It’s not about the years, It’s about the mileage…

Warning: This post is about running shoes. So, if you don’t want to hear me ramble on about them than you can stop reading now…and I won’t be offended. I am just very excited about my new shoes.

I have been wearing the Adidas Supernova Classic running shoe since my freshman year of college. That means I have been wearing the same style of shoe for the past 5 years. I was devastated when I found out about a month ago that they are being discontinued at the end of the year. That may not seem like a big deal to most people, but to me it is a huge deal. Finding the right shoe for someone who runs 70 miles a week is extremely important. So many injuries happen just because someone is wearing the wrong type of shoe.

So, the process of finding a new shoe for me has begun. One shoe I am currently trying out is the Adidas Supernova Sequence. When I first tried them on, I really liked how they felt and they are pretty looking too which is always important. However, about 2 weeks ago I started having some knee pain. The sequence has more support than the classic. So, I think when you pair that with the support of my orthotics it creates too much support which caused an imbalance.

Today, I was at the Nike store just looking around. I went over to the shoe area like I always do because I personally feel that they have the coolest looking shoes. I noticed on the sale rack a pair of Nike Lunar Trainers. I first saw these shoes a few months ago in a magazine and they definitely captured my attention. I thought they would be a fun pair to have but was too cheap to pay full price for them. They were the only pair of Lunar Trainers on the sale rack and they were my size, so I knew that they were there for me. So, I bought them. I am super excited to try them out.

The foam that the shoe is made out of was developed by the aerospace industry and adopted by Nike. It is super light and you are supposed to feel like you are “running on pillows”. Basically, the cushioning absorbs more of the impact and takes it off of your legs (or so they say).

Tomorrow is going to be my first run in them so we will see how it goes. Worst case scenario, I got a new pair of cool-looking shoes to wear.

Tonight was a new experience for me. My mom told me yesterday that she was going to a Christmas party and asked if I would like to come along. She said the party was called Kazoo Fest and we would be caroling. As you may have guessed by now, kazoo’s would be used instead of our voices.When I got there I was immediately immersed in Christmas decorations:

and handed a kazoo that looked nothing like one I had ever seen before:

before I knew it we were off on an adventurous night of kazoo caroling:

I did not make a very good kazoo caroler…I was too busy laughing at how ridiculous it sounded. Needless to say it was a great night filled with fun and laughter!

This is Zak’s morning routine. He comes into my room just as I get out of bed just to find the perfect spot. It just so happened to catch it on video this morning. I love how he spends so much time trying to find the perfect place to snuggle up and ends up just lying on top.

Now that the Men’s Basketball game vs. UNC is over and Men’s soccer is done there is not a whole lot going on in the office these days.

However, December has arrived which means that it is time to put up the Christmas decorations in the athletic building. The lady in charge of decorating asked if I would help. Since Christmas is pretty much my favorite holiday and I LOVE to decorate, I did not hesitate at saying yes. I put some Christmas music on and let my creative juices flow and have brought the Christmas spirit to UCSB Athletics.

My job is so stressful.

A few weeks ago, the Shinns acquired Rock Band for their Wii. JP, Garth, and I quickly figured out that we make the perfect band since each of us has a different favorite instrument (JP on drums, Garth lead singer, myself on guitar). Being that we live on Walnut St. in the “Nut House” we came up with the perfect name for our band…”Nut So Good”. However, we forgot to put the “d” at the end of good when entering it in the game, so now our band is called “Nut So Goo”. Anyone who walks by the house while we are playing gets front row seats to the concert since there are no longer curtains on the windows.

Some highlights of Nut So Goo’s World Tour:

• Garth’s outfit on night 1 (see picture below)
• Jen singing Sabotage by the Beastie Boys
• Nut So Goo playing Foo Fighters (the night the Goo met the Foo)

I cannot wait to play with Keaton and Kinsley (I’ve heard they rock Dirty Little Secret…over and over and over again