Up your Game and the Holy Grail Shoe

February has arrived.   To keep my focus I have signed up for a 5K Trail race on 2/26 in Huntersville.  I continue to try and apply peer pressure on one of my newbie running buddies to sign up for his first trail race (Yes, u Santos if you are reading this). I also signed up for the Bear at Grandfather Mountain.  While my buddies are at the Scotch tasting I will be enduring a five mile uphill climb to the top of Grandfather.   A friend of mine said she heard most people hurl at the top but that she would hold my hair for me (thanks Karla!).  Isn't that sweet?

With February comes the pressure, Kelly the Magnificent is upping the mileage.  I was finally warming up to the 5K mileage and now suddenly (or it feels like that) it's time to move it up.  I knew this was coming but my body isn't on board completely with this idea.  Thus the 4 miles starts.  Actually I'm a little behind I probably should be doing at least 4.5 now and realistically should be at the 5 mile marker but alas....I am slow and a bit of a slacker.  After the 4 mile trail race though, I no longer have any excuses.

Ok so now to most important part of this post.  I run on the road with Nike Free - they are awesome shoes.  My trail shoes however are lacking.  They are heavy and clunky at best.  Enter the Merrell trail barefoot shoes which just came out.    I ordered the Pace Glove.  Now...I can tell you I have built up in my mind these are the Holy Grail of trail shoes...so I'm REALLY hoping they are wonderful.   I have been flashing back to a scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Office where Ferris looks at the camera and says "Cameron has never been in love. At least, nobody's ever been in love with him. If things don't change for him, he's gonna marry the first girl he lays, and she's gonna treat him like shit, because she will have given him what he has built up in his mind as the end-all, be-all of human existence. She won't respect him, 'cause you can't respect somebody who kisses your ass. It just doesn't work".   I hope my new trail shoes don't disappoint because I have surely built them up to be the end-all.  

I've never really been this excited about a pair of shoes but we shall see....should have them in a week.  Here they are....