Hoka Bondi 2 shoe review

So a couple of months ago I was on the trail with David and he had some thick shoes, which Kyle and I started calling shape ups.  I've always run in neutral shoes and I though those were weird looking.  Then I did the blackhills 50 and there was a bunch of rocks that you had to run on.  My feet were killing me by the end and I was super sore.   A person that finished shortly after at the race ran in the Hoka's and after talking to him about how much my feet were killing me, he said he didn't feel a thing.  So after talking to that runner I was really intrigued.
I ended up with the Hoka Bondi's 2 and gave them a try. They came in and at first I was like, 'what in the world did I buy?'  The heel is 35mm and the forefoot is 30.  For comparison sake, the other shoes I run with the new balance 890 are 28mm heel and 21mm forefoot.  These shoes were definitely thick.  I gave them a try and they felt pretty good. Apart from feeling about 3 inches higher the cushioning on these shoes were unreal.  I definitely noticed that my legs were a bit fresher especially when I would run some of those longs runs 15+ miles.  I still had soreness in my legs, but I noticed that my legs didn't feel as tired as when I was wearing normal sneakers.  I've been wearing these shoes for about 2 months now and they have held up quite well.  The shoes have also helped me to raise my knees and avoid the marathon shuffle, which is good because I need to raise my feet in order to make my stride more efficient.  Some of the bottom of the shoe has definitely been worn a bit, but I think I still have a couple of months in the shoes which is good because they were kind of pricey.  I would definitely recommend the hoka's for long runs especially if you are doing back to back long runs on the weekends.  The extra cushion on the shoes definitely keeps your legs feeling a bit better.  The difference isn't really massive, but I could definitely tell.  Here are the pros and cons of the bondi 2 shoes based on what I have observed so far:
Pros: cushion absorbs a great deal of the impact leaving your legs feeling a a bit fresher than in normal sneakers, shoes make your avoid the marathon shuffle a bit in order to avoid dragging, shoes run true to size
Cons: Pricey these shoes are running between 100-170 bucks
Overall, running is a repetitive motion sport and therefore, your legs are your main asset it's important to protect them; Hoka's have allowed me to get my mileage without too much soreness.

May 27 training

Tuesday 2 hour bike
Wednesday 6 miles
Thursday 6 miles
Friday 2.5 hour bike
Saturday 14.5 1:50 run

legs felt pretty tired from the patriot half, hence the amount of biking long run on Saturday felt okay until I got a bit dehydrated need to start carrying a water bottle now that it's getting warmer

Training for week of May 19

Monday 6 miles
Tuesday 6 miles
Wednesday 8 miles
Thursday rest
Friday 12 miles
Saturday 12 miles
Sunday rest
Monday Patriot half 1:22

Training for week of May 11

Training for week of May 11
Sunday Sendai Half 1:26
Monday rest
Tuesday Back in Dallas 6 miles
Wednesday rest
Thursday 6 miles
Friday rest
Saturday 15.5 miles
Sunday rest

