SHOE REVIEW: La Sportiva Katana (VS)

Katana* (VS, size 42) by La Sportiva

*old version/design

Killian Fischhuber, world renown bouldering powerhouse, still competes with these guys for a reason (I'm guessing that he likes them).

Two Velcro straps, two Velcro circles, and the character for "Katana" in Japanese mark this shoe branding it with the responsibility for precision, deadly accuracy, and power of the katana.

I've had these sweet mature puppies for over a year. They got me through the dark ages of poor footwork. The features an asymmetrical toe that really helps out with concentrating those little toesies into a point. It has enough toe rubber for toe-hooking when needed. The toe box isn't too advanced, which is likely related to the fact that it isn't particularly aggressive (even though it's named after a sword! HA I JEST). I find this to be a plus. When toe-hooking in an aggressive shoe, that toe joint curling into the safe welcoming home of the toe box is above the rest of the foot, which leads to terrible pressure on a red-point on your toe joint. With the Katana, this toe-issue (a tissue) is not an issue (not a tissue). You are able to toe-hook with ease.

Sizing (the wide-footed-man's shoe)

It's wide. It's comfortable. But it leaves too much dead space for my slender high profile feet. Furthermore, its not very aggressive. High-grade boulder problems could result in many foot-caused falls with these guys. Wide low profile feet rejoice! You have a shoe that can do virtually any style of climbing with have to be squeezed into a tube of misfortune.

You can crack, sport, trad, and boulder with these hombres.

So get to it!

Rating (scale of 1 to 5):

Bouldering - 4.5

Sport Climbing - 4.5

Crack - 4
Comfort - 5

Til next time!
Kevin

SHOE REVIEW: Muira (lace-ups) by La Sportiva

The Muira (lace-ups, size 41.5):

A sleek design. A minimalistic feel. The Muira provides comfort and performance in force with this tremendous success by La Sportiva. There is a reason why these shoes were awarded "shoe of the decade" (that's right folks, "decade").

I've climbed in the Muiras for about a year and a half now. I've bouldered, top-roped, and lead in these workhorses and found myself pushing my limits in comfort. They are worn down and in need of a good resole. Even with absent toe and smoothed-away rubber, I can still go big and rock the rocks with little loss of my performance. Well done La Sportiva, well done.

Highlights:

Comfort - How La Sportiva managed to squeeze my toes into an asymmetric point without reshaping my metatarsal bones is beyond my comprehension.

The heel - La Sportiva's new release: the Futura has the body of the Solution with the heel of the Muira for a reason. It's a simple piece, but it runs narrow while tapering to the heel for a snug, sensitive heel.

Narrow - I have narrow feet. I have struggled with getting rid of the dead-space that narrow feet fail to occupy. Wider-footed ladies and gentlemen (particularly gentlemen) may find that the Muira is too tight. However, for those with narrower feel will likely find (as I have) a good form fitting shoe.

Rating (scale of 1 to 5):

Bouldering - 4.5

Sport Climbing - 5

Crack - 4.5
Comfort - 4.5

Til next time
Kevin

Review! Frederick Run Fest - Half Marathon!

On May 4th I ran the Frederick Half-Marathon (one week after I ran the half in DC) and it was one crazy weekend. I was running the Frederick Half-Marathon as the first of three races I have to run to complete the King Crab Challenge in MD!

I planned on leaving my college on Saturday, driving the the expo (getting my packet) and then driving to my house. However I got a little turned around and ended up driving toward my house! So instead of wasting tons of gas money and time, I decided (with the help of a phone call to my boyfriend) to just drive home and pick up my race packet on race day.

So race day comes (the following morning) and I wake up at 3am to drive an hour and a half to Frederick so that I am there in time for packet pick up (which starts at 5am). I wanted to get there early because I hadn't signed up for race day pick up and it was limited to 200 runners (I didn't make the cut). I was just hoping to run.

There was no traffic at 3am so I ended up making to the race at 4am, and in a race of 7,000 runners I was the first runner at the race start. Yeah... that was strange. I got my race packet at 4:30 and took a selfie for my twitter because I couldn't believe everything actually worked out!!

