To the Mountains!

A quick admin note: if you missed the previous post, there's still time to enter the CLIF bar giveaway drawing before the winners are picked on Sunday evening. Thanks to everyone who has entered so far; the response has been fantastic.

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“Walking along in this haze of confusion-
Sometimes I can laugh but sometimes it takes all of my strength-
Just to find enough reason to take the next step-
But I will, but I will, till I do.”
- Dave Matthews Band, “Eh Hee” (video after post)

I don’t know why my mind tends to gravitate towards Dave Matthews songs before an ultra … but I also know that it probably wouldn’t do much good for me to question it. Consequently, my road trips to races almost invariably feature a DMB concert disc to occupy my thoughts before the big event.

What’s different in this case is that the race isn’t even mine – although I’d argue that covering 50 miles of trails with 12,000’ of climbing still qualifies as an “ultra-ish” effort, even if it’s merely as a pacer. Nevertheless, the above song has been on a continuous mental loop for the past couple of days – and since it’s been a while since the last music post, that’s what you’re getting today.

Unfortunately, the official video is restricted and unembeddable, but the following clip is nearly as cool: it gives you a good feel for the song - including the verse in the above into, which is one of many lyrics that make me swear Dave Matthews must have been an ultrarunner in another life – as well as an interesting story of its origin.

Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, “Eh Hee,” excerpted (click to play):




And if you’d like a full sampling of the song, you can follow this link to see Dave and Tim crank it out (parental and/or work warning: there's one F-bomb).

That’s all for this morning; the mountains are calling, and I must go. Eh Hee!

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New CLIF Bar Giveaway!

Since the primary point of this post is to giveaway some great-tasting swag, I’ll try to keep the preliminary info somewhat restrained – however, it should be clear by now that when I’m talking about CLIF, I sometimes tend to get a little carried away.

I mentioned that my headquarters visit in April featured a lot of new product sampling, some of which I had to keep secret at the time. And in my review of CLIF founder Gary Erickson’s book, I explained how one of CLIF’s aspirations is to sustain the brand name by providing a diversity of product offerings based on consumer demand. Today, both of those thoughts converge, as the giveaway prizes consist of two new product offerings I taste-tested, one of which I wasn’t allowed to discuss in the spring.

The first product is one I’ve previously described: the new CLIF C bar, which is a double layered fruit and nut bar made with all natural and 70% organic ingredients. It also embraces what’s known as the “simple food” philosophy of using a limited number of overall ingredients; every C bar features just 9 items, primarily a combination of fruit and nuts, with a dash of salt for taste.

(Even more interesting – to me, at least – is that an offshoot of this simple food philosophy is the primitive food movement, part of an overall minimalist “back to basics” mindset that also includes – you guessed it! - barefoot running. So if you like the C bar, you’re implicitly endorsing the barefoot movement as well – at least that’s the way I prefer to see it.)

CLIF C bars in four flavors: cherry pomegranate, raspberry, apple, and blueberry

C bars come in four different flavors, which vary by the type of fruit on the top layer. Each flavor has a nut crust on the bottom with a blend of almonds, macadamias and dates, and a sprinkling of toasted almonds. One bar contains a full serving of fruit, and has 130 calories. Winners of the giveaway will get to try each variety.

The second giveaway item is CLIF’s formerly-secret entry in the rapidly expanding granola bar market. CLIF CRUNCH (yes, it’s written in all caps … don’t ask me why) are all all-natural and 70% organic, and have a noticeably lighter texture than other bars I’ve tasted.

CLIF CRUNCH, 10-pack boxes in four flavors

All CRUNCH bars are made from organic oats, barley, rye, and rice crisps, and like the C bar are available in four flavors. There are whole chips baked into the chocolate chip and white chocolate macadamia flavors, although to this point my favorite flavor is the traditional honey oat (the fourth flavor is peanut butter). Each two-bar packet delivers a full serving of organic whole grains and 4 to 5 grams of protein, as well as a good source of fiber in 180 calories.