Patriot Half

So the Patriot half was on Monday the 26 and this was the third year that I was running in the race.  The last two years I have been in third place and this year I didn't want to disappoint.  This race is pretty special because it marks the end of the spring racing season, showcasing the city of Rockwall and the Rockwall running club http://www.rockwallrunningcenter.com/, and it's a great race that Barrett Hopper has put together.  This year was no different, the start was in front of the high school stadium which was great because it had plenty of restrooms in the stadium and no waiting was involved.  Also, the race bring out most of the RRC folks and this year the white rock co-op paced it which was great as well.  The half marathon started right at 7:45 and at around 7 the rrc folks took a group picture on the front stairs of the stadium.  As always the picture came out great and there was a bunch of folks in the picture.  Before the race started a circle was formed honoring the veterans which was awesome since it was memorial day.  As usual with Barrett's races the race started right on time at 7:45 and we were out of the stadium.  The first few miles felt pretty good as they were down hill, quickly a group was formed: Barnabas, Brandon, two guys from commerce, Catch up, and Greg's son.  I knew Catch up and Greg's son were doing the relay so I wasn't really worried about them. I also noticed Barnabus was a 1:05 half marathoner so I knew he would kill it the second half.  My goal was to make it to the podium so I wanted to be conservative and then push it on the hills.  We made it through the park, and through Cameroon lake with no troubles.  My legs were feeling good and I just wanted some steady miles.  We went under the 205 bridge and to the shores where I knew the hills would start.  The first commerce guy started to slow down and that is when I passed him he mentioned he had a side stitch, it was hot and humid so I knew the conditions got the best of him.  At this point I was in 4th and as we headed to the park were the exchange was I saw the different runners which was inspiring and I kept telling myself just stay steady.  We hit the monstrous hill and that was really tough, I knew it was coming but even then it was a beating.  We finally got out of the shores and I knew a big down hill was coming up by squabble creek.  This down hill was a great boost for me as I was flying down that hill. Back under the 205 bridge I saw a great deal of runners and it was great as they cheered and I cheered back.  I knew this would be the toughest stage of the race going down john king; but I was in 4th and I knew I could catch someone and get on the podium.  At this point my legs were starting to burn, but I kept telling myself just get to the next mile.  I saw Brandon walking for a bit and that inspired me as I was gaining on the two guys in front.  Finally when I was on John King I passed the other commerce runner and I was gaining on Brandon as he was stopping for a bit.  My legs were burning at this point and my arms were getting super fatigued  but I just kept with it, we had a wind to our face which helped to cool off a bit but didn't really help with going faster.  After about half a mile I caught up to Brandon, and we were both hurting pretty bad; this was definitely a race of guts.  Brandon started to speed up and I was going to go wit him but started to feel dizzy-which for me was a big red flag as I have been to the ER before for collapsing.  So I knew I had to slow down, Brandon quickly created separation and at this point I just wanted to stop running; my legs were screaming at me to stop.  I made the right turn on the baseball field and I knew I was close, I was happy not to be fighting the wind only to make a left turn and feel it again.  The last stretch was really tough but I saw Greg and that gave me a boost.  The last turn was amazing, seeing all the people cheer for me was inspiring and gave me the last boost that I needed to finish the race.  I finished with a spring and once I stopped I could definitely tell that I was overheating. I saw my parents and Jessica were there to give me some water that I desperately needed.  I walked it off and felt okay, the people with the shaved ice definitely helped and it was so yummy.  It was great to see all the other runners coming in and finishing strong.  I got my matraca and was cheering them.  Third year getting third place, but I was happy with what I did I gave it my all and that's what counts.  Barrett and crew did an amazing job with this race and I highly recommend it.  It's a tough race for sure, but isn't that what running is all about? A celebration of how tough one can be.

