Intro: As many of you know I am one of the lucky Ten chosen to be part of #omniten from Columbia - With this comes the opportunity to try some great gear and introduce you to some awesome stuff as well.

With that said I am very excited to share with you my first #omniten review. TheColumbia Ravenous Lite Trail Shoe.

This is a shoe I have been looking at for some time – We tried them on just a little while back while visiting the Columbia store- but sneakers were not in the budget that day so needless to say I was excited to receive them.

From the website:

Designed for lightweight speed and streamlined, minimalist comfort, this shoe features a low-profile upper and grippy lugged sole to keep you moving quickly over tricky terrain.

The highlights: 

1. The shoe looks great – I am a sucker for solid design – I posted a photo on twitter and people went nuts over the design.

2. The ability to “feel” the ground yet still have my feet protected – We ran the root covered trails of Durand Eastman Park last night and my feet were happy as ever!

3. A good shoe is not noticeable when on your foot – That’s how these ended up being for me. Too many shoes have a problem here – a problem there – not many just “disappear” from your feet.

4. Plenty of grip – We ran up – we ran down – I ran on side hills – I jumped onto logs – over boulders – all to test it in every condition  I could- It wasn’t muddy, so there is one more condition to check – But this shoe passed with flying colors last night.

5. Cost – While you all know I got these from Columbia – the fact is a top notch trail shoe normally runs over 100 dollars. This is normally 80 – right now 59 from the website. You can’t beat that.

Room for improvement:

1. The tread is not super aggressive, so how well it will hold to the trails during mud season is to be tested later – The smaller tread will likely wear out quickly if I am running a lot of hard pack or road transitions (last night I spent a mile on the road transitions).

2. For such a minimal shoe it still has a relatively narrow toe box – Much wider than the Kinvara TR yet nothing like a Merrell or New Balance Minimus

Overall:  This low profile shoe offers just enough protection from rocks and roots for runners with an efficient neutral stride – I would not suggest it for a big time heel striker or a “Thumper”  - You know – the guy stomping along behind you. I am light on my feet – with agile steps – so this shoe is IDEAL for me.

The price point – the quality of the build – and the slimming design makes this shoe attractive for any trail runner. I know you don’t often see Columbia in your specialty running shoe store – take my word for it though – This is a shoe worth trying (it fits true to size btw.)

Hit up the links above – and check this one out – I promise you won’t regret it.

What:  The Flower City Challenge – 1/2 Marathon - I decided to run this race with Sheila as her “pacer”.

prerace happiness

I have never run a race with these intentions before – It was kind of fun. I was able to take some great pictures, really enjoy this course , and run with some friends along the way.

From The website: ”The course takes you through city streets, historic areas and scenic neighborhoods”

That quote however does not do it justice – It really does take in the best parts of our city – We start downtown at the arena – wind our way through some city streets and some historic places including the Susan B Anthony House-

We go through our “hip” area Park ave.  With shops and vibrant city life this is a wonderful section of the city – From there we head up to Highland park where lilacs are just starting to bloom – We work our way over to the Mt. Hope Cemetery which holds the famous remains of Susan B and Frederick Douglas – After winding and rolling through the cemetery we kick out by the University of Rochester and hit the river trail all the way back downtown to the finish line at the arena.

The course is beautiful – It is hilly – It is steeped in history – It’s Rochester all the way.

The Weather: Sunny – Warm – a slight breeze -perfect running weather (it got hotter later – but the start was ideal)

Overall time:   We ran the course in almost exactly 2 hours. Sheilas goal was sub 2 – we did everything we could to get her there – She is in the middle of some really heavy miles (the most she has ever run) getting ready for her marathon, so this was a good sign she is in great shape. Tired legs and a huge PR (2:37:32 was her time just 4 years ago )- Thats almost 40 minutes off her first 1/2 time! Wowza!

Placing:  I didn’t even look where I placed because I was not racing this event – but this was a USATF Championship event so the front runners were highly competitive!

