New shoe: New Balance 1222/1223

I got another new pair of shoes today. It seems like I am buying these too regularly these days. This time it was due to two cosmic events happening at one time. Well, maybe not cosmic. Saturday I ran my final race in my current NB1222. Secondly, I happened to see a New Balance store in a strip mall when driving home from my race.

Yes, this is November, 2008. I know that the 1222 and 1223 models have already been discontinued. But, that is the way I buy my shoes. I find discontinued shoes in the models I would have bought anyway and get the older version on sale. Sometimes a crazy cheap sale.

When I stopped at the shoe store on Saturday they did not have any 1223s in my size. They only had a few left since the 1224 model has been out for a short time. But, they did have 992s that they were clearing out for the new 993 model. The 993 shoes are not available in most stores yet. I checked a few places online that I have bought from before and they don’t have the 993 ready to ship. That line of shoe, 992/993, are the ugliest shoe that New Balance makes in my opinion. However, they are extremely popular. The older shoes have a memory foam that conforms to your foot and is supposed to be top of the line in comfort. The memory foam was heavy though and they tossed it out in the newer 993 to save weight. They are still a very heavy (and ugly) shoe.

Weight and yuck factor don’t bother me as long as the price is right and they fit well. The price was right, but they did not fit well. I tried on several pair of the 992s in different widths and lengths. Nothing quite fit right. The one width/length combination that would probably be perfect had been bought out. Someone recently came in and bought all their 992 shoes in 11 4E in each of the 3 colors they had. I guess that is someone who really loves the shoe.

Lamenting my situation, I asked the store owner to pull out what 1223 shoes they had that might fit. Surprisingly I landed on a size that is totally wrong, but it fit like a loose glove (I like my shoes big). She got me into an 11 2E shoe. These shoes were $140 regular price. I bought them for $59. I think that is the best shoe deal I have gotten so far. The 992 that I originally went in for was $69. So I got a shoe I like better, looks nicer, fits great and weighs less for $10 cheaper than I planned to spend.

The interesting thing to me is how different the 1223s are from the 1222. In the pictures you see a 1222 (the dirty one) and the new 1223. They look nothing alike. Not as far as shoe models go. I am wondering how NB justified calling this an update when it is really a different shoe. Whatever the justification, it should still have the same basic properties.

The store owner flagged my name with the fact that I want stability+ (or strong stability) shoes. In the future when they change models and start clearancing out the current ones, she should give me a call. That is service. I just hope I am home to be able to take advantage.

Doctors, doctors everywhere

When we were in Atlanta two weeks ago my wife was sick. She had a cold that just would not let go. It developed into a massive sore throat. Thinking she had strep, which she has had quite often, we went to a clinic to get some medicine. As soon as the doctor checked her blood pressure he sent her to the emergency room. One of these “do not pass go, do not collect $200” type commands to get to the ER.

When we got there her blood pressure was even higher from the concerns heaped on her by the doctor and wondering how much insurance was going to pay. They gave her an IV to get the pressure down and got her started on BP medication.

We got home and I scheduled her in to see a doctor here locally. Today was that visit. They changed her BP medicine (the other stuff was not bringing it down enough and it made her scalp itch). In the process of examination the doctor’s office found a nodule on her thyroid. Tomorrow she goes back in for blood work and an ultrasound on the lump.

Most thyroid lumps are harmless, but the testing proceedure is necessary to know how to progress from here. We won’t know the results of these tests until the second week of December. So it is sit and wait time.

Installing an Ad Blocker in Firefox

Recently I was at my brother’s house using their computer for a bit of surfing. I have gotten used to my computers having ad blockers on them and I rarely see an ad for anything questionable. It was a shock to my system to see so many advertisements show up on screen.

I decided to write a tutorial for them on how to get rid of the ads. I hope it helps others.

This will be dependent on you using Firefox as a web browser. There are probably other solutions for other browsers, but I use Firefox and that is all I currently recommend. I am also going to be working through this on Windows so I can get the steps right for them.

Start by having Firefox open. Select Tools | Add-ons from the menu. Click the tab that says “Get Add-ons” and do a search for adblock plus. On my search, it was the first hit returned. Click the “Add to Firefox” button and go through the installation procedure. Once that is installed then restart Firefox.

When Firefox restarts it will give you a list of filters that you can apply to Adblock Plus. Choose the Easy List (USA) option. Then get back to the Add-ons section (it was still open after the Firefox restart on my machine). Now look through the search results and install the Adblock Filterset.G Updater. Again you will have to restart Firefox. When it comes back up the filterset updater will be up and running and will install the latest update. Exit out of those windows and you will be ready to use Adblock Plus.

Notice that there is a small red octagon beside the search box on the top right of the screen. This is where you can make changes to the way Adblock Plus operates. As it is, it will eliminate the vast majority of advertisements. But there may occasionally be a site that needs extra tweaking to get rid of especially offensive ads.

