WoW!!! I got to run outside in SHORT & a T-SHIRT for the first time in 2019.

Yippeee Kayaaa and all that other balderdash. No, I didn’t watch anyone drive into the ditch because they were blinded by the legs and arms shining so brightly in the sunshine this morning. 😉

Yeah, it was in the mid-50s, with some pretty nice sunshine outside this morning.

However, after taking the last three days off, I didn’t feel like battling the hill around the house, so I headed into Augusta to run over by the DMV. I figured I would get in 5-6 miles and check out some new running shoes.

Yeah, I took three days off from running! On Thursday morning I woke up and my left calf felt as though it had a golf ball sitting in it. Not a great feeling to say the least and even when I foam rolled, stretched, walked and all those other things that I do when I get this. I decided to not run and see how things went. Unfortunately, around noon time I started to feel like crap.

So the no run decision was a good one, Friday was more of the same, but around Bennie’s last walk my calf finally released and I fought off whatever low-level crap thing was attempting to ruin my day.

Saturday was our Wedding Anniversary – 17 years with Mary and I can’t imagine those years being any better with anyone else. Mary quite simply is the love of my life and I am a better person with her in my life. She keeps me grounded and doesn’t let me get off on too many tangents – not that I would ever do that.

We did go to Portland, walked around Back Cove, did some shopping, ate out and just spent the day together.

Although we did wander over to Fleet Feet and I got to look at some running shoes. Yeah, I look at running shoes on my Anniversary – well it is part of who I am. 😉

While I didn’t get any there, I came really close to getting a pair of Karhu Ikoni, but the green colorway was fugly and while colorways usually don’t bother me, to buy a pair of shoes at full-price they have to be shoes I love. I didn’t love them that much.

After eating supper in Falmouth, we headed north to Freeport and I stopped at the Nike Outlet store. They had a pair of Nike Pegasus Turbos and a bunch of fugly colorway Epic React FlyKnits in my size. A very quick no on the fit of the Turbos – they just didn’t feel good on my feet.

However, the Epic Reacts felt good. The one thing that had always stopped me is the conflicting reviews of the toe box and polar opposites so many of the reviews have been about the V1 of this shoe model. When I put on the size 8.5s they just felt really comfortable, the only thing that I didn’t like was how finicky they were on the lacing and tieing.

After thinking about it and at the price point, I decided why not and they came home with me.

This morning when I weighed them I was pleasantly surprised at the 7.3/7.4 ounce weight of the shoes. Light with a lot of cushioning is right where I like things. They also seemed to change color overnight, moving from a dark gray to a purplish sort of yech color. Not really a fan, but I will learn to live with it. It must have been the lights in the store that fooled us both.

How did the first run go?

Initially, I figured that it would be an easy 5-6 mile run since I hadn’t run since Wednesday and really over-ate way too much yesterday. At least that was my intention when I started out.

Once I got going, they were just so damn easy to pick up the pace, without pushing the effort levels really hard. I didn’t push the effort into race pace kind of work, but I was moving right along for the whole 10K run.

I did have to stop once to adjust the lacing/snugness on the left foot and probably should have done the right foot at the same time but didn’t. I still have to get the right snugness for me with the Epic Reacts, but otherwise, I am impressed with how well I ran in them for the distance and didn’t end up with any hotspots or other glaring things that I didn’t like.

A very good first run in the Epic React v1s and even though I wasn’t crazy about the colorway, the price was right and it is a running shoe that checks off the boxes I look for in a running shoe pretty much box for box.

All I can say is that I probably needed the days off more than I thought and between the calf and feeling like crap. Then having a great anniversary day out with Mary, just made for a great weekend.

For everyone running Boston tomorrow, trust your training, go out conservatively and finish hard. I will be watching after I do my much shorter run.