What I am thinking about this morning?

It was one of those gray and overcast mornings, after a night of intermittent rain showers.

I was still tired from being woken up at about 2:30 AM by some kind of critter, chittering under the open windows, and then tossing and turning for the three hours. I know that most likely it was just a raccoon, but at that time of the morning, our imaginations tend to run amok.

Finally, I got back to sleep and dreamt the weirdest dreams, almost like I was awake, and they were actually happening. They seemed so real, but what they were about, I have very little recollection, besides in one I had been recalled to active duty and was assigned to work for a real winner. One of those Lieutenants who had been passed over twice and was going to go out in a blaze of angry hate. In real life, he would have been “simply wonderful” to work for. Yes, that is sarcasm you are reading.

While walking Bennie, I figured out that I will probably run for around 30:00-minutes, take a look at the Under Armour Sonic 3’s, to see if they are any good for running. Then see what kind of data points I will get to look at from their embedded sensor. In a way, I am looking forward to comparing their technology to Garmin’s and Stryd’s. Now, to set it up on my iPhone.

I am not sure what is going on, but I feel very distracted this morning. If I was a Star Wars Jedi Knight, I would say that there is some large disturbance in the force. However, in real life, there are so many tragedies going on in the world this morning that I don’t doubt that on some level, we all feel something isn’t right.

Although, I foresee Hurricane Ida making landfall and leaving behind a swath of destruction that we haven’t seen in a long time. There is something about this one that isn’t good.

Maybe I will sort it out on the run later.

What Did I do?

The weather outside was still gray and overcast, with a spit of rain every so often. I had even thought about wearing a long-sleeve tech shirt because it felt so cold after the hot spell we had most of last week. When 60 degrees feels cold to me, it has been hot/humid for a while.

I did get out the Under Armour Sonic 3’s for their first run. Yes, the Sonic 4’s are available, but as my usual way of doing things I get the older version at a cheaper price, so I don’t feel so bad about experimenting. Connecting them to the MapMyRun app on the phone was easy and made the app into something that could be useful to me.

The Sonic 3’s felt fine walking around the house and I closely checked out the quality of the workmanship on the shoes, everything looked fine — no flaws or things that would make me wonder what was going. When I finished those things, I felt confident that I wouldn’t be returning them.

I did weigh them and got a few before photos. There is a weight discrepancy between the shoes due to the right one having the sensor in it, but it was not noticeable while walking or running in the shoes.

However, the HOVR Sonic 3’s are probably the brightest orange shoes I have had in a long time — yes, they are that bright and the photos do not do them justice. They will be perfect during hunting season up heah when I run down-back among the guys toting guns and chasing deer around in the woods, who are all dressed in orange too. Along with my bright orange running jacket and safety yellow hat to let them know I am not a hunter.

I was ready for their maiden voyage.

Since I was doing an easy run down to Troy Trail and back, I didn’t bother doing a warm-up and got all the technology primed and ready to go at the end of the driveway.

I feel quite silly sometimes with all the buzzes and beeps going off. Especially, when I start running as my watch warns me that I am going faster than the Stryd app wants me to. Then add in Garmin’s app, adding its two cents into the conversation. No, I didn’t bother with opening MapMyRun and letting it add to the cacophony of buzzes and beeps. I figured I would get the data from the shoes after the run.

One of the reasons that I got the HOVR Sonic 3s is because I don’t have to worry about the watch or phone beeping and buzzing at me. While still getting distance data, along with a few other things that are interesting.

Most of the run itself was at a comfortable effort pace until I got back to the Old Quaker Road Extension and saw TheWife a couple of hundred yards ahead. I thought that she would be out running, and I might catch a glimpse of her just about where I did. She started right after I did and has a consistent pace, and most of the time I can predict where she is in a run. I decided to pick up the pace a little and see if I could catch her.

I did catch her at the quarter-mile mark from the house and ran in with her the rest of her last Philbrick Lap. We got to gab a bit, and running with her is about the only time that I run at the pace that Stryd wants me to for Zone 1.

The U/A HOVR Sonic 3’s did fine, they fit well, run quietly and run lighter than the 9.5 ounces that they weighed in at. I like the heel cup a lot, it is very comfortable and there was no irritation or hot spots. Although while walking for my cool-down, my right foot (Tailor’s Bunionette) was bothering me, so I am not sure what that means, but it is something that I will keep my eye on going forward.

I got Sonic 3’s for this fall and early winter running, but the built-in tech and more importantly how comfortable they were has me intrigued about using them more. While I put them back in the box on the shelf in the closet, I can see myself sneaking them out a couple of times a week.

The accuracy wasn’t too bad either.

Garmin — 3.78/35:33

Strava — 3.77/35:34

Stryd — 3.77/35:30

MapMyRun — 3.74/35:24

All of them are very close and definitely close enough for my purposes.

One thing is for sure, not too many people will miss seeing me in those bright orange shoes.