Mile Splits – I wanted to keep these a bit more steady, yet there were moments when Sheila felt good and this was a race – so when that happens you just let it go – We could have stayed back a little before the big hills and especially in those first 3 miles, but I believe with her the end result would have been the same. ( I am going to post her report for this section)

Mile 1–9:24  I couldn’t get around people who were too slow and it was frustrating me.  And then people stopped to walk and I was like seriously why did you line up so far in front????

Mile 2–8:40  I thought maybe I was too fast, but I felt good (well duh.  it’s mile 2) and I knew I’d settle in.

Mile 3–8:44  Perhaps mile 2 wasn’t too fast?

Mile 4–8:49  Slowing down a bit, but well on track to go sub-2.

Mile 5–9:02  Saw Oliver here I think.  And started to kind of struggle, which made me struggle more because it was so early to be struggling.

Mile 6–9:05  Coming into the mega-hills of Goodman/Pinetum, I decided to drop the pace a little bit.  I knew the hill was going to crush me, so I wanted to make sure I didn’t go into it balls-to-the-wall.

Mile 7–9:34  The hill killed me.  At one point, I high fived some kids to try to take my mind off of it, and then I got all choked up.  Funny, this is where I almost had a melt down last year, too, when I passed a mom with a newborn in the stroller.  Apparently that hill is kid/baby central.  In any event, I ignored the kids/babies from there on out, knowing that it was a bad idea to get emotional during this race.

Mile 8–9:25  Coming through a bit more hill in the cemetary.  As you get into the cemetary, you come up this cobblestone hill.  I got to the top and said, “oh shit I’m gonna puke” (and if  you know me, you know that I thought this in my first half there, 4 years ago, and my problem is puking in a cemetary–where do you puke? I don’t want to puke on a dead person!)  Eric said, “no you’re not, it’s in your head.”  And then I stopped and dry heaved.  At this point, the 2 hour pace group had caught up to us, and Chris was screaming for me.  I pulled myself together.

Mile 9–8:46  Nailed it.  Seriously.  But by this point, I was REALLY struggling.  “Don’t let your mind give out before your legs do,” I kept silently telling myself, when I wasn’t counting my footstrikes (which is a trick I learned from a pro in a Runnersworld Magazine–when you’re tired, count your footsteps, that way you forget about being tired/hurting).

Mile 10–8:46  And then my legs wanted to give out, not just my head.  Count your steps, count your steps.  The faster you go, the faster it’s over.

Mile 11– 9:06  Somewhere in this mile, I think the 2 hour group caught me again.  I was pretty devastated, which Eric knew without me saying it.  “They have a cushion built in, Shme.  Just go with them.  You’ve got this.”

Mile 12–9:14  Just go.  I can do this.  Just go.  I get up over the Ford Street Bridge.  As Eric is congratulating me, I say, “Fuck. I’m gonna puke.”  “Yeah like you did in the cemetary? Stop.”  And then I puked a little bit.  And Eric’s words of wisdom were, “Puke and run! You can’t stop now or you won’t do it.  Just go!”  So I did.  I puked and ran.  It was glorious.  Into my hand (as per tradition) and then squirted it off and asked if there was any puke on my face so that pictures of me would not be compromised, but that didn’t matter, because…

Mile 13–9:09  I was dead.  Eric kept telling me to go.  I was pretty unaware of people around me, all I could think about was getting to the finish line so I could lay down on the road.  Yeah.  That was my thought.

N0 photos here – I was in full Sherpa mode!

the last .1–(which by my watch was actually .28)  2:11 or a 7:45 pace.  We got close enough to see the clock and Eric was screaming at me (and Chris in the distance ahead) that I had to sprint or I’d never make it there.  So I sprinted.  And in my head, I was thinking “Oh God there are going to be some really awful pictures of me at this point).

Talkin her in!!!

So by my watch, I ran 13.28 in 2:00:20 (I started it a little early because I forgot at the start line that you don’t actually CROSS the start for a while bc there are so many people there).  That works out to a 9:04 overall pace.

Elevation chart:  

High Points: –  Being a pacer is fun. I might do this more often in the future, it gave me a lot of energy to see someone else hitting a goal that they wanted. The course was great as usual – The crowd was larger this year (better weather?) The fire department was stationed throughout the course which was fun – Many cheerful volunteers.

