it isn't cool. Since what adrons my wrist is no bigger than a typical watch, I justify it in my mind. I can completely forget about it while I'm running... And then allow the obsessing to commence when I get back to my computer. A taste of the multitude of information I get from my watch looks like this:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/68045
I hope to post these on my blog whenever I have a particularly interesting run (be it particularly good or particularly bad). I think it will really help to bring to light what it is I actually do - you know, for those of you who aren't along with me while I'm actually doing it. Check it out, it's really pretty neat.
This post has gotten a little long, so I'll go for now, but there will be plenty more where that came from.