Posts Tagged ‘adidas’
Yesterday around 11:30am, 3 of us left from work to go pick up our packets out at the race expo at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex. The expo opened at noon, so we figured it was a good idea to get out there early on the first day rather than wait and risk long lines on Friday. I think everyone else had the same idea… they had to queue us in roped-off areas outside, just as if we were waiting in line for a ride at the Magic Kingdom. 
The weather warmed up quite a bit yesterday afternoon, up to 62F. So the long wool pea coat I was wearing soon became quite toasty, especially after we were inside. I didn’t complain at all though, because after a week or so of non-seasonable freezing temps, having sweaty armpits was positively joyful.
We went over to the Milk House and picked up our race bibs first. There, I found out I’m in Corral G. There are around five waves for the race, and I don’t know how that corresponds to corrals, but I’m assuming I’m probably in the last corral. That’s fine with me — I have no intention of attempting to set any new land speed records. My goal is to finish and to enjoy the whole experience. They had us test our D-chips, which were attached to the back of our bibs, on the way out of the building to make sure the correct name and such came up on their screens. Mine worked! In fact, it worked so well that my name came up before I even crossed the threshold; the guy in front of me said, “that’s not me!” and I yelled up, “nope — it’s me!”. They had him re-cross the threshold and his name finally came up on the monitor.
The expo was in another building, and it was PACKED. There were a lot of vendors and lots of things to look at. We all knew what we were looking for, so we synchronized our watches and set off to get our goodies. I immediately found an adidas Women’s Response Astro pant for 30% off! Then I found a nice, not-too-thick women’s running beanie and then wandered off to find the iFitness booth so I could get a belt. I wanted one that I could put my race bib on without using pins and that would hold my cell phone and gels/bloks. They had one there that had a neoprene pocket [so it's waterproof] and also had the clip tabs for race bibs, so I got that one — it was their new Ultimate Running Belt, which isn’t even up on their site yet. Then I found my co-workers and got the heck out of there before I bankrupted my savings.
We’re heading over to the All-Star Movie Resort this evening to settle in. We figured it would be easier and less stressful to be on property than to try to drive at two or three in the morning to the site, fighting traffic and trying to find a parking spot. They’ll have shuttle buses from the resort hotels out to the race site. We just have to be on the bus by 4:00am to be on time. That gives us a little more sleep time…
The news says we can expect a “wintery mix” Saturday morning at race time — whatever that means. Actually, it’s probably going to mean freezing rain, with a possibility of snow flurries. Snow flurries in Orlando means one or two little snow flakes that immediately melt once they land on anything. It’s definitely going to be interesting and quite an adventure!
If you’re participating in one or both of the races this weekend, are you staying on property or are you driving out there at zero dark thirty?
Yesterday morning, I ate my usual breakfast of Kashi cereal, strawberries, a banana and Stonyfield Yo-Baby yogurt. For lunch, I had homemade sqaush soup and collard greens. Right after lunch, I went low. By that, I mean I had hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar. My hands were shaking, everything looked very bright and sharp and I felt weird. I crammed some sweet potato chips into my face, ate a Kashi soft-baked cereal bar and then sucked on a blow-pop lollipop [I don't usually eat candy]. It took a long time, but I started feeling a bit better. I never quite got up to where I felt good, though.
Once home, I sucked down a fuel gel, drank some water and changed for my run. I had decided to do at least a 3 mile trail run and wanted to get out there before the expected bad weather decided to show up. It was rough; I was struggling the whole time with feeling tired and weak. I was sweating like a pig in a sauna, so I stopped at around 2 miles to drink my electrolyte drink [I like the Clif cran-razz]. I drank about 4 ounces and then continued on. I’ve set my forerunner [205] to pause if I stop completely, so the drinking break didn’t count against my time too much, although it does take a little bit for the 205 to realize I’m not moving. At about 2.75 miles, I bonked. I had to stop. My legs were jello, I was completely soaked and exhausted. The 205 paused while I sorted things out, calmed myself down and got my crap together.
I was able to continue on to finish 3 miles. I think it was around 32:10 total for time. But, I did it. I’m not sure why I went low in the first place, but it really messes with my entire day after an episode like that. I’ll have to keep a better eye on my carb intake to prevent it from happening again.
Before I left for my trail run, I had decided to change out the lenses in my adidas a129 sunglasses to clear lenses since it was so overcast and almost dark. After removing the first lens, I went to take the second one out and the damn nose bridge of the sunglasses snapped at the weakest point. So much for the Quick Change Lens System… I called the place where I got them this morning and since it’s been over 30 days since I received them, they apparently have to go through the manufacturer. Supposedly, I’ll hear back from someone today. We’ll see; at the rate things have gone, I’m not going to hold my breath.
So now I’m without running glasses of any sort. I had to run with my regular glasses on, which have light weight plastic lenses, but still the frames are metal and a bit heavier than my a129 frame is. The 1/2 marathon is in 5 weeks and I’m fighting with myself over whether or not I should just cave in and buy a new pair so I’ll have them in time. GAH!