Japan trip part two

Okay so the next day I also woke up very early and just laid in bed.  I had breakfast around 8 o'clock where again the breakfast was buffet style and amazing.  I was surprised at how it had fish and other lunch/dinner style food for breakfast.  Yet, I wasn't complaining, as I was savoring the food.  The yogurt, they had was amazing and I must have ate 3-4 servings of that stuff.  After breakfast we went to the bus station where we hoped on the trolley train, that went around Sendai to various major attractions.  The trolley was a neat idea as it passed every 20 minutes or so and you could hop on and off at various stops.  We first went to a really neat mausoleum of a famous ruler on top of a gorgeous hill.  The place was covered with very tall trees and everything was so clean and prestige.  The mausoleum had be reconstructed because it was destroyed during the war as with many things in Japan.  It was a great place to check out as we saw a great deal of nature and how they commemorated the dead.  The next stop we had on the trolley was the Sendai castle stop. When we got there, actors in drums and samurai costumes were acting and entertaining the crowd.  Ate a desert that I had never tried before, but I was great.  It was really sticky rice with some green topping that gave it a great flavor. The castle had been destroyed and the only remains was a wall with a spectacular view of the city.  We hoped on the trolley back to the hotel to eat lunch and afterwards we walked to the expo to check it out. The expo was in front of city hall where we had the conference.  When we got to the expo there was a stage with performances going on.  Actors dressed up as samurai's, people dancing with drums in the background, and people with a bunch of lanterns attached to bamboo sticks were performing.  We shopped at the running expo and got some suveniers, and walked around.  The food spelled delicious but I had already ate lunch so I wasn't hungry.  We went back to the hotel were I rested a bit and had dinner at around 6:30.  Afterwards we just rested and got ready for the race the next day.
The next morning again I woke up super early around 4:30 and just laid in bed for a bit.  Put my racing gear on and headed to breakfast around 6:30, didn't want to eat too much so I just had some fruit and the delicious yogurt.  A bus came for us and took us to the stadium were the race would start.  The race started at 10 and we got to the stadium around 8 so we had plenty of time to get ready.  I made sure to stretch real well and be loose.  About 15 minutes until the start everyone got ready and they placed us at the very front with all the elites.  Everyone was getting into their corral and waiting for the start, the wheelchair participants started 15 min at 9:45. With about 10 minutes everyone had lined up and it was very silent.  I have never been surrounded by so many people and just complete silence.  Everyone was just looking at the clock waiting for the start.  The gun was fired and everyone started super fast.  I was getting past left and right and I was thinking to myself, just control your pace and your breathing.  The temperature was pretty warm and the sun was hitting pretty strong.  I tried to keep a steady pace, as I wasn't wearing a watch, I just wanted to listen to my body and enjoy the run.  First 5km was passed at approximately 18:10 and I felt pretty decent.  I knew the race had just begun and I wanted to keep a steady pace. The race had it's shares of inclines followed by descents so I just made sure to keep a steady pace going up and try and accelerate on the downs.  My legs started to feel a bit heavy at this point but I just kept going.  We passed a big stretch of shady trees, people dancing, and people banging on the drums.  It was pretty neat to see so many people cheering and seeing all the runners. I also, loved how people kept yelling Dallas, and I was giving them a thumbs up.  The next mark was the 10km in which I passed around 38:10.  I knew I was slowing down due to the heat and I just wanted to keep a steady pace.  I'm not a heat runner and I knew that, but I wanted to give it my all so I kept pushing.  The 15km mark I passed in around 58:40.  At this point in the race I was tired and my legs started to feel like bricks.  I saw the winner going into the stadium as I was heading out for the last portion of the race which was pretty neat.  At the 20km mark I was in survival mode as my head was now hurting and my legs were screaming to stop.  I was pretty exhausted, but I knew that I could make it into the stadium and finish.  I had traveled all this way and I wanted to do my best.  The 20km mark was past at around 1:21 definitely slowing down, but I just wanted to finish, I knew I was close and I didn't want to stop.  I hit the stadium and all I could think about was getting to the finish line, when I got to the finish line I saw 1:26 on the clock.  Definitely not my best time, but I knew it was a warm day and I had given it my best on that day. They gave all the finishers a towel, which was great because I got to wipe the sweat off of my face.  I kept walking even though I was a bit dizzy and I got some of the sport drink they were giving and some water.  They also gave some kiwi pieces which tasted amazing at that point.  Cora didn't finish far behind in 1:30 and she did an amazing job.  Mark was amazingly supportive and was happy with our performance even though I wasn't very happy with my performance personally.
Will finish the trip summary with one more section....

