s.i.m.t.u. 3

first thing's first:

i am now registered for the Dong-Ah Seoul International Marathon, 2010/03/21

pending payment of $40 USD participation fee.

yes, you read correctly: $40 USD

that's for a world-class marathon of 30,000 runners.

the also boast fairly quick times, thanks to the course holding a mostly negative grade.

and for those who don't know of any significance of the date,

it's one day after my 23rd birthday.

ouchies.

real cool birthday present to myself.

thanks me.

26.2 miles/42.2k of a new world of pain.

now that i put it like that....it actually sounds enticing.

don't hate.

some people are just sick.

you tri folks can hear me.

and boy, oh boy.

here comes the winter.

the 21 degree (F) air temp. on the run this morning told me so.

or maybe it was the 25 mph gusts in the 2 hour snow flurry during my 26k run on saturday.

granted, the air temp. saturday wasn't too bad (the forecast called for rain, really), but running in the first flurry of the year/my first december in snow beyond memory (i had only heard reports of earlier snow over here) was actually really fun.

on the other hand, my chapped cheeks beg to differ.

no, not those cheeks.

the ones on my face.

but i might be buy some ninja gear to help keep my toasty.

what gear you may ask?

oh, maybe some warmer tights.

or maybe one of these: http://trisports.com/louis-garneau-balaclava.html

or maybe some of these: http://trisports.com/lg-2in1vitalgloves.html

and, as some of you might already know, then my growing-up-in-the-90s dream can finally be realized:

i can be a TMNT.

but the newtons are ever so slightly making up for the cold.

i mean, WOW! these puppies are light!

i've never imagined trainers being so lacking in weight.

let me explain the newtons for those who are not aware.

WARNING: be prepared to be informed beyond your will.

please bypass this section if you don't care; proceed to the final paragraph.

i bought the sir isaac guidance trainers.

they're like the stepping stone from heel-strike trainers to mid-/fore-foot strike trainers.

i was going to get the motion model or the all-weather motion,

but the sir isaac's were a few bucks cheaper, so i'm not investing as much in shoes i wasn't sure about getting,

and the sir isaac's do have a little bit of stability, which is good for a slight over-pronator such as myself.

as i mentioned earlier, this things are light.

newton running is not yanking your chain.

they stripped everything superflous.

it's all you need for a shoe. nothing more.

as far as the new form goes, i'm still getting used to it.

i've never had the best running form, but hopefully newtons will help fix that.

i can already tell they've changed a lot though:

different abdominal groups became sore after the first couple of runs;

my themselves are slightly sore because of running for the first time ever;

my pace is slightly faster, and i can only predict it will get faster, especially if i actually mix in the speedwork runs i've been meaning to incorporate.

the only hard part right now is the weather.

i asked for a cold winter before i came, but i didn't want cold training.

i guess that's because i didn't anticipate a race on the first 2nd day of spring.

oh well.

HTFU, right?

happy training.