So I slept in my car until the race start at 7am. I ate some fruit snacks as breakfast, drank lots of water, but mostly napped. 

The whole run was pretty nice and fairly scenic. Of course I made some friends along the way, mostly men who were shocked at the 5'3", 115lb girl that was matching them stride for stride. Eventually I ended up running up behind a familiar blonde girl, my old running buddy from freshman year of college!! For old times sake we ran a mile together, but she told me to take off as some of the hills started to get to her. 

I felt great the entire race! Even in the last mile when I was 100% sure that I was working on a stress fracture in my foot. The last mile of the race was uphill and only a horse race track! Possibly the coolest race finish I've ever had the pleasure of running. I ended up finishing the race in 1:56:52 (faster than the race I had run a week before!!)

By the time I had finished I knew I had a stress fracture, but I still when to the med tent for an eval, and they confirmed: stress fracture.

So for now I'm bandaged up and working on 3 weeks minimum of recovery, most likely it'll be more like 6-8 weeks. Not an exciting thought at all, but it's better than a break! And don't worry ladies, my boyfriend has been there for me every painful step since then. And he's not allowing me to walk very much either, so lots of driving across campus :(

My official race results!!

Review!! Nike Women's Half Marathon!

On Sunday April 27, 2014 myself and 15,000 amazing women (and a few men) ran through the streets of D.C. on a half marathon course that began at 7am. It was an amazing weekend and I loved the whole thing! I didn't have high personal expectations going into the race, because I was in the middle of an upper respiratory infection at the time of the race, but I was still so excited!

My weekend actually started early Saturday morning (the day before the race) when my boyfriend and I drove a little over an hour to the metro stop that we took into D.C. It was only my second time riding the metro and, yes, even though I'm 20 I was scared. Thank goodness I'm dating a boy from D.C. who helped me make sure I was going on all the correct trains and getting off at all the correct stops the entire weekend. I have no idea how other people maneuver the metro without a personal tour guide.

When we finally got into D.C. we checked out the expo, where I got my packet, race shirt, and saw my name along with all the other runners placed into a huge mural on the side of the Nike Georgetown store! (I didn't take a picture of the entire wall, my mistake!)

It was so cool! I loved how they made us all into one unifying display! I didn't take many pictures when I was at the race expo or race because I was doing a lot of just taking in the atmosphere! BUT something I did see that was completely amazing was Joan Benoit Samuelson and Shalane Flanagan! If you know me at all you know that these women are in my top 5 for favorite all time runners (Flanagan being #1!). Here's the picture!!

All in all the expo was really nice to be at! I would have liked to see more accessible free goodies. I mean they knew it was 15,000 women, they should have had more than 15 people working at the free fun things if they are going to so boldly advertise it. I did some shopping at the Nike store and grabbed an awesome neon tank and black spandex! I love them both (yes I'm wearing them right now). The cool thing about shopping at the Nike store was that you didn't have to wait in line to check out! You could just find an employee and they could check you out with you just standing there!! 

I also volunteered at the Nike T-shirt distribution later in the afternoon!

Then Kevin, the boyfriend, took me out to dinner which was definitely nice. I was a little out of place at the restaurant seeing as I was in running clothes, but it was still great prep for the race! (Of course, I had pasta).

I ran the whole race with my GU Energy Chews (watermelon (: my fave!!) and SaltStick tabs! I felt solid the entire race and I really think that's because I was fueling my body perfectly the whole run.

I loved running around D.C. and all the little treats Nike had for us along the way. We got the typical water and Gatorade, but there was also a whole mile where they handed out little chocolates!! Yum! The entertainment on the course was pretty good, but I wish they had compared song lists (I heard Happy 5 times and it was horrible). My favorite band was scream-o one! It was a marching band... PLAYING SCREAM-O! It was such a great pump up (: The entire race was amazing, but I think the best part was crossing the finish line under 2:00:00 and hearing my boyfriend yell for me at the same time. Made the whole thing worth it.

Oh and of course my finisher's medal:

OH YES IT'S A TIFFANY'S NECKLACE.