UPDATE: I called them again, and the good folks at BestBuyEyeGlasses.com had me send the sunglasses back to them. They in turn sent me a brand, new pair! No hassles. I’m very happy.
In thinking about how the Disney half marathon in January starts at around 5:50am, I realized that my running sunglasses would be too dark to wear until the sun comes up. That got me thinking about what I’m going to do — I wear prescription glasses, so my sunglasses have an Rx insert in them. If I don’t wear my sunglasses, then I’m stuck wearing my regular glasses, which are heavier and of course, once the sun comes up, I’ll be without protection from the glare of the sun. Trust me, I’ve been worrying about this for a while.
My sunglasses, the adidas Gazelle S, feature something called the Quick Change Lens System. This means I’m able to quickly change lenses for different situations. My sunglasses came with no documentation of this feature, and searching the tubez didn’t result in anything either. I found a site that is an authorized adidas sunglass retailer and ordered a pair of clear replacement lenses. Then, I called adidas’ eyewear support folks and they were able to walk me through removing my existing lenses and putting them back in. It entails me getting schmutz all over my lenses, because I have to grab them and pull them out, but they clean up easy enough. [I do think the sunglasses and even the replacement lenses should include documentation/instructions on how the Quick Change Lens System works.]
The replacement lenses come in their own little microfiber pouch, which can also be used to clean the lenses. I think they’re small enough to store in a pocket so I can start out the half marathon with the clear lenses in and then switch to the LST Silver lenses once it’s light enough to do so. It’ll take a bit of time off my run, but with regard to the big picture, I think it’s worth it. I just hope I don’t have too bad a case of sweaty fingers when I’m changing them out.
Good news! My big toe problem from the other morning went away on its own. I was able to do my run that evening and didn’t have any pain at all; I’d almost completely forgotten about how badly it had hurt that morning. I guess I just slept wrong on it, which is odd because I’m a very light sleeper usually, especially as I’ve gotten older.
We’ve been having pretty strong winds, first from the north and lately from east, for about a week now. With Hurricane Ida storming up the west coast, we’ll get even more the next few days, along with some rain. Both Friday’s and yesterday’s runs were tough at the onset because of the wind — and I found myself surprised at how much harder I was working to move forward when they were coming head-on.
I blame part of the discomfort I felt during yesterday’s run on the leftover rotissierie chicken I’d eaten 2 hours before I ran. Apparently it was still sitting defiantly in my stomach and proceeded to cause me to belch the entire time I was out there. Not a good lunch decision. Add in the wind and the extra exersion it was taking, plus the inability to take as deep a breath as I normally could [thank you, chicken ::gives it the finger::], and after a quarter of a mile I thought I was going to puke. Maybe I should have.
I was stubborn though, and ran through it or actually *with* it… the stomach discomfort never really subsided, and neither did the wind. At least I didn’t get a stitch in my side like I did on Friday’s run. I was able to breathe through that and it went away — which was a good thing, since I wasn’t even half way through my run when it hit.
I’m looking into getting a Garmin Forerunner 405 training watch. The cost is pretty prohibitive right now, but it’s something that has been on my short list for quite a while. I’ve tried several other versions of training watches, but none of them can match the features of the 405. Just having a built-in GPS is enough to make me giddy. If anyone out there knows where I can procure one for a decent price, please don’t hesitate to let me know!
I haven’t heard back from adidas yet. Truth is, I’d be really surprised if I did. I’m sure they get thousands of letters at their running marketing deparment and I seriously doubt they have someone who would sit and wade through them. Keeping my fingers crossed anyway.
As always, if you’d like to help out and possibly speed up the process and hopefully influence a positive outcome, you can tweet it for me to the twitter-verse!
Unfortunately, the UCF [University of Central Florida] basketball program made a promise when recruiting young Marcus Jordan [son of legendary Michael Jordan] that he could wear his father’s Nike Air brand of shoes. UCF had a multi-year, $3M exclusive contract with adidas — that is, until now. Marcus, by wearing the Nike shoes last night in UCF’s first exhibition game against the St. Leo Lions, has cost the university millions.
Per adidas spokeswoman Andrea Corso:
“The University of Central Florida has chosen not to deliver on their contractual commitment to adidas. As a result we have chosen not to continue our relationship with them moving forward.”
It’s a shame that Marcus felt his needs and wants should overshadow his entire team’s. I still don’t understand why he couldn’t just wear the shoes for practice and then be a team player for the games and wear adidas like everyone else. Marcus is not Michael and hopefully as he matures, he’ll learn to find his own identity. If he actually were as humble and as good a teammate as coach Speraw says, he would have realized wearing his daddy’s shoes was selfish and not in the best interest of his team and his university.
UCF would have gotten all their uniforms, sports shoes and equipment free from adidas. They’ll now have to scramble for a new sponsor or cough up the cash themselves. Not a smart idea in an economy such as we have now. Bad form, UCF. You have so many more students and althetes that this will affect than the one Marcus Jordan.
