Gear Review: PureConnect 2 Guest Review at RunBlogger

When Pete over at RunBlogger asks you if you'd like to write a guest review, you don't typically say no. Well, maybe you do if you're like...Running Times, but for most of us, that's a pretty exciting opportunity. So click on over to my Brooks PureConnect2 review, and much thanks to Pete for the opportunity!

Gear Review: Faster than Forty

I first heard about Faster than Forty by Mark Gomes and Rick Miller through the LetsRun message boards. Gomes is the 2011 USATF Masters National 800m Champion, and had been brought up on the board once before, in a post about his "NO RUNNING" program that led him to a 4:38 mile at 41 years old. (Don't worry, Faster than Forty is not about the "NO RUNNING" regimen...that came later and is hinted at briefly in the epilogue, but that's it). I checked out the excerpt on their website and found myself intrigued. So, ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, here's the Faster than Forty review!

Gear Review: Brooks PureDrift

A few months ago, I was desperately searching for a new shoe. I had a stack of boxes of Brooks Launch sitting in the back of my closet, along with my emergency hand-crank flashlight and a few bottles of water in case the zombie apocalypse arrives, because, as we all know, the first rule of Zombieland is cardio (that's a YouTube link, so don't click it if you're somewhere where noise is bad). However, they were strictly for emergencies, like sore feet that required familiar shoes...or the zombie apocalypse. A friend of mine had just posted to Twitter that she had just run through her last pair of now-discontinued Nike Skylons, so I knew that, Launch supply or not, I needed something different. There was the Mizuno Wave Precision, but why start to wear that when that's about to be replaced by the Wave Sayonara? There was the Saucony Kinvara, but the upper on that didn't fit me quite as well as that of the Brooks PureConnect. There was...wait. Why not just wear the PureConnect? Which is what I did. Anyway, needless to say, the Launch was saved which made my search moot, but my stint with the PureConnect rekindled my interest in the PureProject (which, Brooks, if that was your intent, well played), so when I heard about the release of the Brooks PureDrift, hey, I wanted them too.

Resolution

I generally avoid making New Year's Resolutions because 1) if I tell myself I'm going to eat healthier or stop procrastinating or whatever, I know I'll break it in a couple of days, and 2) why wait until New Year's to fix things you're doing wrong? That's a lot of pressure...I'd rather start on a Monday, and then if I screw up, I have another chance next week! So I don't believe I've made a New Year's Resolution since elementary school. However, given the phone conversation I had about an hour ago, as well as a suggestion that ended up being posted on Twitter, I think it's time to get back on the Resolution train and be less of a negative headcase about my training. Now obviously, this isn't the best goal, since it's not specific, measurable, or time-bound (though I would argue that it is somewhat attainable and relevant), but seeing as I already have actual running-related goals, I figure it's better to keep this one low-pressure (but hopefully not so low that I just forget about it). My mental game is probably the weakest part of my running, and it's not unusual for me to hear someone say they did a workout like 18 at marathon pace or 20 with the last 10 at marathon pace and for me to freak because there's no way I can do a workout like that and that must mean that my marathon pace is too ambitious (false...my marathon went fine despite the fact that there's no way I'd be able to run either of those workouts untapered and in the middle of marathon training...although mad props to those of you who do).

So, to begin this year of positivity, on to track season! I'm hoping that my store team order comes in soon, because I have a pair of Brooks Wire 2s on order, and track season just isn't track season without spikes! (I actually do have a pair of Nike Zoom Ws from college, but if any of you did something like, say, ran the steeplechase in college, then after your last track meet in spring 2007, threw your still-wet spikes in a non-breathable spike bag, stashed them in the back of your closet, and then didn't really touch them again until last week, well, then you know why I'm really hoping to get my Wires before my first track meet. I already wore them last week for a track workout when the track was icy and flats just weren't going to fly, but the upper was stiff and weird and they smelled like death).

So tell me...do you all make resolutions, or not so much? And if you do, what are your resolutions for 2013?