Low Points -

Water station debacles – Like I have never – ever – in ANY race in my life experienced the number of people stopping dead in their tracks at water stations – They got crowded and hectic because of this – It was odd – No idea what was behind this.

The volunteers at the stations were amazing –  For some reason it seemed almost every runner around us forgot running etiquette at the aid stations.

The post race water and food is difficult to get to – There is no “runners zone” so families – fans – etc are all mingling in and around the water and post race food areas. The race uses the Blue Cross Arena which is designed for thousands of people – yet it quickly becomes a crowded mess. I wonder if they could set up a “family reunion section” and a “runners section” The arena is big enough it might offer some relief to tired sweaty runners to get food and drink.

The offerings for post race are top notch – fruit – pizza – yogurt – etc. I saw more non runners walking around with water bottles than I did runners though – and they ran out of those so I had to walk back outside to get a cup of water from the water station – That sort of stinks- That is not on the race organizers as much as it is on those non-runners though.

Thanks for this photo, Ron!

So low points? That’s it – As usual a solid event.

 Thoughts moving forward: I signed Sheila up for the Buffalo Marathon months ago with the promise that I would run and pace her through many runs. My #SherpaDuty2013 is almost complete -

After this I am going to focus on a few hard trail races – and getting faster. I am going to hit up some more FIT1 classes – and work on running for me.  I am looking forward to running speedy trails again! Some hard hill repeats – and shocking some people in the very near future!

Great job to Shme,  now on to Buffalo!!!

I have read about 25 amazing posts about the Boston Marathon bombing and running – I have shared some of them – I have in my own personal time reflected on many of them. I thought about writing my own post -I thought about my own words. While I feel like my writing has a lot of potential to help people, motivate people, inform people, and share with people – I have decided not to.

At #TrailsRoc - we have decided to do the only thing we felt we could to contribute – We have decided to offer free entry to the      0 SPF this July to runners who could not finish the race due the bombings. If you know anyone that would like to take us up on our offer  - send them my way – I will make sure everything goes smoothly.

Running will get us through this – To Boston – To runners – We are with you – Run on.

This week I will be running a trail race that is taking on some legendary status here in Rochester. The Muddy Sneaker trail run. Produced by fellow trail lovers Roads Are Poison Muddy Sneaker sold out in less than 12 hours. Local runners stayed up and registered at midnight putting the race on to get in!

photo credit: Roads Are Poison

So what is Muddy Sneaker? Besides being the first race of the #TrailsRoc Trail Runner of the Year series

From the website:The MuddySneaker is a trail run in the high tor wilderness area in the finger lakes region of  New York State.  It has some of the most rapid elevation loss and gain of any trail run in the
region.  During the MuddySneaker it is possible that you can encounter any or all of the following hazards: Rocks, Roots, Snow, Ice, Crawling under logs, Crawling over logs, Stream Crossings, Oversize chickens and other wild creatures.

photo credit: Roads Are Poison

If you are wishing to do a 20K run and  want to compete against the clock and are hoping to set your PR you may want to look  elsewhere.  If however you want to test yourself against nature and your own will to finish this is the race for you.

photo credit: Roads Are Poison

So – here we go – I have not tapered at all – ran 16 this weekend – Ran hard hill and trails last week – I am in this to have fun and challenge myself with some fellow trail runners. I want to find out what “The Sneaker” is all about – and I want to run some of these #TrailsRoc TROY races!

photo credit: Roads Are Poison

I am not even sure what shoes I am going to wear – I could wear my Fila Skele-toes – I have been wearing them a lot lately – Or I could wear my Vivo Breatho Trails – It is likely however that I will wear my Merrell Barefoot Trail Glove. I had to send some sneakers back to New Balance for a blow out and the new ones are not in yet – so decisions to be made there!

I hope to see you out there enjoying the trails with myself and my fellow #TrailsRoc runners -

Today was Sherpa duty day – Running with Shme through the hills of Mendon Ponds park. 14+ miles – and 3,000+ feet of elevation change – Nasty little park. In perspective – Last weeks 16 miler on roads that “seemed” hilly – - about 600 feet of elevation change… hmmm.

