Seek The Substantial

I’ve never NOT enjoyed a Beau Miles film and I feel the same about this one. It’s 4 films that never quite were good enough to be actual full featured YouTube films and Miles critiques these mini-videos and why they didn’t work out. There’s a bit at the end that’s really good, there’s beauty in mediocrity and that’s the truth. Life’s pretty good. Everything’s 7 out of 10 and sometimes that’s okay. Don’t tell my wife that, she’s not one for settling, although she did marry me.

There’s this McSweeney’s satire where people who run love to tell you about their runs and just be thankful you don’t live with me. There are a few things that I’ve found that I really like that I’ll share.

BIX Hydration is something I’ve run across and they are a lot like Nuun, but I have really enjoyed the recovery supplement which has Vitamin C, Magnesium, Sodium, BCAA’s, Bromelain, and Calcium. It’s a bit expensive and I don’t drink it every day, but I do drink it on running days.

Roark’s Run Amok is expensive, but it is something that I enjoy. And I pretty much run in the same shorts and shirts over and over, so when I buy something it typically lasts me for a while and I get hundreds of run in what I buy. The Baja shorts are great and the Mathis shirts are great to run in. And if it isn’t clear enough, the designs are unique to say the least.

I am currently running in the Saucony Triumph 20, which is last year’s version of the Triumph, the Asics Novablast 3, which is last year’s version of the Novablast, and a pair of Atreyu Daily Trainers. The Triumph has a 10mm drop and a 37 mm stack height (it is high), the Novablast has an 8mm drop and a 31mm stack height, and the Atreyu has a 6mm drop with a 30mm stack height. I rotate them and as you can see, I do not buy the current version of shoes, but purchase last year’s version of shoes when they go on sale. The Triumph and the Novablasts are currently on sale on Amazon, hopefully in your size.  I’ve also read that changing stack height and drops is good for your feet. I also ran in some Adidas Boston 12’s last year that were great, but they had a plate and I think I prefer the non-plated shoes.

If you are new to running in 2024, like a lot of things I would encourage to pretty much run in what you have. If you don’t have much then what you have typically works. I also recommend trying to find a Nike or Adidas outlet store where you can typically find gear discounted. And most of the time, Nike and Adidas put out really good stuff even at the outlet mall. Oh, and I also really like Running Warehouse, you can search for cheap shoes and I’ve found that most shoes are pretty good, but you need to know what type of runner you are.

Since I’m putting things out there, I ran 1,564.77 miles in 2023, which is up from 1,535.61 miles in 2022. My biggest month was August with 176.48 miles and September I ran my 50k and had 152.48 miles. I can say that training for an ultra marathon in August in Texas and September is one of the least fun things that I do and I’m doing it again this year.