St. George Half & Nike Frees'

Warren here. It’s been a little while since I’ve posted a review on this blog, but running season is back in full gear, so it’s time to get this blog going again.

This weekend was the St. George half marathon, one of my favorites. It’s held in January so it’s a little cold out, but the weather is usually pretty decent, and it’s a nice flat course. This year the course was a little different than in years past. They also changed it a couple of times in the last month or so because of flooding from a month ago. But the final course was pretty good. It started at the convention center in the south part of town, headed east toward river road, headed back through a neighborhood, then looped around a couple of times on the river trails, then back to the convention center. The trails down by the river are actually great to run on. It was also decent sized with about 2700 runners participating.

So the night before the race I was a little worried because I woke up in the middle of the night with a bad sore throat and a headache. I was worried because both Heather and Parker had a bad cold all week and I knew that the timing was going to be perfect for me to get it race day. But I woke up feeling good enough to go. So I got up and ready, out the door and headed for my pre-race meal of McDonalds oatmeal (which was actually pretty decent) and pancakes. I got there in plenty of time to eat, use the bathroom and enjoy the pre-race jitters for a little bit. I also made the decision to use my new Nike Frees’, which are a lot different than my previous Asics that I had been using for two years. I looked for Mason and Belinda, who were both running but couldn’t find anybody before the countdown began and off we went. The biggest battle I have is always with myself. My mind is definitely not my biggest cheerleader, and this time was no different. I started off thinking “here we go, this is a long way,” “ I hope my throat feels ok,”or “ did I eat enough?’ But after the first several miles I found that I actually felt pretty good and my energy level was keeping up. I was able to maintain my pace of between 7:30 and 7:45 pace without feeling like I was pushing too hard. I only had one bag of honey stingers but ended up eating only 2 or 3 pieces. By the last third I was telling myself “ I feel pretty good, let’s do this thang.” I charged through the finish line feeling pretty good. There were a ton of people at the finish line cheering everybody on which was great and they had a great food spread at the end. I finished with a time of 1:40:57, which was a personal best in a half marathon for me. I was pretty happy with the result so I went and got cleaned up and treated myself to a Five Guys double bacon burger. This is a great race, very well organized and a great participation rate. The city of St. George knows how to put on a great race. Also congrats to Mason and Belinda who both did awesome. The only thing I missed were my tag team cheering squad with their catchy signs, of Heather and Parker who couldn’t be there. There were missed but were happy to hear the results.

Now if you’re still reading, here is a quick review of my new Nike Free shoes. I decided to try these to see what this whole minimalist running shoe thing was all about, and I had also just finished the great book “Born to Run.” I had heard great things about the Nike Free so I decided on the Nike Free 7.0 v2 because it has a touch more support than the 5.0 or the 3.0 but is still flexible, then eventually working my way down to the 5 then a 3. It feels like a slipper when you first put it on because it is so flexible and light. It didn’t need any breaking in. I took it right out of the box and on a three mile run. It is definitely different than the traditional running shoe. For one it is so light, almost like it’s not there, and two you sure feel the road a lot more. I wouldn’t say you feel every little crack, but your feet are able to bend and flex more and you feel closer to the ground. They naturally help me to hit the ground with a more midfoot strike and not on the heel. I feel like my feet are doing more work, but that is a good thing. On the turns you do feel your feet do more work and not the shoe. With the 7.0s I haven’t really had to make a transition. These are the only shoes that I have worn since I got them a month ago, and my feet feel just fine. They are very breathable on top, and there is no real tongue, it’s all sewn together, and the few seams on the shoe are nice and tight so no rubbing. It fits nice and tight, but you do want to get almost a whole size bigger I found since they do run very small. It fits almost like a sock. It also has plenty of traction; I had no problems with slipping. Final verdict: I love these shoes. I won’t be going back to a traditional running shoe. Also as a plus, they come in really cool colors. I got the red and grey ones. I Love these bad boys.