Thursday, July 21, 2011

Hello Summer!

Greetings Peeps!

I heart summer.  Every single little thing about it, too.  I love the heat.  I love the Northern Ontario humidity.  I love the cool lightning storms during the heat waves.  I love being on holidays.  I love the lake and visiting my family.  And of course I love summer running!

This will be a quick post as I'm in between swims.  Nothing beats this crazy 40 plus degree heat like some jumps off the dock!

First.  Decided to stop wondering about all this barefoot brouhaha and give it a try myself.  And then decided I am not hardcore enough to do the total barefoot thing (and my feet are ugly enough from running) and purchased a pair of Saucony Hattori minimalist trainers.  This is them...

I started by running my summer training and personal training in them.  And guess what?  Love.  They felt great!  So, I took it one barefoot step further and just went for a jog.  A quick 33 minute affair that included 10 repeats on Christie's hill.  I decided this was a good way to experiment since the hill is steep and I am mainly on my toes for this anyhow.  The outcome? My  left achilles and knees are slightly sore, but other than that, a good thing...or so I think.  I had to work really, really hard to stay off my heels, especially on the downhills. 

Anyhow- the long and the short of it is that I think these are GREAT, although I'm not quite ready for a 26.2 in them yet and likely never will be!  But they will be fun for shorter runs.  Want some?  Go see Nolan and the gang and the Tech Shop in Calgary.  They will put you in the right pair!   

Second.  Did I mention I love summer?  This is why:

Summer training, lake style.  What I see while working out at my cottage.  Or camp, in Kenora speak.

Broke out the TRX and hung from our crooked tree.  Worked beautifully.  Plus got to jump in between sets.

Anyone want to come over for a workout?  We could even swim for intervals!

Third.  A huge shout out to KayZ (like JayZ but she's way cooler, trust me) for her third place finish in the Stampede Road Race 10k.  You. Are. Awesome!  And you run like the wind!  I see some very speedy fall training runs in our future!

Fourth.  I get to meet Barry the Baby in just 22 short days.  At least if I have my say and mother nature cooperates.  I'm going to be an ant!  I mean an aunt!  I wonder if it's too early to purchase some new runners for the little one...

Happy summer everyone!  Enjoy!