The day itself was beautiful – Clear as you could imagine blue skies – bright sun – calm winds – smooth as glass water on the ponds.

We were coming down from the hill at Devils Bathtub over to Hundred Acre pond – the trail is flat – smooth- and fast here – there is a drainage divider you cross over – it’s a perfect spot for sunrise photos/bird watching/relaxing.

right - about - here.

Well right there, as we came around the corner – We saw a man proposing to his new to be bride. Launched a stick into the pond for his dog – got to 1 knee – and boom. She was soooo excited  - they both had dogs that were excited – We ran past them – I high fived them – and on we went with our run as she was gushing with happiness behind us.

We got engaged on the edge of Niagara Falls  - We spend so much of our time out in nature – To me there can be no better place to express your love for someone than while out in nature. It feels right – dare I say “natural”?

Trail Love at it’s finest this morning – It was awesome – Glad to have witnessed it and forever be part of these strangers story as they retell about the guy TheY high fived out in Mendon Ponds on the day they got engaged.

So there you have it – Go explore – Maybe you will witness (or be a part of ) your own Trail love some day!!!

There seems to be a distinct line between two ways of thinking about running and how to get better/faster/stronger at it. Log on to any running forum and type in "mileage debate". CoolRunning - Lets Run - Your Local forums- Give it a try - You will see a lively debate of "experts" in each corner.

On one side of the line there is the "Run more" argument. It is simple -You run in a race - to run faster, you need to be running.

Run more miles has a strong history -  Almost all professional runners log impressive mileage - They mostly say they could not be professional runners if they did not. They walk a fine line with their health- they log miles - we look at those miles in awe -and we know those miles make the runner who they are.

The miles are where champions are made though- no one wins a marathon on 40 miles a week, that seems to be without debate.

On the other side of the line though is the "Run less" argument - This side claims you will be healthier - fresher - and have room for cross training - which while in the end - make you a stronger and then runner.

Don Kardong once said;
If you run 100 miles a week, you can eat anything you want -- Why? Because
(a) you'll burn all the calories you consume,
(b) you deserve it, and
(c) you'll be injured soon and back on a restricted diet anyway.

Many runners call these slow runs where you simply run for running sake "junk miles". They tell you that we would be better off with rest days here - or better yet - cross training.

My take on things is simple: Most of us are not professional runners - the "less is more" technique might be smarter - It gives us time to rest - time to be fresh - time be with our families -

No one can argue that to run your best you have to run miles - we just need to find a way to fit in the best miles for us.

So - What about you? What side of this fence do you sit on? More miles -Less miles - what about cross training? Leave a comment - let me know.

Have you heard the one about the tortoise and the hare?  They are out playing around and the hare says to the tortoise, in a cocky sort of way, “Hey, tortoise, I’ll race you home?”

“Sure,” says the tortoise, smiling.

“Ready, set, go!” The hare takes off running at full tilt as hares are known to do.  The tortoise pulls his head, tail, and feet into his shell and says:

 “I win.”

That story put a lot of things into perspective for me when I saw it. We all view the world in a different way – Some of us view it as competition – Some of us view it as a challenge – some of us view it as a gift – and so on.

The hare obviously thought about his world in a totally different way that the tortoise did – They were not even running the same race. Runners are like that too. Road running vs trail running – Marathon vs 5k – “Real runners” vs “joggers” and so on again.

Perspective within running is important – You have to keep it in perspective or things can quickly go wrong. We cannot get caught up in competitions with others at the loss of awareness of who we are and where we are. So many of us level criticism at each other about the way we run, the races we run, the training we do, etc,  and what for? To what end?

You can be the tortoise, or you can be the hare – Just be sure to run your own race. For me, I think I would rather be the tortoise, his perspective always seems to be about what works for him while the hare is only concerned with “winning”. That winning is often at the expense of others, including his own enjoyment in the process.

Running to me has become less about winning and more about who I am with -That’s my shell, my home , and that makes me smile while hitting the trails with friends all the while thinking, “I win”.

