Eat, Play, Run

Brooks Outlet Store

One of the big advantages to living in Seattle is the proximity to the Brooks outlet store in Bothell. As a big fan of both Brooks apparel and shoes, it's bargain city, baby.

They recently received a shipment of Brooks Adrenaline 9's, so I went up today to see if they had my rather common size, 10 D. It would be fantastic if they would answer the phones so I didn't have to drive 30 minutes to find out, but whatever. I suppose it's good business to make me go there, since if I went that far and they didn't have my size, I'd have to buy something on principle.

Today though, I hit gold. I walked out of there with four pairs of new shoes at $69 a pair. This is a savings of $35 a pair! With these four pairs and two I had already purchased, I may be able to make it all the way through 2010 without having to buy any running shoes. Though, if I decide to do another marathon, then I definitely won't make it on six pairs of shoes.

Anyway, hurrah for me! And hurrah for the Brooks outlet store!

Nike+ SportBand Watch, Take 2

A little while back, I wrote about my experience with the first edition of the Nike+ SportBand watch. To summarize, I thought that though it had plenty of shortcomings, the ease of use of the SportBand watch was unrivaled in a running watch... when it worked. Therein, as they say, lies the rub. It stopped working. The watch would no longer connect to USB port of my computer, thus rendering the watch useless. Without a USB connection, the watch could no longer be charged.

I nearly threw the watch away, but a commenter pointed me back to thread on the Nike site that said that Nike stores would exchange the broken watches when the new model arrived.

I was a little dubious, but you know what? Last weekend, the Nike Town in Seattle exchanged my broken watch for a new one, no questions asked. Talk about great customer service!

The watch? Well, it still has the exact same shortcomings:

1. If you run for longer than an hour, the seconds don't show up. Since there's limited space on the watch, I would prefer they take out the hour and just show minutes and seconds. I'm pretty sure I'd remember if I was on my second or third hour!
2. There's no backlight on the watch. Though, the background is much lighter, thus making the numbers stand out more. But, come winter, I still won't be able to read those numbers in the dark.
3. After calibrating the watch, if you deviate off the set pace, the watch isn't smart enough to adjust your distance. I've had other Nike and Polar watches that could adjust on the fly. Though, honestly, for $60, you shouldn't expect too much.

The watch is still easy and fun to use. After a run, you simply pop the face off and plug it directly into your computer. The Nike+ website really makes the watch worth it. You can upload your times, join running challenges, and easily create widgets to share your runs on you Facebook or blogs.

This isn't a watch for hardcore runners. There's no heartrate monitor, you can't set it up for multiple pairs of shoes, you can't have it break out intervals, it doesn't measure altitude... the list goes on. But, if you're a casual runner, or training for your first marathon, it does the trick. It somewhat accurately tells you how far you've run and how long it took you. At the end of the day, that's all that matters, right?

LiveStrong Challenge Seattle: 5K

Today, I ran my first race since the New York Marathon last November. It was only a 5k, so I never really trained for it. My running, though, had been going great until I got sick 15 days ago. I'm still not feeling 100%. I have a cough that erupts every time I lay my head down. It sucks!

Because I can't sleep due to the cough, I've only run three times in the past two weeks. The first time out, I stopped after a mile. The next time, I did a nice six miles. Yesterday, I did two just to see if my legs still worked.

So, my expectations weren't high, but, I was really looking forward to racing again. I picked up my number yesterday at the Seattle Center and was surprised to see that there wasn't a timing chip. Today, though came the real surprise. They didn't have a clock at the start/finish line. Is it really a race when there are no timing clocks?

To make a long story short, my time was 28:10. Even for being sick, this is really slow. Healthy, I would've finished right around 24:00, or 8-minute miles. I felt like I was around 8:45 - 9:00 minute miles, so I'm guessing/hoping the course was long. There were no mile marker until you got to the end and it said "380m to the finish". At that point, it wasn't really necessary since you could see the finish line. If anyone was wearing a GPS and got a measured distance of the course, please comment below.

The start chute was really narrow, so I was worried it would take awhile to hit my natural pace, but things opened up pretty quickly. By 50 meters, I was at full stride with no dodging people.

Overall, it was a well organized run. I just wish they took the 'race' a little more seriously with markers at each mile with clocks and timing chips.

What Happened to the Nike+ SportBand Watch?

I'll admit, the watch is kind of a piece of crap. It has numerous problems:

1. When your run goes past an hour, you can no longer see seconds. Dumb.

2. When deviating off of your "normal" pace, the watch isn't smart enough to compensate so the distance it calculates can be wildy off.

3. There's no backlight.

4. You can't pause it.

Yet, despite all of that, it's so easy to upload times, I keep falling back to. To upload a run, you snap the face off the band and plug it directly into your USB drive. It's genius! 

I can tell my watch is about to die and I've been looking to replace it, but I can't find it anywhere.

I wonder if they're coming out with a new model, or if they're discontinuing it because it sucks so bad. Does anyone know?

First Run: Brooks Adrenaline 9

My running shoe, the Brooks Adrenaline 8 has been replaced by the Adrenaline 9. I loved the 8's, so I was a little dismayed that they brought out the 9 so quickly.

First, it should be noted that I don't like to change the model of shoe I run in. When I started running, I was all about the New Balance 991. I ran my first four marathons in them. The only reason I switched off of them is because they updated it to the 992, and it didn't work for me. They completely changed the way the shoe fit.

After the 992 debacle, I switched over the Brooks Adrenaline 6. It was a fine shoe. But I loved, I mean, LOVED the Adrenaline 7. The Adrenaline 8 worked great, too.

So, now onto the Adrenaline 9. I went out for an easy four miles to test them out. I'm happy to report no issues. The fit feels comparable, though maybe a little more snug in the toe box. I'll update this after a week of breaking in. The ride is the same. I'm heel striker. This shoe has plenty of cushion and support. I've not had a running injury in the three plus years I've been wearing them.

One thing I'm kind of excited about is the outer construction of the heel. The way the rubber is laid out, I believe will help me with the wear of the sole. Because I strike so heavy on the outer left heel, I tend to wear out my shoes in about 150 miles. When marathon training, this means I'm done with my shoes every 2.5 weeks. At $100 a pop, this sucks! Besides that one spot in the heel, the rest of the left shoe actually still has the little nubs in parts, and the right shoe is fine. If this issue has been fixed, I may never switch off of Brooks.

The other thing I like about Brooks is they're a Seattle-based company. The have a great outlet store up in Bothell. I noticed when I went out for my run that my shoes, socks, shorts and shirt were all Brooks. I wonder if they want to sponsor a slow, fat, old guy...

Brooks: Get Fit Seattle

Brooks and Nordstrom are teaming up here in the Seattle area on a great promotion. Through May 16, if you purchase a pair of Brooks from Nordstrom, Brooks will donate $5 to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

I've been wearing Brooks Adrenaline's for about three years now. I have yet to try the latest model, the Adrenaline 9. I'll pop up to Nordstrom and give them a try this afternoon after the Seattle Waterfront Chowder Cook-Off.