Oh Adidas...poor poor Adidas.

I have a personal attachment to Adidas. I had an Adidas trail shoe that I ran around the woods of St. Johns in college. After that I got a pair of Supernova Controls that I wore for my first marathon. After that though, I never went back. Since then, Adidas has gone through all sorts of gimmicks to get people to buy their shoes. The Adidas One, a shoe that had a computer chip in it that was supposed to adjust the cushion based on your stride. The Adidas Climacool series, which I honestly don't know where they've gone with these. Originally meant to keep your feet cooler as you worked out, just seemed like an easy way to remove material and make it more expensive and throw a bunch of random "technology" on them. Recently the Adidas Adistar and Energy Boost, made with their new Boost cushion. In their own words, "Energy-returning boost™ midsole keeps every step charged with an endless supply of light, fast energy; TORSION® SYSTEM for midfoot integrity." Which just seem like a super bouncy shoe that cost upwards of $160. 

Now though they have topped themselves. Introducing the Adidas Springblade.These shoes are to give "explosive energy" with 16 plastic blades on the bottom that propel you forward. Kind of reminds me of Spira shoes which literally had springs built in them help you run. I honestly just don't know who thought this was a good idea.  Oh wait, we'll find out. At $180, it's only going to attract people who really don't care what they wear when they run, if they even wear them for running,which seems to be the market they are going for. The article here mentions Mikal Peveto, Adidas America's Director of Running (ah, he thought it was a good idea), who says this shoe is going to be embraced by athletes who run for fun or for other sports. You know, because competitive and hard-core runners are into that barefoot trend. What he seems to fail to understand is that a majority of competitive and hard-core runners still want a traditional shoe, not a barefoot/transitional shoe.  Adidas has time and time again shown how clueless they are when it comes to running shoes. Which is funny when they seem miffed by the lack of sales we have at the store for their product.  Also, who thought it was a good idea to name a shoe so similar to a movie staring Billy Bob Thornton? This is not what I want to think of when I buy my running shoes.

Red, White and Boom goes the dynamite!

It's been a while! The last month and a half since Fargo I've been pretty laid back. Probably enjoyed more of the beer aspect than shoe aspect of life, but eventually I had to race again, and what better day than the 4th of July. Ahhh, 4th of July. America's Independence Day. The day to celebrate America's freedom by drinking crappy beer, cooking meat over an open flame, blowing stuff up and for me, waking up before 5 am to run a half marathon. The Red, White and Boom Half takes place every year on the 4th, which is just that perfect time of year to run. You know, when it's 90 degrees and humid. Who doesn't like that? Actually, this year was pretty decent, unlike last year when they turned it into a 5 mile race, which was plenty.

Having not trained for this race specifically, and just tried to maintain some semblance of fitness, I had absolutely no goal going into it. Figured I'd just run, hope to feel good, and not die. Managed to pull two of the three, because honestly my legs did not feel good race time. I didn't die though...sorry to disappoint some. I won't do a mile by mile, because there wasn't much entertaining going through the industrial area of Northeast Minneapolis. I ran a 1:20:54, which is not a PR, nothing spectacular for me, but solid enough I was happy and enjoyed it.  The few highlights. Passing the guy running "barefoot" within a mile of the start. I don't mind you wear Vibrams, but if you are going to start, on the line, you better be able to back them up. After mile 6, there is an awful hill. My Garmin had it as a 120 foot gain over half a mile....oh I think I just heard some people in San Francisco laughing at me. Finally, the finish line is pretty solid. Grilled hot dogs. Popsicle. Ice cream sandwiches....what's that? They are vanilla frozen yogurt sandwiches? This race sucks.

With that done, my legs actually felt really good for the first time since the marathon this morning. Guess I just needed a race to get me going again. Oh, and you got some sweet glasses for the race too.

God Bless America. And all that jazz.