June 5th was National Running Day, and Matt and I were BOTH lucky enough to win free shoes from Merrell. On Twitter, they asked people to share how many miles they had run and gave shoes to 5 random responders. All we had to do was tweet and they gave us this awesome prize. What an awesome company. They surprised Matt by sending a pair of Mix Master Tuff shoes. We both have a different model of lightweight Mix Master trail shoes and love them. The Tuff model is a little bit heavier and more rugged. Instead of sending shoes to me, Merrell sent a certificate that allowed me to chose what I wanted. After seeing Matt’s shoes, I decided I wanted to try a pair as well. Merrell doesn’t make the Tuff for women though, so luckily they run just small enough in men’s sizes for me to order a pair. They came yesterday and I was anxious to go for a run to try them out.

Mix Master Tuff

The lugs on the bottom make them good for trails

I decided to try them this morning for an 8-mile run on the Polly Ann Trail. We had never been to the trail before but had talked about trying this rail-to-trail for a while. We started around Lake Orion and ran up to Oxford. The first 1.5 miles had the kind of surface we expected – small, crushed stones and dirt, which is similar to the surface of the Paint Creek Trail.

Polly Ann Trail

There was a stretch of about 1.75 miles that was paved, and these shoes did well on both surfaces. It rained throughout our whole run and the shoes were comfortable the whole time. I am always excited to try new shoes and I’m glad these seem to be a good addition to my collection. Now I just need to get out on the “real” trails to try them out.

In addition to new shoes, I also got a new bike last week. After doing two triathlons, I knew it was time to try something aside from my Schwinn mountain bike. It’s certainly not ideal for road racing. I don’t know much about bikes and wasn’t sure where to start. We went to a couple bike shops and I realized I didn’t feel comfortable on a road bike. The bike that felt the most comfortable for me is categorized as a “fitness” bike. It’s a Trek FX bike that has flat handlebars like I’m used to, but it has much thinner tires than my mountain bike and is good on the road.

My new bike

I’ve been a bit too busy this past week to give it a try, but I’m pretty excited about it. Hopefully I will notice quite an improvement in speed and I’ll feel like a speed demon the next time I race, haha.

– Janet