Gear Review: Salomon Trail Shoes

Although the Smarty Panties didn’t win the No Skirts Allowed Adventure Race this year, we did get a sweet door prize: vouchers for a free pair of Salomon XT Wings Trail Running Shoes. I was so excited…what girl doesn’t love shoes? And free ones at that!

Salomon XT Wings

Within a few days of returning to Louisville at the race, I headed to the Trail Store to get fitted and mailed in my voucher. Funny enough, the staffer who helped me was wearing these shoes, and he gave a great testimonial. He said he wears them for running and casually, and loves them. Sweet! Less than a week later, the box with my shiny new shoes had arrived.

I had been running in a pair of Asics that were described as road/trail hybrids. They did the trick, but a dedicated pair of trail shoes was definitely on my wish list, and now here they were on my front stoop! The first run in the XT Wings started out great. The shoes are lighter, have great traction/tread, and I really like the cinch-style (“Quicklace”) lacing system, though it’s taking some getting used to. A bonus is that they’re pretty cute, gotta love the green and grey color scheme (like F2BT!).

A couple miles into the test run, I got an all-to-familiar feeling…blisters forming on the arches of my feet. This is a personal problem I have learned to live with, and after several years I’ve found a pretty reliable fix (or fixes): Superfeet insoles, BodyGlide, and the perfect socks (which can vary depending on the shoes, and takes some trial and error to discover).

We slowed to a walk and finished our route, I let the blisters heal, and next time time tried the shoes with my insoles. No blisters!

The best thing I’ve noticed since I started running trails in these shoes is the sturdy reinforced toe. I can stub my toe on a tree root or the dirt (yeah, I’m not the most graceful runner around) and not even feel it. I even tripped once and fell flat on my face, but my toe was no worse for wear! They’re also easier to clean, which is handy for muddy Kentucky winters.

I’d give these shoes 3.5 of 4 stars so far. If I had paid for them, I would definitely be satisfied with my purchase.

– albledsoe

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Fit Life Resources

My mom and I were recently discussing how overwhelming it can be to try to be healthy, because there is so much information out there, much of it conflicting. Do you drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day, or half your body weight in ounces, or something else entirely? Is soy a great veg source of protein, or does it screw with your hormones? The influx of information can be mind-boggling and often paralyzing. Even if you have the best intentions, it can sometimes feel impossible to know if you’re actually doing and eating the right things.

Here at F2BT, we attempt to wade through the unreliable information, bring you the most up-to-date advice, and deliver our real-life results, good or bad. Here are just a few places I regularly turn for health-related info and ideas. There are hundreds of others out there, and we’d love to hear your suggestions as well.

Runner’s World and Women’s Health magazines. I’m a magazine addict anyway, and these two (both by Rodale) are high-quality, info-packed reads every single issue. Both have great websites as well. I especially love the Newbie Chronicles by Mark Parent in RW for it’s honest, hilarious take on being a beginning runner. Warning: Runner’s World may inspire you to do crazy things, like run a marathon.

MapMyRun.com. This site allows you to plug in any starting point and map a running route which you can save, share, etc. You can set up a profile to track your runs, search for other runs in an area and more. Sister sites include mapmyride.com and mapmyhike.com.

Dr. Andrew Weil. I’ve referenced Dr. Weil several times before, but this Harvard-educated physician has proven to be one of the most reliable sources I’ve found for all things health. He believes emotions and spirit play a bigger role in our well-being than most people acknowledge, and he believes some things are best treated by conventional medicine, and other things are better treated in a more natural manner. I always check out what he’s written on an issue before I take any action.

Self magazine. I had to include another mag, since Self has topped my pile for years. The print issue covers everything for cancer survivors to fashion and celebrities to the best new gear, and I love the editor, a triathlete and mom with a great blog of her own. We at F2BT also check out the Eat Like Me blog at self.com, where a registered dietician photographs and posts every single meal she eats. Great stuff!

iTunes. This isn’t very original, but I check out iTunes for inspiration for workouts, both music and podcasts. I love the sports mixes that include “coached” workouts. I own Lance Armstrong’s and Kara Goucher’s. It’s also inspiring to see the top Power Songs (“Eye of the Tiger” anyone?). And I’ve gotten some great podcasts with workouts, yoga and meditation, etc. Check out Mayo Clinic and Dr. Weil there for medical advice, and listen to interviews with top athletes to keep you motivated.

Ken Combs Running Store. This of course will vary depending on where you are, but your local running store is a great resource. For the most part, the people working there love to run, bike, or whatever, and they want to help the endurance community grow (read: free advice). All running stores I know of also get involved in putting on races, are very active in giving back to the community, and generally have ties to running groups (or coordinate their own). I love Ken Combs in Louisville as well as Swag’s and the Trail Store.

– albledsoe

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Event Recap: NSAAR (conclusion)

Once we retrieved Valerie’s missing tire from the offending team and reassembled her bike, we were ready to set out for checkpoint (CP) No. 1 of the NSAAR! Rough start aside, we were still pretty excited and anxious to make up the lost time. The first bike leg took us out of Jameson Camp and through several neighborhoods, then down to a mall.