Many of you may not be aware of this – but there is an ancient trail runner among us when we are out running the trails. Kokopelli is a prehistoric God of sorts – more of a deity- that you can find in rock paintings of the mountains and caves of the Southwest United States.

Depending on where you get your story about Kokopelli, you will find a few versions of who he was – A fertility God – a rain maker – hunter – magic man -roaming salesmen- or, as we like to think of him – as a legendary runner.

Kokopelli travelled great distances – playing a flute and carrying goods on his back. We love to think about Kokopelli – as an ancient runner – delivering news and goods to villlages as far south as the Andes and as far east at the Mississippi Valley – Running – laughing – telling stories -

We are glad to know we don’t run alone when we are out on the trails – If you ever felt there was more to this trail running thing than just what was “visible” it might just be Kokopelli dancing through the woods with you.

Our friends over at Trail Runner Nation believe Kokopelli can share his running powers with you. Check out their story, and get some Kokopelli for yourself!

Early this month I had a sudden rush of companies requesting that I review a product for them. I like to do this. It’s a fun way to try new things. It’s a fun way to get stuff for “free”. Although free isn’t what it is because a decent amount of work does go in to reviewing products.

The question is – When do you say yes? And when do you say no?  I recently talked to Sheila about this and keeping the blog “true to me” so the question became instantly relevant when requests started coming in.

Let me give 2 examples of 2 companies that contacted me asking about working together.

The first company is Bulu Box - basically a service you sign up for and have supplements delivered to your door in a “box” each month. You fill out a quick interest survey – weight loss – nutrition – endurance – etc – and each month you get a box with products that fit that category. Check them out,  it is a pretty cool service – You can even buy this as a gift for someone.

The second one is Swanson Health Products - Basically what it sounds like – A site that carries pretty much any supplement you could want to use/try and they do so at really great prices. They even carry items for the pet in your life!

I chose to work with Swanson over Bulu Box even though the offer was much different – I looked at both sites – both offers – and decided that Swanson really fit who I was as a writer, and more importantly as a person/athlete than the Bulu Box.

Swanson let me choose the products I wanted and try out the service on my terms – Bulu Box was lot’s of fun stuff that would come for 3 months to me but I wasn’t exactly sure what I would receive.  Both reps from both companies were wonderful to work with. Both were friendly and engaging – Yet I am not a big supplement user.

I am simple – my supplement routine consists of a multivitamin once a day – a fish oil once a day and a green tea extract once a day. I sent a note to the rep from Bulu Box just letting her know I was honored to be thought of  (I am) but that I did not think my blog, my goals, and my readers would benefit from a partnership with them at this time.

I know this is small time – but it really was about not selling out. I knew I would not use half the things that came in the Bulu Box so Swanson was the way to go. I am not a fan of blogs that seem to sign up for every single opportunity to “review” or host “giveaways” even if they may never use the product again and may never have used it before. I am trying to be a bit more picky .

In our order? Simple – Fish oil – Green Tea – and for Sheila as an experiment in the battle vs asthma Apple Cider Vinegar tablets.

Swanson covered those products for me while I tried out the service. They were wonderful – The site is easy to use and easy to navigate. Customer service was fantastic – and shipping was cheap and speedy.

So – that’s a little insight into what goes on with some of these reviews- I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing about them – and who knows – Maybe you will even try some of the products out once in a while!

This weekend I was reading about people who live vicariously through others. It was in t he context of sports parents. You know the guy – the little league dad screaming at the umpire – driving his kid hard at practice – taking the fun out of the sport as if HIS life depended on it?

The thing is, we shouldn’t need to do this. We shouldn’t need to live through a television character, we shouldn’t need to live through our kids sports teams, we shouldn’t need to try to live the life of the richer person in the neighborhood.

Our lives are amazing as they are. We should be living vicariously through ourselves. Think about how awesome life would be if we did things that WE thought were amazing that were within the realm of things WE could manage?