SO GOOD.

SO SO GOOD.

I was so excited to have my first piece of Tiffany's, but after I finished all I wanted was to find Kevin and head back to our hotel and a shower. In fact I barely relished in the finish the way I usually do (I think Kev was more excited than I was!). We walked through the Finisher's village and one awesome thing that Nike did was have a line of clothes that you can only buy if you ran the race! I got a red long sleeve zip with FINISHER across the back. The way I figure it: If you're going to run for 2hrs and feel terrible you might as well get a shirt that brags for you out of it!

All in all it was brilliant race, and I highly suggest it to all the women out there (The San Francisco half is opening registration soon!!)

My official race results:

Review! BlenderBottle! (Courtesy of BlenderBottle®‎)

This isn't going to be like a standard review (in that it will probably be more of a rave/rant and a lot shorter)!

I got my first BlenderBottle years ago and I loved it! I used it as much as I could and the little guy was such a tank! (Oh yes he is still around!!) But I've been in some correspondence with BlenderBottle and they ended up sending me this little beauty!!

I LOVE IT. Having a taller Blender is definitely a HUGE plus! (If you want my exact one you can click here and get the 28oz one!)

Company:	5/5
Affordability:	5/5
Quality:	5/5
Usage:	5/5
Overall:	A+++

I literally don't have a negative for them. It's true love.

Review! SaltStick Caps Plus (Courtesy of SaltStick Co.)

After much too long of a wait... HERE IT IS!

I have been training on my twice-a-week long runs with SaltStick® Caps for the past month and a half and I really like them! I tried out two types: SaltStick® Caps and SaltStick® Caps Plus, and definitely preferred the Plus, which you can get here!

SaltStick® was nice enough to send me samples, and was extremely patient while I logged my 100 miles on their product. It was easy to find someone to personally talk to, opposed to talking with a computer (which you all know is my pet peeve). 

Price wise you are paying high for a high quality product. However I've learned that skimping, money-wise, when it comes to what you are fueling your body with during a long run is just stupid. While SaltStick® is $29.99/100ct it's about 30 cents a capsule and 100% worth it. However, despite being justified, it is a steep price.

I have a tough time with salt when I'm running, but the Plus were just fine with my stomach! (So long that I didn't take them on a completely empty stomach). They are easy on your stomach because SaltStick® has added sodium citrate to this capsule and it helps to soothe you. Another thing I really liked about the Plus was the small amount of added caffeine, it was a nice little & subtle boost during my run! And I actually didn't take them with a gel, instead just an electrolyte tab!

Overall these are really great! And I highly highly recommend them (: They are definitely my salt of choice now! (sponsorship in the future? *wink wink*)

Company:	5/5
Affordability:	3/5
Quality:	5/5
Usage:	5/5
Overall:	A

Key Features! (from SaltStick.com)

• The ONLY electrolyte capsule formulated to closely resemble the electrolyte profile lost during activity: sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium.
• Only 1 capsule per serving. Suggested use: 1 capsule per 20-60 minutes during activity
• Buffered salt composition that helps digestion and absorption
• Sodium citrate soothes the stomach
• Each capsule contains 190 mg sodium, 53 mg potassium, 14 mg calcium, 7 mg magnesium, and 100 IU Vitamin D plus 30 mg caffeine
• Caffeine is a legal ergogenic ingredient that increases alertness and reduces fatigue
• Vegetable-based non-GMO capsule composition; Bio-available active ingredients. GMP production in a facility registered NSF Certified for Sport®.
• Fully soluble ingredients allows option of easy preparation of a custom caffeinated electrolyte beverage with a pleasantly mild salty taste
• Contains only WHAT YOU NEED. No: herbal, trace, questionable components added. Vegetarian and Gluten free.
• No sweeteners- no high fructose corn syrup, no sweeteners of any kind
• Does not contain any World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) or International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned substances
• Unique formulation is patent pending; Engineered by a Ph.D. chemist who is also a pro triathlete
• Saltstick® Caps uniquely includes vitamin D that helps the body absorb and utilize calcium.
• Great for effective rehydration during international travel, hiking and effects of alcohol and unfamiliar foods.

