Shoe issues, Grizzly Bear and Sigur Ros

I ran easy for 45 minutes yesterday. My friend Rob gave me a nice pair of Asics 2140 GT trail shoes to try out since my Brooks have over 900 Km on them. It was an awesome and well appreciated gift. I have used the new shoes for several 30 minute runs and they have been fine. I took them on back to back 45 minute runs the previous couple of days and found they don't fit in the arch and my left arch became hot and then blistered. I was a bit frustrated because I currently can't afford new shoes and so this gift was going to be perfect but now I am quite certain they won't be comfortable for anything over 5 miles. Last nights 45 minute run was challenging. It seems whenever I start a new push for running the first week has some rough spots around days 4-5. This week has been no exception. I have to figure out my shoe issues before my first marathon in January. I think I will have it sorted by then. I even tried the new insoles in my old Brooks to buy them some life but they are pretty shot. They have been a phenomenal shoe and I will definitely stick with them. They can handle roads but are brilliant on the trails of Vancouver Island. They are light and low profile and I only have good things to say. I would only get blisters on the tips of my toes as I approached or surpassed 13 mile runs.

Yesterday afternoon I found a song by the Grizzly Bear's stuck out in my head while running under a crystal clear blue sky. I couldn't believe how beautiful and warm it was, it almost felt like spring. It was too bad I had blisters and was a bit fatigued because it would have been great to crank out more effortless distance on such a day. Back to the song, I first discovered this group as Vye and I were messing around on YouTube checking out videos on ginormous grizzlies. This group from New York kept popping up, and so I got interested and found I really liked them. The group laid dormant on my i-pod for nearly a year until I found the song "Two Weeks" and more importantly the "Fred Falke extended mix" while browsing another runner's blog. I got the song and I really enjoy running to it. I like the original as well but the extended mix lends itself to running with the stronger more upbeat and electronic sound. I am quite certain many of you have heard of this group and probably know the song but this remix is great so give it a listen.

This morning I slipped on my Brooks, with my Asics insoles, and hit the chip trail for a very easy recovery run of only 30 minutes. That is about all my shoes allowed me to run before I could feel all the symptoms of trashed shoes such as sore shins and aching joints. I need to find 150 bucks bad and get a new pair of Brooks. Keep your fingers crossed I can make it happen soon because I am in Dire need. Well the easy run was nice I wanted to run further but the body said no for today so it was a really short jaunt. I heard a song by the Icelandic group Sigur Ros. I love this group and found that they are one of the few groups that even though they are singing in a totally different language the songs are universally understood. This is a really chill song and was perfect for a really chill run in December on the island. Give it a listen I am including a version with their real video and one with the "Planet Earth" footage added. Both are great videos and both invoke different emotions. I hope you dig it as much as me the song is called "Hoppipolla" (the first link is to the actual video since embedding was disabled and the other embedded video is the planet earth but both songs are the same).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EyI4p0yjDQ