Some of the CPs were manned, and the staffer or volunteer would initial or punch our “passport” sheet. Others would be unmanned, but we’d have to answer a question from our clue sheet to prove we were there. Things like: Is the sidewalk on the N, S, E, or W of the intersection of such-and-such streets? How many light poles are between this street and this street? One of the clues really threw us off, because it gave us an intersection to locate and asked us to give the name of the company on the large blue sign at the NW corner of the intersection. Well, there was a solitary giant GREEN Prologis sign at that corner. We looked around, double-checked the compass, checked further down the street, and scratched our heads for several minutes (several other teams came along meanwhile doing the same). We finally determined it was a trick question, and our official answer for that CP was: No Blue Sign.

As a team, the Smarty Panties finally figured out how to coordinate three women on bicycles with a clue sheet, maps, compass, and passport/pen between us. It took some trial and error (and trust among partners!), but we finally settled in to a comfortable system just in time to jump into a canoe and right out of our comfort zone!

Valerie checks her gear at the transition area

Gear was an issue the entire day, though I think we did exceptionally well for complete newcomers. Leaving our bikes on a creek bank and getting into the canoe was interesting; I think we’d been expecting these types of transitions to happen in the transition area (right?). That wasn’t the case. You pretty much keep all your crap with you all the time (backpack, helmet, shoes, food, pocketknife, duct tape, etc.). Getting into the canoe, our biggest concern was our backpacks. There was already water in the bottom of the canoe, and we didn’t want everything soaked. I wore my pack, and was able to keep Valerie and Marcia’s packs on my feet since I was in the middle. Valerie took the front position and Marcia steered from the back.

All of the Smarty Panties had some canoe experience, but these canoes and the creek we were in still proved to be the most difficult event of the day. We assumed it would be a chance to relax, eat and drink, review maps/clues, and gather ourselves for the next portion of the race. That assumption is pretty hilarious in hindsight, because we spent the entire time in the canoe (which was wobbly, yellow, and plastic, much like a Fisher Price toddler toy) stressed and frazzled, trying not to tip over and carrying the thing through areas that were too shallow to paddle through. We were one of the few teams that managed to not end up tipping, which helped us have a better rest of the day.

We had a small orienteering course in another park at the end of the canoe debacle, followed by a LONG walk back to our bikes. This trek included some bushwhacking, but I think we probably could have avoided that. Oh well, we felt very adventurous hiking through the weeds, and finally did make it back to the bikes (we even went over/under a chain link fence…quite Rambo of us, huh?).

Team Smarty Panties: Valerie, Amanda, Marcia

The last bike portion was simple now that we’d mastered our system (and safety-pinned the strap of my backpack together after it broke), and we were soon back at the camp, where we received another map outlining a ropes/team-building course and another orienteering course. We completed several of the team-building challenges (one point for each team member that completed it), but the lines were very long, so we decided to tackle as many of the orienteering CPs as possible in the hour or so we had left. [Teams that finished after the 6-hour race deadline were penalized for every minute they were late.]

The weather ended up being perfect most of the day; sunny and clear, but cool enough that we weren’t overheated running around with backpacks and long pants.

We finished about 30 minutes before the deadline, the fourth team to cross the finish line. I was so proud of our team, we came in with no idea what to expect, and when we faced a problem, we made it work. Valerie, Marcia, and I were all happy with our finish, especially that we finished DRY, and are ready to come back next year armed with experience, lessons learned (like the importance of a better backpack), and great attitudes!

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Event Recap: No Skirts Allowed Adventure Race (part 1)

After about two months of training, team meetings, and gathering supplies, the day of my first adventure race was here. Although we had very little idea of what to expect (despite our best attempts to weasel information out of the race coordinators via e-mail), my Smarty Panties teammates and I practiced our mountain biking and orienteering and prepared as best we could to take on a brand new challenge. We were only slightly concerned about what exactly bushwhacking is, and what we might need precisely 3 yards of duct tape for.

The No Skirts Allowed Adventure Race (NSAAR) is held outside Indianapolis and is for women only. This was the third year for the event, and it doubled in size from 2008. The 2010 race is already scheduled for October 9 “somewhere northeast of Indy,” so check it out if you’re interested.

Departing Louisville for NSAAR

We arrived at Jameson Camp on Friday night in the pouring rain, and checked into some pretty nice cabins (I grabbed a top bunk, as always), and then headed to the nicest campground lodge I’ve ever seen for registration and meetings. As the women congregated, the buzz and excitement grew, and I almost forgot I’d been sick all week. The event staff remained quite adept at dodging our questions and left us clueless about any details of the race. We did have a required ropes clinic, where we learned fun tidbits like “if you see red (on the harness buckle), you’re dead.” The group was amazingly attentive during that session…

My Smarty Panties team of Marcia and Valerie were joined in the cabin by four other ladies from Louisville, most of whom know Marcia and her husband through their Rogue Racing Project. More on that (very cool) topic another day. We were all bunked in the same room, and spent the night trying to set out all our supplies and make sure each individual and each team had all the required gear. Luckily, everything worked out and we were all good to go with few complications. Bags were packed for the following day, clothes were set out, food and water were gathered, and we settled into our bunks.

NOTE: Trying to figure out the concept of 3 yards of duct tape and how that would work? Some smart gal figured out to wrap it around a water bottle!

None of the seven of us had any adventure racing experience, so there was a lot of unknown. Luckily, the forecast was clear for Saturday, and we were prepared to have fun, learn some new things, and, if all went well, spend as little time bushwhacking as possible!

– albledsoe

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