Serendipity and Scorched Earth

I’ve been writing about a possible departure from my beloved Asics Gel Nimbus on this blog for quite some time.  I’ve taken small steps in that direction … Brooks Ghost as my everyday shoes, Brooks Cascadia 7’s for trail running … but haven’t really committed to make the jump away from the Nimbii as my go-to shoes.  However, the good folks at Mizuno may be inadvertently providing the push I need to test the waters away from the calming shores of Asics.

As part of their Mezamashii Project they let me pick out a free pair of Mizuno shoes to try and spread the word about, so these guys showed up in the mail last week while I was fueling up on rum punch and sloth:

Mizuno Wave Creation 13 in retina-scorching crimson.  I just picked up a pair of Superfeet green insoles for them, so hopefully I’ll be giving them a test run this weekend.  I’ve got 18 miles on the plan for Saturday, so that’s a bit too much for a maiden voyage, but I might try a short recovery run Sunday night just to give them a spin.  Supposed to be going out for a 25-ish mile ride Sunday morning with a couple friends, so we’ll see how willing my legs are.  The other mitigating factor ….

I’m no meteorologist, but I believe that is referred to as a heat wave.  The good news is I love to sweat when I run – the more sweat, the more it feels like work, so I say bring the heat.  All the hours of standing on the hood of my idling SUV in the driveway blasting aerosol cans skyward and taunting the ozone layer have finally paid off.  If I’ve plotted the weather trends correctly, we should be hitting around 250 degrees by the end of July.

Do they make SPF 800 yet?

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

As my last post made pretty clear, I’m dealing with some stress right now.  Nothing too crushing, but stress nonetheless.  Fortunately, last week was a well-timed and much-needed vacation week for the Evolving family.  The 4 of us, along with my in-laws, piled onto a 46-foot sailboat in St. Thomas for a week of sailing in the Virgin Islands.  My father-in-law is a retired Coast Guard captain who has probably forgotten more about sailing than most people will ever know, so he provided the brains, I provided the muscle, and we all tackled the high seas.  Admittedly the quarters were a bit tight, and there may have been an occasional bout of tension, but overall it was an amazing experience.  The best part – no laptop, no iPhone, no email …. No worries.

The weather and water were beautiful, and we spent countless hours snorkeling in a variety of locations.  We bought a waterproof point-and-click digital camera before we went since we didn’t trust any of the cameras in the house to actually work and hold up to the conditions, so rather than bore you with words I’ll share some of what we saw and did:

Our floating home for the week

My favorite fishes

Ran into lots of these guys

Sailing is hard work

The scenery was stunning

Couldn't get the boy out of the water

Discovered that the daughter has some serious sailing skills

The proper way to refuel

Hard not to relax here

My mermaids

No opportunities to run while we were there, and I did find that I missed it on the days that my training plan said I should be running, which I think is a very good sign that my heart and mind are still very much into the training.  On the other hand, swimming and lounging proved to be very nice alternatives.

Ghosts Appear and Fade Away

Busy snuck up on me again this year.  Sudden, crazy busy.

“I can’t get to sleep”

Work has gotten very hectic with an overabundance of moving parts.  Some might say a plethora.  For those that have followed my blog for a while, last year my company went through a round of layoffs which loomed like a specter over everyone and everything all Summer.  Our most recent quarterly report gave some decidedly low guidance for the coming quarter, so suddenly the widespread nervousness has returned.  Stressful and no fun.

“I think about the implications”

I’ve started ramping up my weekly running totals as part of a 24-week training plan for a 50-mile run in early November.  This training plan peaks at around 70 miles a week, and I’m pretty sure I’ve never gone over 50 miles in an individual week in my life.  To pull this off I’m getting up a little earlier every day, and going on fairly long runs both days of the weekend, which means early rising on weekends too.  Net result is I’m not getting enough sleep.  I know it, and I’m working on it.  However, running isn’t the only thing contributing to lack of sleep….

“Of diving in too deep”

We’re in the process of opening a store.  I’ll save the details for another post, but my enthusiasm for running is dwarfed by my wife’s enthusiasm for tennis, and by the end of July we should have the doors open on a full-service tennis shop in Cary, NC.  My wife and two friends have partnered to run the whole operation, and we’re trying to be as frugal as possible up front until we start to get some cashflow.  What this means is I’m in charge of I.T., construction, drywall repair, painting, electrical, etc.  Basically all the physical fit-up for the space.  So …. typical day is up at 4:30, some sort of training for a couple hours, off to day job, home for dinner, off to the store for another 4-5 hours, shower, rinse and repeat.  Some days it’s fun, some days it’s grueling, and many days it’s both.

“And possibly the complications”

Plenty to worry about these days, and they cycle through my mind at regular intervals depending upon where the fire burns the brightest.  There’s a common saying that “worry never changed anything.”  This is true, but action born of worry can bring about positive change, so that’s where I try to direct my worry when it chooses to appear … and fade away.