New Balance MT101 Winners; Ryders Eyewear VTX Winners; Winter Running Mojo from Anton Krupicka

A note of warning before we get to today's big announcements: the video that I've embedded in this post plays automatically - so if you don't want to get distracted while reading, scroll down to click pause before going back to it later. I can't figure out how to change the HTML, but if any code geeks out there want to help me out, I'd love to hear from you.

(*UPDATED: I never got things figured out. I took the video out, and placed a link to it instead.)

Now then - on to the important news of the day: announcing the winners of the Ryders Eyewear VTX glasses contest and the New Balance MT101 contest. Since one of my New Year's goals is to simplify and get to the point of things, let's just knock these out:

Ryders Eyewear VTX glasses winners: Woodrow and Julia (from South Miami)

New Balance MT101 winners: Turi, And Miles 2 Go, and MamaRunsBarefoot (awesome screen name, by the way).

If you're one of the winners, congrats! E-mail me your contact info which I'll pass along to the respective company reps. To everyone else, thanks for playing, and there's still time to enter the VIVOBAREFOOT Neo running shoe giveaway or the Wilderness Running Company Black Diamond Icon giveaway.

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In lieu of my customary weekend Random Shot of Beauty, I'm doing a Random Video of Coolness instead. It comes from Running Times magazine, and features ultrarunning stud and New Balance consultant Anton Krupicka training in the early winter conditions of his Colorado home. Since I've attempted my own little offerings of winter mojo around here, I figure I'm somewhat obligated to recognize when someone blows my efforts completely out of the water.

Another interesting observation from a barefoot/minimalist runner's perspective is how impeccable Anton's running form is, even on the challenging trails and uncertain footing of his favorite mountain. If there's a poster boy for perfect stride length, foot placement, and trunk posture while running, it's Anton - and I've watched this video enough times that I'm now trying to visualize his form during my own long trail runs. I don't have any expectation that it will make me run like Anton ... but since it's New Year's Day, I think I'm allowed to dream a little.


"The Runner in Winter", from Running Times - See the video here.

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