I just finished adding up some figures, and I figured out that in the last 30 days I've put 150 miles on my shoes. Not a huge number in the sphere of ultra-running, but it is definately starting to age my current pair of shoes. I've been thinking that I'll probably try and buy two pairs next, so I can alternate their use and try to extend their life a bit longer that way. However, that plan means twice the expense the next time I hit up RoadRunner. Adding to that, I also need to get myself a decent pair of trail runners some time before Sun Mountain, and that means I need to buy THREE pairs of shoes sometime in the next couple months. Before I know it, I'm going to own more shoes than my wife.
At least I already know what pair of trail runners I'm going to get. I've had my eye on the Salomon Ultra GTX for a while now. If these things can't handle what I've planned over the next six months, then nothing can! I still need to figure out what to do for street shoes though. The Nike Equalon 4 that I've been using so far have treated me fairly well, and they're still being produced, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't check out what else is out there. I'll just have to devote a day to trying on shoes at some point, I guess...
Also, ever since I began my new job I've been having a bit of a nagging cough. It's rather dry and clean, so I hadn't really thought much about it, just figured it was due to getting used to the dusty office conditions again. Then last night I was reading an article about the dangers of ozone inhalation for city runners. The basic issue was that cars cause low level ozone, which when inhaled can accelerate the aging of lung tissue, and leads to various breathing problems like asthma and coughing. This is especially common in city runners because you can inhale up to ten times as much oxygen while running.
Once I started thinking about it, I realized that most of my runs since I started at the office have been in more congested conditions (while I love the Scott Pierson trail, most of it is less than 50 feet away from the freeway), and it seems to have gotten worse after this last Sunday's run, where I basically ran parrallel to the road for four hours of so. Add onto the issue of my being a motocyclist, where I'm basically breathing the exhaust pipe of the car in front of me several times a day, and I wouldn't be suprised if that might not be the cause of my coughing. So, I may have to travel so somewhere a little less congested for my next big run.
Speaking of which, this weekend's run is probably going to be fairly light (as in, no more than 20 miles), but the next weekend is my birthday run. 27 miles all the way from Tacoma to Enumclaw. I haven't exactly set the route in stone yet but I have a rough idea about how I'll get there. I've also been trying to talk a few friends into running it with me, the last mile or so at the very least, but so far no takers. I just need to make more running friends, I guess ^_^
Well, I'm up later than I should be.
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