Total: 40 miles
Goals:
Schedule:
I’m turning 25 on Friday! (I’m not as excited about that as the exclamation point would indicate.) I prefer to think of it as moving to a new age group rather than getting older, really. A few weeks ago, Amy introduced me to Picky Bars, and I eventually made my way to Trader Joe’s to pick up a few. I take in at least a third of my calories in bar form. Depending on whether I’ve just gotten done with a run and which nutrients I’m short on during the day, I’ll pick between a few different bars. I’ve got high protein bars, and a bar that’s balanced between protein and fiber, but I was missing one that’s good for replenishing glycogen after runs. That’s what Picky Bars are good for.
I had set my original mark to beat in the midst of a sinus infection and in the wake of my stepfather’s death. I had never raced a mile before, and all things considered, the blowup I had during that race isn’t really all that surprising. Thankfully, a month later at my redemption race, I was in a much better place mentally, physically, and athletically. It also helped that I now knew how long a mile race really could be.
Mile races are much more compelling when they take place on a track. It’s more romantic when everyone’s lined up in their lane and it’s four (and a smidge) laps around the track. This race took place in a municipal park on a stretch of road with baseball fields and soccer fields lining either side. Not really ideal scenery, but I can’t say I was particularly focused on the scenery, to be honest.
I make no bones about being a fan of Newton shoes. I know a lot of people think they’re gimmicky or something, but they’re the only shoe I’ve been able to run in reliably. When I saw that they were coming out with limited edition Newton Texas flag shoes, I knew I had to get them.
I’m not actually one of those gung-ho Texas people, but inevitably, one of the fast people on the start line at any given road race is wearing Texas flag shorts. I’ve got the shorts, but I figured a similar pair of shoes surely couldn’t hurt. Without further ado, I present the shoes you want to be wearing if you need to make a quick Texit.
Goals:
Schedule:
I’m sure everyone knows about the Tracksmith PR bonus going on this summer. To recap it, if you run a PR in any piece of Tracksmith apparel by August 31, they’ll give you a $250 credit for even more gear!
I first found out about Tracksmith sometime in 2015, I think, back before they carried women’s clothes. If you’re not familiar with the brand, it’s based out of Boston and produces running apparel in a vintage style with modern fabrics. They employ very basic designs, lightweight fabrics, but everything comes together to hark back to days of running past where it was more of a sport than a hobby.
As the name would suggest, the clothes are inspired by the track uniforms of runners firmly into their masters years by now. I was attracted to this brand initially because I, and probably a lot of other runners, are overcome with “Nike fatigue,” so to speak. Sportswear these days seems to require a busy pattern, extraneous straps and frills and decorative gaps. There are swooshes and parabolas and all sorts of other logos placed conspicuously all over each garment. What about a plain singlet with a small logo over the left breast, like you’d find with a polo shirt or an Oxford button down?
That’s what we’ve got.
It seems like there are news articles about how Rio isn’t ready to host the Olympics coming out weekly. There are bodies washing up on the beaches to be used for volleyball and chlorine-resistant parasites in the pools and severe pollution in the rowing waters in addition to the Zika virus we’ve been hearing about since January. There are also the long-standing issues of the generally unsafe and murder-prone nature of the city and rampant, largely-unchecked corruption.
The IOC should be ashamed of themselves.
Rio should not be hosting the Olympics, and while I don’t mean to exempt them from blame for this, the buck ultimately stops at the IOC. Sure, it was short-sighted and self-serving for Rio to bid to host the Games, but I can understand the desire to bring more international spotlight to your country, especially after infrastructure investments had been made for the 2014 World Cup. But the IOC made a mistake in picking Rio.