CRUNCH bars should now be available in natural food stores as well as some grocery stores, but if you win the giveaway, CLIF will make it easy for you and send some samples directly to your house.

So let’s follow the regular routine here: place a comment below, and I’ll pick three winners to receive a sample package. Since I’m out of town this weekend, the contest will be open until Sunday at 5PM, and I’ll announce winners shortly afterward. Good luck!

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GoLite Summer Fun Giveaways

Today’s post was originally penciled in as a CLIF giveaway, but I received an interesting e-mail to my inbox recently, and it’s one of those “the sooner you hear about it the better” announcements, so I’m interrupting the schedule just a bit to pass along the details.

If you haven't heard about GoLite’s summer-long GoLite Up Your Day giveaways happening right now, you need to jump over to their website right away to get in on the action.

Basically, GoLite is giving away one piece of gear per day all summer long. The contest will be 93 days long, and they’re currently on day 24. You might win anything from a $700 tent to a $300 jacket, running gear, hydration systems, apparel, and other items from their diverse outdoor product line.

GoLite has made it easy to participate as well: all you do is enter your e-mail address one time on their website, and you’re signed up for the entire contest. So head over there and enter, then start checking the daily results on GoLite’s Facebook page.

That’s all for today; quick and painless, huh? Check back next time for the CLIF giveaway.

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Book Review: Raising the Bar

“I ride my bike because I love to be on my bike. I don’t ride just to get to the finish line; what happens on the bike makes the experience. I love white road journeys. I thrill at the high mountain peaks, the feel of the pedals and gears, the picturesque villages, the shared loaves of bread, the physical challenges, the being in a space where I can think clearly and listen to my heart.”
- Gary Erickson, from Raising the Bar: Integrity and Passion in Life and Business: The Story of Clif Bar & Co.

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Shortly after I described my behind-the-scenes tour of the CLIF Bar headquarters this spring, which detailed the many ways that company founder Gary Erickson provides amazing perks for his employees, and highlighted some of the company’s multiple socially responsible initiatives, several people responded with a similar comment: that guy should write a book.

What I didn’t realize at the time, but was pleased to find out soon afterward, is that Erickson has already written a book; not only that, but it’s a pretty darn good one. It’s also a point of introduction for a couple days of CLIF-related posts that will conclude with a giveaway drawing of some new products later this week.


For today, however, it’s all about the book: Raising the Bar is one part autobiographical, one part instructional, and one part philosophical – a combination which adds up to an extremely interesting read all the way around. It’s truly an inspiration to know that there are people like Erickson and companies like CLIF out there – and aside from the inevitable fact that reading this story will probably make you feel woefully inadequate in your own life’s adventures, Raising the Bar will forever make you think differently about the way businesses can and should be run.

Instead of recapping the whole book, I’ll just highlight a few items that grabbed my attention, especially in light of the visit I enjoyed this spring …

* The entire CLIF enterprise is built around the “Five Aspirations” business model, where the company commits itself to

1) Sustaining their brands: by creating a diversity of nutritious, high-quality products based on customer demand rather than contrived marketing campaigns.

2) Sustaining their business: by remaining a privately owned company that provides a good standard of living for its employees, and positions itself to thrive for future generations.

3) Sustaining their people: by providing a place where people can contribute, learn and grow while living the life they want to live.

4) Sustaining their community: by using a portion of funding and manpower to support local social and cultural needs, and being a conscientious neighbor with all those they directly impact.

5) Sustaining their planet: by minimizing their global footprint as much as possible through a wide variety of ecological initiatives ...

... and it only takes you about 1 minute of walking around company headquarters to realize that the Five Aspirations aren't lip service; ample evidence of these commitments in action are all around you.

* A central theme to the book is taking “white road” journeys, which denote small rural routes on the European maps of Erickson’s adventure travels, instead of the red roads which indicate major thoroughfares. This is a lengthy analogy, but the main idea is that our purpose in life shouldn’t be to simply reach our destinations as quickly as possible; we should take time to enjoy the scenic, unpredictable route, and appreciate the entire journey, wherever it may end up leading us.

