New Kicks!

So, I headed over to A Snails Pace today in Laguna Hills, CA for some shoe advice and got all that I needed. Ended up test running in about 8 pairs with one of their staff members watching me closely. Turns out I run with the outside of my foot hitting the ground first which means I needed a shoe that gave me some additional inside support to level my platform. Glad I didn't buy another cheap-o brand shoe this time around.

Ended up buying the Mizuno Wave Inspire 2. I tried on some other shoes by New Balance, Nike, Asics and Saucony and these felt the best to me. I usually wear between a 11.5 and 12 depending on the shoe and he suggested the bigger of the two because of how much your feet swell while running. Can't wait to break them in and give them a good run tomorrow. Wearing them now around the house to help break them in a bit!

Off to the desert

Well, I am off to Ocotillo Wells, CA a desert playground for some fun with my friends and also do shoot a couple trucks for the mags. Should be a good time. Im excited to return and get fitted for some shoes so I can start running. Yes, I cant believe I said excited. I want to thank everyone who has been giving me great advice and encouragement, thank you!

I have realized one of my biggest struggles with keeping motivated and consistent is going to be the amount of travel I do for work. I am going to have to develop a good system for bringing my gear along with me and being sure to keep tracking progress.

Keeping a good log of the food I am eating I think will be helpful too. I plan on recording that here in my daily jargin.

Have a good next couple days I will be offline but will return shortly and hopefully with some pictures of me, my new shoes, what system I bought (nike+ipod or garmin) and some thoughts.

Nike + Ipod

So, after doing some research I think I have knocked my choices down to either the Nike+Ipod shoe combo or the Garmin Forerunner unit. Both seem to be great units with the Garmin being GPS and the Nike setup being a pedometer/accelerometer. Right now I am leaning towards the Nike setup because I need music while running, it will talk to me and tell me my run progress as I am running, Nike has setup an online community to track your progress daily online, works with iTunes, etc... Seems like a kickass little system. You dont need to buy the Nike shoes though you can just buy the Ipod Nano and the Nike+ transponder and strap it to any pair of shoes. I'll probably get the shoes for now and when I wear them out consider a different brand.

Well, Christmas is finally over and I am exhaust. 3 days of Christmas for me since my family decided to spread it all out this year. Hope anyone reading this had a good one!

The start of a new era

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

So you decided to come on by and visit my running blog did ya? Thanks! I bet you expected to see a lot more didn't ya? Well, that time will come. Since this is post numero uno I thought I would share with you why it's been created.

A good friend of mine ran his first marathon last year and I couldn't have been more proud of the guy. Not only is that quite a physical accomplishment, but it's also been a life changing experience. I have always been one of those people that loves achieving goals and decided when my friend took on and accomplished his, it was time for me to set out on my own adventure.

Running has never been one of my strong suits. In fact, I will be honest with you, I HATE TO RUN. I am more of a mountain bike fan. Towards the middle of summer I dropped a couple thousand dollars down on a great Specialized mtn bike that's been serving me well ever since. I took a nose dive around mid October and haven't really been on the bike since. Mostly due to the fact that my job can be crazy at times and I just haven't had the time.

Well, I spent some time with that friend of mine in December and we talked about the possibility of running a marathon together towards the end of 2007. At first I was like, no way I don't think I could do this but then I stopped and realized, yes I can.

Since then, he has sent me some great website links to start doing some research on training, dieting, shoes, clubs, etc... After the first of the year comes and goes I am going to start up the training process and plan on doing my best to login here and share with the world (or whomever really cares to read this blog) my progress. Why did I make a blog to talk about this nonsense? Mostly for me actually to track my progress online and be able to access that information worldwide because I do travel quite a bit for work.

If you are like me then you have a tough time staying motivated because you don't see instant results or even any positive results fast enough. So, if I can keep good track of what I am eating, how I am feeling, how far I run, how fast, how often and all that jazz maybe it'll encourage me to get my butt off the couch more often and get out there! Only time will tell.

I plan on leaving this blog public, hopefully the weirdos will stay away. If you read about me slackin' off please drop a response giving me a boost. Or, if you are a runner yourself and have some advice, drop a response PLEASE because I can use all the help I can get! Well, that's enough for post one, more to come :)