I know there is controversy as to whether you should block ads on websites. Many sites are able to be free because of the ads that support them. I understand that. But, I also don’t want my kids nor myself to be inundated with ads for activities which are not appropriate for our family. When I do use someone else’ computer to touch the Internet I am always shocked at the lewdness of advertisements on-line. With an adblocker I am able to control most of what comes across my computer screen.

Missionary Talks 59 and 60

I looked back over my posts recently and realized that I did not give an update when I posted episode 59 of Missionary Talks. That was an interview with Chris and Carol Woodley. They are missionaries in the Philippines working with the Deaf. They are a couple we had met about 6 years ago and enjoyed getting to know them. We were able to be in a conference together a couple of weeks ago. You will enjoy hearing their passion and love for the work they do.

Tonight I uploaded an interview with a missionary to Mexico, Tim Strang. He grew up on the field and has been back there for the last 12 years serving in smaller towns and villages. Many of the missionaries I talk with are in the bigger cities. Some will even make an issue as to why we should do our work in the larger areas. Tim is very much interested in the villages and has a love for where he is serving the Lord.

Enjoy these two episodes of Missionary Talks. I have a couple more interviews already recorded with a couple more scheduled. Looks like things are headed in the right direction for a while.

Timberlake Half Marathon Race Report

Pre Race
The race had a start time of 8:00 AM. Ft. Walton Beach/Eglin AFB is a bit over an hour from my house in Pensacola. I left at 6:00 this morning. That meant that I had to have breakfast more than 2 hours before the race. I know some people prefer that timing, but I have always done well with 1 to 1.5 hours before. Especially a long race. I had planned to take a snack to chew on after I got checked in, but forgot it at home.

I got my race packet which included a shirt and race number. Not too complicated.

It was about 62 degrees.

Race
Since we were running a 5K and a half marathon (3.1 and 13.1 miles) the finish line was .1 miles behind the start. We moved up to the starting line as a group since everyone was milling around the finish line. I had heard it was a very informal start without any long speeches. They moved us up to the starting line just a couple of minutes before 8:00. At 8:00 a guy with a megaphone simply said, “Ready. Set. Go.,” and we were off. No gun. No yelling.

Miles 1-5
Mile 1 was 20 seconds too fast. No big surprise. The second mile I pulled back to perfect race pace. Goal was 9:10 per mile and I ran mile 2 in 9:09. Mile 3 I was still in the mode to slow down I guess. I ran that 20 seconds too slow. So the 20 seconds I banked in the first mile was negated in the 3rd. Mile 4 and 5 were 9:15 each. So I was 10 seconds too slow up through mile 5.

Miles 6-10
Starting with mile 6 I put seconds into my favor at each mile for the rest of the race. I ran 3 of those miles in 8:58 and the worst of the 5 was at 9:06. By this point I was 47 seconds ahead of my goal and knew that I was running really strong. There was no way I was going to miss my goal. By mile 10 I was catching up to someone who had run mile 3 with me and pulled away. It was finally time to reel him in and leave him behind.

Miles 11-13.1
Each mile was under the goal. Mile 13 time was exactly the same as mile 1 time (within .3 seconds). I ran the last 1.1 miles strong with the confidence that I had run a strategically excellent race. I had a plan and executed it perfectly.

First 6.5 miles was 59:31 and the second 6.5 was 58:29. I ran a 1 minute negative split.

Final unofficial time was 1:58:55. Goal was 2:00:00.

Race Observations
The race is run on a paved out and back road on Eglin Air Force Base. All the way out we had the wind in our face. We also were climbing the whole way. Though it did not seem like it, we climbed a total of 164 feet over the 6.5 miles going out. Not overly significant, but combined with the tailwind coming back and going down toward the water, that really helped with the negative split.

Post Race
I was really hoping for an age group award since it was such a small race. I was very disappointed when so few people turned around at the 5K turn around point. The fact that so few turned around and that the vast majority of the people running looked to be in the military, my hopes of an age group award plummeted quickly. I think 3rd place in my group ended up with a 1:27 race. I did not pay attention well at the awards ceremony since I knew I had little hope.

I got my first massage today. It was just 10 minutes or so, but it may help with the soreness.

The point of doing this race today was purely to set a PR. I knew with my marathon training that I was in great shape for a fast race. However, I have not put in any fast miles since my marathon. I have only done maintenance runs. So I was a little nervous that I might have trouble maintaining the pace. After the 3rd mile I was feeling pretty confident and by the time I hit the turn around I knew I would beat 2 hours, it was just a matter of by how much.

This was my first official half marathon. I have run 3 on my own on courses that I have mapped out in the neighborhood. My best time was 2:16:23. I also had the 1/2 split during my full marathon. That time was 2:11:XX. That means I averaged about 1 minute per mile faster than any other half that I have run.

I will be living with a big grin on my face for a few days.