14 January 2022 

This morning I had several errands to do in Augusta, so I decided to run from Planet Fitness and also see how the Hoka Clifton 8s did in better conditions. The roads were clear, but there was a bit of a breeze and brought the temp down a bit.

Tonight’s sunset

By the time I got around to running, the wind was picking up, and it was getting chillier, nothing serious, but noticeable, especially once I began running up Outer Civic Center Drive towards the Commerce Center. When I passed the lights to Leighton Road the breeze picked up even more, but I wanted to get at least 6.0 miles in, which meant heading out towards Summerhaven Road.

While there was a LOT of traffic on the road, it had those big breakdown lanes to run in, so it was fairly safe to run there. At least I didn’t have to jump towards the ditch like I would out at the house if vehicles were coming in the opposite direction.

I did have to play mind games to keep going a couple of times. It wasn’t one of those runs where it was effortless, that is for sure. Going out in this direction is much more uphill than you realize until you look at the graphs, and you don’t realize the extra work you are doing until you see the splits.

Looking back towards Augusta from Summerhaven Road

The road conditions were the best I have run on in a while, which was nice. Not having to focus on what I am landing on, made it, so I could pay attention to running tall, t-rex arms and what, I think at least, is landing under my hips. Although, I am pretty confident that I am still heel striking pretty good.

I felt good until the last mile when my right foot and left Achilles started to bother me at around 5.0 miles. Both are problems I have dealt with for a while now. Luckily, there was only a mile left and when I slowed down a little it seemed to help a little. 

The Injinji socks seemed to be part of the issue on the right foot. Plus, I think when I picked up the pace a little coming back I started to run like a much younger me, and I tend to land on the outside of my feet a little more. The right foot doesn’t do super well when I do this for a few miles and gets grumpy about things. When I get back to heel striking and rolling through to the big toe, it doesn’t complain as much.

Hoka Clifton 8

The Hoka Clifton 8s did everything that I wanted and while they don’t have a lot of pop, they will be good mileage eaters, which is precisely the reason I got them. I have other shoes that do have more pop, so these are for easy and long runs.

I did learn that my Saucony gloves, with the mitten cover, aren’t much good when it gets under 30 degrees and the wind is blowing directly on them. My hands were cold and uncomfortable from halfway through the first mile until I got to Summerhaven Road, where I turned around. I gave it to TheWife, who runs warmer than I do in the cold weather.

A good run where I learned a lot about the Hoka Clifton 8s, my gloves, and that running in decent conditions is a lot more fun than attempting to survive the run due to crappy weather and road conditions. 

No, dah — right. 🤔