Take a look today at who you are – plan your own adventures – Put down that travel magazine and get your feet moving

- Make your own adventures -

The great thing about kids is that they need nothing to be happy – Imagination runs wild – then we grow up and we make a decision to not be like that anymore. We stop dreaming.

Running is like that. Watch kids go play – they run EVERYWHERE- As adults we only seem to run for a purpose – with a reason – We stop playing – we stop living. We stop having fun.

It’s time to start running with passion – running with fun – running just to run – While you are at it – Go ahead, live vicariously through yourself – I promise, it’ll be worth it.

This Thursday our Thursday night trail crew got together at Mendon Ponds Park and decided to have a winter ” RunBQ” after our weekly trail run.

Trailgating at our RunBQ

A local running store has a Thursday night series that runs Spring through the fall – We decided to continue the series through the rough Rochester winter – and last night in celebration of making it through the winter – we had a winter Run-B-Q.

I am proud to say this group ran every single Thursday all winter – single digit temps – thick heavy snow – ice covered dark trails – we did it all. We made it through till spring and we are ready to rock some summer trails now soon!!

We ran a bit over 5 miles last night on a hilly course through the park and then got a nice campfire going and cooked out into the darkness.

It was about 25 degree with some serious wind yet there was no where else I would have rather been than there last night.

So we have developed this amazing group of tight -knit runners – Most of us didn’t know each other last April – and this April we are training partners, drinking partners, Run B Q folks and most of all-

Friends – 

That’s what running can do for you. It’s pretty powerful stuff!

This weekend was full of miles – and full of running – even if that running was not all mileage related.

In short;

Saturday 7am – Round the bay.

Saturday 11:30 am – Funeral in Buffalo.

Saturday 5:00pm head back to Rochester.

Saturday 9:00pm Brother in Law and his girlfriend show up in Rochester.

Sunday 10:00am Preview run for 0 SPF 1/2 Marathon.

Around the bay is an event put on by 3 running groups in the area (I suggest you check one out – or maybe even all three if you really want to meet new running friends) The Bagel Brunch from Greece – The Oven Door Runners from Bushnell Basin and the GoldRush Runners from Irondequoit.

The weather this year was amazing – Sunny – Calm – Clear – and warming as we ran.

We ran about 14 miles in 2:10 through lots of hills and lots of sunshine.

Then we shuffled off to Buffalo – And I made this observation about what I want when my time comes.

Sunday morning was The 0 SPF Preview run – This is a run that we hosted via #TrailsRoc – Previewing our race course for our very first race!

About 40 people showed up and we led them through the first 4 and last 4 miles of our course. We were excited to show everyone what we have been working on and even more excited that everyone seemed to have a great time.

Check out new great photos of the event here!!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.551245511573686.1073741825.195898917108349&type=1&l=f5791b90ac

I had a blast out there on both runs – as I usually do – Rochester has an amazing running community – I feel lucky to be a part of it!

Last year in April I ran the flower city challenge half marathon  in 1:43 – That was 7:48 per mile. I went in with a goal to run 7:40 per mile. A bit off – But close.

I ran the Shamrock Run in Buffalo in March in a 7:46 pace to test out how that would feel over 5 miles to gauge where I was in prep for Flower City – so This race was pretty much right on as a predictor.

This year I set a goal to make sure my time was below 1:40 for Flower City – Ideally my race time would put me under 1:35 – A 1:35 puts me at a 7:16 pace – Or in other words – the exact same pace I just ran my 5k PR in.

Just add ten miles – Ain’t no thang.

The Shamrock run then – If things go like they did last year – should be run in 36:00 even. Add 2 miles to the 5k. Take out the ice – I should be able to pull this off.

I had no time to do any extra speed work because the 5k and the Shamrock are exactly 1 week apart. I think eating clean the rest of this week and setting my mind straight will be key!

So that is the reality check – I am going to have to work crazy  hard to hit the times I want – So am I up to the challenge? I would think so!

So here we go – Racing season seems to be gearing up. It won’t be easy – but it sure will be fun! Time to burn out some more PR’s

Also – Don’t forget to check out and be part of the TrailsRoc Trail Runner Of The Year Series!! 

Follow me on Twitter