Sunny Days are meant for long walks

So yesterday I laced up my new kicks and since it was a balmy 74 degrees on the last day of winter, I went for a walk. The night before I downloaded Zombies Run! Now let me preface this entry by saying I love gimicky stuff. I wish I could say, at this point, I love to run and I wouldn't stop unless someone told me to. But that's not me. That's mainly the reason I have about a dozen health and fitness related apps downloaded on my iPhone.

I discovered Zombies Run! on a Sparkpeople message board about motivation to exercise. Well it works. I was skeptical cause I checked and have spent less than $15 on iTunes since my first iPod in 2005, so saying I hate spending money on apps is somewhat of an understatement. And Zombies Run! is $7.99, so it was a big plunge. But like I said, I like gimmicky things (and I have a secret obsession for audio books), so this seemed to have potential.

But it's catchy. Basically, you're a runner in a Zombie Infestation (just go with me) and you have to run and collect stuff to help out Abel Township. Your music plays along at times, so you don't have to sacrifice that, but there's some comedy via the radio hosts in the app. There's 30 missions (I can only currently see 13), but you have to do things, like assign the objects you "find" along the way to various locations, to unlock the missions. Each mission takes about 30 minutes to complete. I don't know if it was the sunny weather, the new sneakers, or Zombies Run!, but my walk turned into a 4 mile adventure with a 16:10 pace. So I'm only 1 "mission" in, but it motivated me to more than double my average distance.

It's currently only available in the Apple store, but will be coming to Android this spring.

Pumped up Kicks: Asics Gel Noosa Tri-7

I was in need of some new sneakers. My last pair of sneakers was a Nike Shox that I received as a gift last Christmas that are really nice shoes- but not for me. I wore them to run, but my feet just hurt after wearing them for more than 10 minutes. At nearly 250 pounds, I’m not exactly light on my feet, but it got to the point where I realized it was the shoes, not the running, that was the issue.
My feet are technically flat, but I’m fairly sure I under-pronate because the outer edge of my shoes are noticeably worn down. Go figure. But after only owning these shoes for 2 days, I can tell the difference. The Nike Shox were clunky and heavy in comparison. I’ll be completely honest though, I’ve been lusting over the Asics Gel Noosa Tri-6’s for awhile. I pinned them ages ago, but I really didn’t love the color combo. I actually much preferred the men’s color better, but I figured I’d just look longingly at them on my pinboard. Until I saw the Noosa 7s. Now these bad boys are popular. I ordered them on Zappos last Monday and today, they’re nowhere to be found on the site. So snag them if you can!
They’re really lightweight and the pink bit is actually all breathable mesh. Oh yeah, and they glow in the dark. Such a great feature for night running. I will warn you, these are flashy shoes. They are BRIGHT like 1980s neon. But I find that motivating. The fit was true to size, and they felt fine with even thicker socks on.
I’ve yet to go for a run in them and truly break them in, but after wearing them to run just a few errands, I can feel the difference.