Review! Nuun Hydration Tablets

Go to the store, right this second, and grab yourself some Nuun. You can get them online by clicking here! I LOVE THESE LITTLE BABIES! Order them today and they'll ship out to you within a week (: -- how great is that?

I love sports drinks, and I need them for the electrolytes, but a lot of time they can get difficult to carry, they can get expensive, and if you have food dye allergies (like me) they can get tricky. Nuun is different because what you are buying are the tablets to make an electrolyte drink. Nuun+16oz H2O+2minutes = an electrolyte enhanced drink! 

They are fast dissolving (none of that shake-the-bottle dance needed) and they taste amazing! A lot of flavor and a little bit of fizz. I hand them out to my friends like candy and trust me, we're all obsessed.

I don't know a lot about the science behind Nuun, I just know how they make me feel. They are great for the standard after run slump, but they are also my new substitute for coffee! While Nuun doesn't contain caffeine, it does contain a lot of electrolytes, which gives your body a boost! I love everything about Nuun, except their price and website. They are a little on the steep side (even though they are still cheaper than an average energy drink), and their website is difficult to maneuver. When I was looking at their products they didn't have a lot of the clothes/apparel that they had in graphics all over their website. Slight false advertising there, but it doesn't change the fact that Nuun is outstanding, and I highly recommend them!

Company:	3/5
Affordability:	4/5
Quality:	5/5
Usage:	5/5
Overall:	B+

Review! RoadID Slim Band

I never used to think about my safety when I was running. I live in the middle of nowhere and on my runs I'll see maybe four cars the entire time, however, this also means that I rarely have a shoulder to run on. It took one time of turning a corner and having a car nearly clip me to wake me up (damn hybrids being all eco-friendly and super quiet). Actually, as much as I would like to blame that car and that driver the fault was mine, cars are supposed to be on the road, sweaty, 20-somethings, who look dead after their 9 mile run, do not. 

I tried carrying my license and I hated it, and honestly it wouldn't have given a first responder much more than my name. I was looking for something that was small, slightly discrete, but recognizable (so a first responder would actually look at it). I've been running with a paper on the underside of my shoe sole that has information, but let's be real, people who get hit by cars can lose their shoes, and if I'm unconscious how many people are going to check there right away?

Then I heard about the RoadID (this is where my rambling stops and the review begins!) and I immediately had to have one. RoadIDs come in every shape and size: from dog tags for you to dog collars for Fido.  There are also several wristbands, I chose the Slim Band which is the same size as a cause bracelet and which contains a little plack (removeable so you can change your band color) with information vital to first responders if there is an accident.

I blanked out the phone numbers, but you get the idea of it. RoadID also has helpful tutorials that show you what is important to put on your band, as well as what abbreviations first responders will understand. Without their guidance I would not have put NKDA (No Known Drug Allergies) or DOB 1993, two important pieces of information.

The plack itself is laser engraved and RoadID stands behind it 100%. 

The band comes in a variety of colors:

These are the classics, as you can see I chose a newer color! Teal!

The band is super soft and stretchy! It's more comfortable to wear than my hair ties that seem to live on my wrist... 

You can also accessorize your RoadID. And of course I had to flaunt the biggest achievement of mine!

All of this was under $20! Which is incredibly affordable, and important. This little piece of equipment could save my life one day, which is why I not only bought one for myself, but I also bought one for my little sister.

RoadID is not a company full of money-grubbing rich guys looking to make a buck. They are runners, the company started in a basement, and the owners still answer e-mails personally. It's a company that keeps you, the runner, at the forefront of its mind. Their customer service is unparalleled (none of that Don't Respond to this Automated Email crap)! I personally had a 6 or 7 email conversation with one of their staff members who was extremely helpful and made sure that I was happy, even though that meant tons of work on her end.

In conclusion: smart and safe product, amazing company, and outstanding customer service. Everyone should have a RoadID.

Company:	5/5
Affordability:	5/5
Quality:	5/5
Usage:	5/5
Overall:	A+