* Finally – remember how cool I said it was for me to meet Gary Erickson and his wife/co-owner Kit Crawford on my visit? It turns out that probably wasn’t a happy accident; Erickson explains how CLIF intentionally minimizes traditional advertising methods in favor of connecting directly with its customers on a grassroots level as much as possible. He takes every opportunity to talk to customers face to face, and looks for ways to make meaningful personal connections. I’m guessing one of those ways is stepping out of his office to say hello when a certain idiot blogger happens to be in town.

Suffice it to say that Erickson has successfully made a connection with me – and I’d absolutely recommend taking any opportunity you can to learn more about the CLIF company and support its various endeavors. I’ve got two suggestions for how to get started: first, you can purchase Raising the Bar from Amazon.com, or check it out from your local library. Trust me, you’ll be dazzled.

The second way to get to know the company a little better is to win the giveaway that’s coming up later this week … but for that, you’ll have to wait until the next post.

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Vamanos a Tahoe!

Last summer, 22-year-old Kilian Jornet announced his intention to break the fastest known time for a complete circumnavigation of the Tahoe Rim Trail. Over the next several weeks, he assembled crew members and a team of pacers, and successfully took down the record in late September.

By the end of the year, Salomon Running, Jornet’s primary sponsor, had produced a video series on the record-setting run, and I used those videos for a post in January. In the post, I mentioned that one of Jornet’s pacers was Bryon Powell, who in addition to being a tremendous blogger, also happens to be a badass ultrarunner – as in top-10 at Leadville badass.

Around that same time, I was considering entering the Tahoe Rim Trail 100-Miler which takes place this coming weekend – but with a very short entry window, and a lot of uncertainty as to what my day to day life would look like this summer (a situation that still exists, come to think of it), I decided against entering the race. However, I had several reasons for wanting to be in Tahoe and get a taste of the event, so I volunteered my services as a pacer to someone I knew would be an ideal companion for fifty miles of Tahoe trail running: my soul sister Gretchen, who practically nursed me back from the dead at Western States last year. I figured the least I could do was repay the favor, while also doing some reconnaissance on a course that’s very high on my 100-mile wish list.

After that January post featuring Kilian’s Tahoe record, Gretchen left this comment: I’ll be your Kilian Jornet if you’ll be my Bryon Powell.

To which I replied, I was thinking more along the lines of Boots and Dora.

And while that was admittedly a knee-jerk reaction from someone who lives with two grade-school-aged daughters, it actually makes a fair amount of sense. Dora’s a chick who goes on one adventure after another, and is more than capable of getting herself through any problems she encounters whenever she goes exploring. Boots is basically there for companionship and some occasional comic relief, and ends up learning from Dora’s expertise along the way.

I could even take the analogy a little further: just like the main characters on Dora the Explorer, I’ll be equipped with my very own Backpack, full of the supplies we need to make it to our destination. I should also carry a Map of some sort, to prevent us from getting lost along the way (because it’s happened to me lately – more than once, in fact).

When it comes to these ultras, Gretchen’s no joke; she’s steadily climbed the ladder in race standings over the past couple of years, and has been dutifully logging the kind of hours and mileage on the trails this spring and summer that I can only dream of. She’s made this her goal race for the year, and she’s as familiar with the Tahoe trails as anybody – in other words, she has the potential to have a very good showing next weekend.

So I’ve been taking my role as Boots quite seriously, mainly because I don’t want to screw things up for her. I’m trying to identify with the character, and even hunted down an unsuspecting Dora one day last month to pick her brain for some advice on how to get through the super-exciting adventure we have coming up next week.

Me and Dora, shortly after talking race strategy

And that’s the main reason that getting sidelined in the Sierras last week was such a bummer for me: I had already been something of a slacker in my own training over the past few weeks, and I had penciled in this vacation as an ideal time to turbo-charge my running for one last fitness boost before assuming my role as Gretchen’s pacer. Then I went and nearly wrenched one of my toes off, and ended up not doing anything for several days afterward. Needless to say, I'm not exactly arriving at the top of my game.

