Shill: Saucony Kinvara

Prior to our daughter being born, my exercise of choice was cycling. Several summers back, I found an old (1985, to be exact) Trek touring bike and modded it out, turning it into a poor-mans cyclocross bicycle that was perfect for riding the crushed limestone rails-to-trails paths that snake across the countryside in my state.

Over the course of under three years, I put over 5000 miles on that bike, and would routinely leave the house for 2 hour rides, my favorite being a 30-mile jaunt that I finished in an hour and 20 minutes at my peak.

With a month left in the pregnancy, I started getting the feeling where I didn't want to be too far of a distance away from home (especially in the middle of the countryside), just in case. The bike got parked in the basement, and I dusted off my running shoes.

It wasn't enough to just start running, though, as I'd done that many summers ago and ended up paying for it with some severe shin splints in the fall. Instead, I did a little reading up and decided to rebuild my running technique based on ChiRunning. Having read up on it, I figured a change might be in order, as over time it's supposed to reduce injury and be better for the body in general. After five summers of hardcore tennis playing and some bone spurs in my hip to show for it, I was looking to reduce wear and tear in any way possible.

Here's a picture of the bottoms of my first pair of minimalist running shoes (Saucony - Kinvara) after almost 600 miles. The outsole is massively compressed, but they're still wearable and even comfortable.

Here's the same shoes from above, showing a little bit more wear and tear, including a bunch of dirt and crud that got embedded in the mesh while running off paved paths (about half my mileage). The shoes are crazy light, weighing in at only 12 ounces each (and that's for a size 14 shoe), and have just enough cushion for a large-framed fellow without going full-on barefoot style (which I know my body would not like).

Since I retired the aforementioned pair, I picked up the latest model from Saucony, the Kinvara 3. They've upgraded a few of the things that bugged me (the outer mesh is stronger), while keeping everything great about the shoe.

I'm up to almost 1000 miles run (since I started up again) and haven't been slowed by injury once (with the longest break between runs being 5 days due to sickness). For an old, lanky fellow with a tendency for aches and pains, I consider that a win.

Shill - Lands' End sale

It's not very often that I post links on this blog to new stuff, because frankly I rarely buy new clothing anyway. Even sales sites like Gilt and others are usually ridiculously overpriced (at least, coming from the mind of a habitual thrifter), but in case you hadn't yet seen, Lands' End is having a fairly massive sale going on through tomorrow night.

I've long been a fan of Lands' End, largely because their clothes are well-made and almost completely free of adornment (yes, I love my Polo horsies, but for the most part I prefer garments sans-logos). At any rate, there's definitely some great deals to be found, which includes a lot of stuff in their Canvas line.


For instance, I got one of these really neat twill flannel overlay belts for a whopping $6.98. There's also a load of great shirts, and I picked up a pair of tailored-fit nantucket red pants for just over 20 bucks (something that had been on my internal wish-list for awhile).

My total damage was just over $55 for 5 items (using the code JAN20 and the Pin 6111 for free shipping on $50 or more), which really isn't a whole lot more than buying stuff at a thrift store. With that purchase, it was the first time I'd bought a new (non-thrifted, anyway) clothing item since our trip to San Francisco. Unless I stumble upon some more great online deals, I'm guessing it will be that long (<> 6 months) it until it happens again.