Brooks Pure Connect Review

I am a Brooks ID runner and have tried many shoes from the Brooks line. One of the most exciting shoes that I have been fortunate to run in are the new Brooks Pure Connect. I bought a pair of the Connects when they first came out and liked them so much and was so excited when the new colors came out, I purchased a second pair of the grey and salmon ones. Brooks really put effort into the smallest details of the shoes looks and fit. When you first put the shoe on, you can immediately feel that they are a different breed of shoe. The laces are attached to small straps that wrap your foot like a glove. The tongue is sewn into place so it stays perfect. The laces are segmented at the top so that they always stay tied and true. The fabric is an extreme open mesh with a micro mesh enveloping the shoe to hold everything together. Brooks put a small amount of DNA in the heel fully wrapped in their patented BioMogo rubber. The shoe has 360 degrees of reflective material so you will be seen in the dark. The shoe has almost no heal lift so this will be a minimalist delight. My racing flats hardly have an arch but the Connects have a suprisingly plush arch support. When I ran in these shoes, I felt like the shoe was correcting my heal strike and helping me land midfoot. This is not an extreme but just a suttle change. DO NOT get these shoes if you do not want to go fast. Putting these shoes on is like going from Cadillac to Porche 911. While you do not feel barefoot in these non-gimic shoes, they are light and responsive with a perfect fit and just the right amount of support for shorter runs, speedwork and race day.

Hurricane Category 5 kayak Review

I just bought a Hurricane Category 5 (Cat 5) kayak for use in some River triathlons. We had our first free warm weekend and I decided to go take it for a spin on Lake Moomaw. First, I'm going to start off with the disclaimer that I have only being rowing at the Y and that kayaking is a much different monster. As you can see from the picture, it was a very calm day with good water conditions. I paddled out 1 mile and back a mile and averaged 11 min mile which works out to be 5.5mph. I was not paddling hard nor am I in killer kayak shape but I will say that it is going to take exponential power to move it beyond this speed. I have not tested the kayak on a long distance or a river test. The kayak is 15 feet long and turns with little ease. I did not notice it weather cocking in the small amount of wind that I experienced. My comparison is my old kayak, the Venture kayaks Easky 17. The Cat 5 turns more easily, tracks straighter and is much lighter. which makes handling a breeze. I am going to take it on a few more spins before I pass final judgement but I am pleased with what I have witnessed so far. I'll post another review after several of my races. Visit http://hurricaneaquasports.com/index-welcome.html for more information.

2012 Explore park 10k

The Explore Park 10k was held Saturday March 3rd outside of Roanoke VA. The prior few days were sopping wet and most of the course was a soupy mess. The trail races in Roanoke are tough, good training and a welcome switch from the usual pavement race. Mountain Junkies is a local business ran by Dr. Josh Gilbert and his wife Gina and I must say, noone does a better job of race organizing. From their website, ease of registration, race series, tshirt design, quality of trails, race directing, awards and best of all PUMPKIN BREAD, they put on excellent events.
Soon into the race I was 3rd place and worked hard to overtake 2nd place after the first 5k mark. At mile 4 I took a pretty nasty spill in a muddy culvert but bounced right up. I had to refocus as this broke my concentration. At the end, I was over a minute behind the 1st place finisher (who ran for Geogia Tech) but felt good about my time considering the trail conditions and my health conditions over the last few months. Looking forward to some more good trail racing.

High five from Josh Gilbert at the finish line