photo link
https://www.flickr.com/photos/123885940@N07/with/14241235583

Trip to Japan

So this post is a bit delayed, but I knew that I needed to write about it as I had different people ask about the trip.  When people have asked me how Japan went, its hard for me to let them know about it in a short time other than saying things like great or awesome.
I'll start off from the beginning, we left on Wednesday from DFW airport where we all met up around 8:30.  I was a bit late because of traffic, but Mark & Cora patiently waited for me to arrive.  After checking in we went into security where we waiting for our 10:30 flight.  The plane ride from Dallas to Tokyo took 13 hours and the whole way we saw the sun.  It was interesting to see the flight route as we headed up towards Alaska and Korea then went back down towards Japan.  Although the flight was 13 hours, it didn't seem so long for me as they kept feeding me with thing like a ham sandwich and curry chicken, not he best in the world but kept me satisfied.  The plane also had a pretty decent movie list.  I ended up watching 4 movies: anchorman two, nelson mandela, wolf of wall street, and a Japanese movie.   We got to a town called Narita which was about an hour from Tokyo in which we met a travel agent with a Dallas sign.  He showed us the way and gave us tickets for the train to Tokyo and Sendai.  The travel agent also helped us carry some luggage which was great because we had a bunch.  We hoped on the train to Tokyo and go to Tokyo in about an hour.  When we got out of the train in Tokyo we saw a lady with a Dallas sign and she was in a panic.  We quickly got our luggage and power walked through escalators, different levels, left turns, right turns and who knows what else I was just trying to keep up with this lady while carrying a big box.  Luckily we made it to the train, apparently the travel agent was in a panic because she though we were going to miss the train.  From Tokyo to Sendai it took about 4 hours, at this point I was pretty tired and don't remember much of the trip as I was dozing on and off.  We arrived into Sendai station and we had a warm greeting of many individuals.  They helped us with our luggage and drove us to the hotel.  We dropped our bags and ate dinner at the hotel restaurant.  The food was great, I love sea food and they had some great seafood.  After dinner, Mark took us to check out the streets of Sendai and show us places that we could run in the morning.  After that I went to bed only to wake up at 3 in the morning.  It was weird how the sun rose at 4:30 in the morning and I would wake up around 5.
The next day after not being able to sleep, I called my family back home.  Luckily they had amazingly fast wifi, and I was able to use the facetime on my phone.  At around 6 I went downstairs and saw Cora who was also getting ready to run, so we ran together.  We ran to the park that Mark had shown us.  It was a pretty nice run as the sidewalks were huge and were easy to navigate.  Sendai is known as the city of trees, and there were definitely a great deal of trees, it was really nice to see how the city was organized and a emphasis on nature and cleanliness was evident.  We came back took a shower and ate breakfast around 8 in the morning.  Now breakfast was great it was a buffet style with a bunch of different foods.  From seafood to eggs and fruit, there was a little bit of everything.  I definitely loved the food and I think I overate on that first breakfast as I wanted to try all the different food they had. After breakfast we met in the lobby with the other sister city teams and walked to the city hall where we got together for a conference with the mayor and the vice mayor.  The gathering was great as we got introduced with a round of applause from the city hall staff, Mark received a bouquet of flowers and everyone was extremely nice.  At the press conference Mark gave a speech and Cora and I were introduced.  People took a great deal of photos and the runners received their uniforms and race shirts.  The uniforms were awesome they said Dallas in Japanese letters.  The shorts were a bit too short for my taste and I would end up wearing my Texas shorts instead.  After the conference we walked back to the hotel where we had an awesome lunch again.  I cant stress how good the food was and I was trying all kinds of food much like breakfast.  After eating a great lunch we hoped on a bus that took us around the course to check it out.  As mentioned earlier I didn't get very much sleep and at this point I was dozing off.  I remember some parts of the course but not much as after having a great lunch and not sleeping well I was tired.  Never the less the course looked awesome and I was excited and just happy to be there.  We got back to the hotel where we met in Mark's room to arrange the goody bags for the other sister cities.  The City of Dallas had donated some awesome bags with a Dallas skyline. Lukes had donated some goodies that was in the heavy box I was carrying the day before.  The Rockwall Running Club had also donated a bunch of shirts that we distributed in the goody bags.  We had dinner at the hotel and again it was amazing so much good food and we distributed the goody back to the different sister city that included:

•  Riverside, California, USA
•  Rennes, France
•  Acapulco, Mexico
•  Minsk, Belarus
•  Gwangju, South Korea
•  Dallas, Texas, USA
•  Changchun, China
•  Oulu, Finland
•  Tainan, Taiwan
• At this point I was pretty tired and went to sleep only to wake up again at 3 in the morning.  This write up about Japan will be continued...