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About
My Infrequently Updated Blog. The web-based journal of M. Forde, computer nerd, endurance athlete, and DeLorean owner
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Giraffes
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Product Review: Nike Tailwind 2008
Welcome to a new feature on this blog. I'm going spend some time writing
what I think of various running related items such as shoes, clothes,
and energy gels.
My first review is the Nike Tailwind 2008 running shoe. At this point,
they're a little hard to find as they have been replaced by the Tailwind
2009. From what I've read about the 2009 edition, not much has changed
so much of this should still be relevant.
What first drew me to this running shoe was the Air Max cushioning. Like
many Nikes, the heel contained the Air pockets. Unlike many other Nikes,
these also had the Air Max cushioning in the forefoot.
I tried them on and they were snug, but not too tight. Perfect. They
were already on sale by time I was buying them. Even better.
I ran about 400 miles in my first pair in about six months time, and
replaced them with another pair which lasted about another four months.
During this time the shoes served me well on treadmills as well as road
and trail courses.
These shoes, however, are best for heavier runners. The cushioning is
very firm and needs extra weight to compress properly for maximum impact
absorption. When I first started wearing the Tailwinds, I was about two
months into my training and was about 210lbs. As I ran more, I lost more
weight. At 180lbs the shoes were still quite good. At 160lbs they still
provided adequate cushioning, although I started to feel my runs more.
The Tailwinds served me well until I was under 140lbs. Below that and
they feel like running in clogs.
I recommend the Nike Tailwinds for heavier runners with normal to low
arches. The men's Tailwind 2009 can be found on the EastBay website for
$79.99 (99.99 for women's) as of this writing, making them a relatively
affordable running shoe.
Next time, we'll discuss my current running shoe, the ASICS Cumulus-10.
[/running/reviews]
[permanent link]
NYC Half Marathon
Yesterday was my worst half marathon yet. While standing in the corral
for almost an hour before the race start, I developed a migraine which
became progressively worse as the day went on.
Around 6:30am, I saw some flashing white lights out of the corner of my
eye. Figuring it was someone with a camera, I looked over only to see
that there was no one with a camera standing there or walking away.
Then I realized the flashes were the aura. At that point I knew it would
be a bad day.
My split times illustrate the progression of the migraine including the
nausea, blurred vision, and dizziness:
5K: 0:23:42 (not too bad)
10K: 0:47:32 (still okay)
15K: 1:14:45 (feeling nauseated)
20K: 1:46:09 (trying hard not to vomit in front of officials that will
pull me from the race)
final: 1:51:49 (I'm not dead yet!)
Out of about 15 to 16 thousand people that signed up, about 10 thousand
finished.
Yesterday was apparently day 1 of a heat wave, and the humidity was
quite high. At the start of the race, the air temperature (in
Fahrenheit) plus the humidity percentage number was 151. At 152 and
higher the risk of heat stroke increases significantly, or so I read in
Running Times.
Only one member of the Giraffes met her goal. We're really proud of her. Not
only did she meet her goal, but this was her first half marathon.
All four members of our team that ran finished, but we all agreed on a
new rule: no summer races longer than 10K.
Despite the horrible weather conditions, and other problems, I'm glad I
ran this race. My time was far from my best, but now I can say I ran
through Central Park, down 7th Ave to 42nd, through Times Square and out
to the West Side Highway and down to Battery Park. Seriously, how cool
is that?
ABC had a special broadcast last night at 11:35PM recapping the race. I
recorded it and am looking forward to watching it sometime today.
[/running]
[permanent link]
Windows 7
I installed the Release Candidate (build 7100) of Windows 7 on my
workstation today. I'm using it as I write this post. I'm not sure how
much longer I'll be using it. I suppose I'll be using it at least until
FreeBSD 8.0 is released.
The Aero interface seems to have been polished a bit since Vista. This
is both good and bad. It's good in that I've been able to customize it
to be almost as usable as the XP and "classic" UIs. Almost.
It's bad in that it's too user friendly. It's as though the designers
have such a low opinion of the users' intelligence that they went out of
their way to hide how the system works. It's like Microsoft wants to be
Apple.
Don't be Apple. You're better than that.
Parts of the UI seem to get in the way. The window decoration draws much
attention away from the actual task at hand. Moving the mouse pointer
out of your way can lead to more things in your way. Hovering over the
wrong spot leads to pop-up thumbnails of open applications. Or all the
windows become transparent hiding you task and showing you the desktop.
I'll try it out some more, but I'm pretty sure I'll be going back to the
"classic" Win95-Win2000 UI. Even in that mode, the explorer shell is
just different enough to be annoying.
[/musings]
[permanent link]
Race Against Crime and Drugs
The Hoboken Race Against Crime and Drugs was last night.
The Giraffes were split into three three-person teams. Unfortunately,
two members were unable to run last night. However, two of the more
recent additions to the Giraffes stepped up and joined the race.
My right calf was still sore at the start of the race, but felt better
after about a mile. By that point it was too late and I knew I wouldn't
PR, but I did fairly well keeping my time under 21 minutes and finishing
number 79 of 609.
The team consisting of Brian, Liz, and me did fairly well and placed 7th
in overall team competitions with a combined time of 1:13:46. Had our
second team not been a runner short, they likely would have done well
enough for 8th or 9th place.
[/running]
[permanent link]
Race Against Crime and Drugs
The Hoboken Race Against Crime and Drugs is tonight. Online entry is
closed but race day registration should be open this evening for anyone
who wants to run and hasn't signed up. The race starts at 7PM on Pier A.
The Giraffes are splitting into three subspecies for tonight's race. We
have three three-person teams running with a little friendly competition
going on. I hope I don't let my sub-team down tonight.
I'm not feeling very fast. In fact, my right calf is still sore from the
speed work I did at the track yesterday. I ended up doing about seven
and a half miles of intervals and sprints over the course of about an
hour.
Hopefully it won't be too bad once I get warmed up. The 5K course in
Hoboken is fairly fun; flat and alongside the Hudson River for most of
the way.
[/running]
[permanent link]
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