It’s one thing for me to be an idiot; I’ve come to live with it. What concerns me is the possibility of any of that idiocy rubbing off on Gretchen during her race. She’s ready to roll, and deserves a good pacer to make her adventure a success, instead of some goofy out-of-shape monkey with a broken toe who’s just along for the ride.

For the time being, I'm remaining optimistic that things will work out just fine - and by this time next week, we’ll know for sure how the story ends.

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Things Fall Apart

Since my previous post demonstrated – quite forcefully, as it happened – one of the drawbacks of minimalist footwear, this seems like a good time to throw together a collection of photos that address some other shortcomings of my most heavily-used trail runners over the past several weeks.

Mainly, the issue is one of durability, and each of my favorite brands – VivoBarefoot, Soft Star, and Vibram – have demonstrated some limitations in this regard. Before we get to the specifics, a few general observations are worth mentioning:

1) Durability seems to be an issue of high importance for minimalist runners, although I tend to think it’s a little bit overemphasized. The thinking goes like this: since true minimalist footwear doesn’t have a midsole, the conventional recommendation of changing shoes every 400-500 miles – a guideline perpetuated by traditional shoe manufacturers, and ostensibly based on midsole life – doesn’t apply to minimalist footwear. Therefore, the only things that prevent you from running 1000 or 2000 miles on your minimalist shoes are the outsole durability and structural integrity of the upper.

However, even though this is a post about problems with shoe durability, keep in mind that I’ve put a minimum of 400 miles on each of these pairs, which represents a typical running shoe lifespan, and would ordinarily justify the purchase price. But for whatever reason, for better or worse, the yardstick for minimalist stuff is different.

2) I think it’s fair to say that I’m pretty brutal on my shoes, and put them through some extremes that a lot of other runners might not encounter. I test everything on trails, whether they’re intended for trails or not. I go through river crossings, dense brush, bushwhacking off trail (sometimes intentionally, other times not) and routinely do very steep climbs and descents on virtually all kinds of terrain. And with increasing frequency, I’m using these minimalist models for my ultra training and racing. So in medical parlance, I do a lot of “off-label” use that might not be a factor if you’re merely looking for something to run around the neighborhood in.

The secondary benefit – besides all the fun of the actual testing, that is – is that weaknesses in the construction of these shoes become apparent a little earlier in the lifespan with hardcore use – and that brings us to the photos:

Exhibit A: VivoBarefoot Evo

These are my VivoBarefoot Evos with approximately 425 miles on them:

Of all my minimalist shoes, these have the best overall fit, they’re extremely comfortable, and they’ve performed much better than expected on rugged trails even though they’re not intended as an off-road shoe. I wore them for my (unfortunately, ill-fated) 100K last month, and the only performance issue I’ve ever had with them is diminished traction on loosely packed downslopes. The structural problem here is with the uppers:

As you can see, the mesh and TPU upper have begun to split apart - and this wasn’t due to a fall or unusual trauma, as both the left and right shoes show the exact same wear in the exact same location.

My VB contact person informed me that a similar problem had been reported by a couple other high-mileage runners. Apparently with a narrower than usual (by VB standards) last shape, the impact and flex points cause too much pressure on that particular region of the upper, causing it to split. These incidents all occurred with the very first production run, and VivoBarefoot’s technicians and design team have already addressed the problem for the 2nd production run which is currently sold in stores and on the website.

To give you a sense of scale, the mesh on the first production was tested to 20,000 "flexes", and the newer production runs are tested to 300,000 - in other words, you'd have to log 15 times more mileage to reproduce this same failure on the current version. What's more, the rep told me that VivoBarefoot is currently testing an even more durable material for the Evo models that will be launched in the fall; needless to say, I’ll be very eager to put them through the paces.


Exhibit B: Soft Star RunAmoc

These are my Soft Star RunAmocs with about 550 miles on them:

My love affair with the RunAmoc is well documented; from contributing to the design process to campaigning for the name selection to wearing them for my first 50-miler of the year this spring, they’ve been nothing short of a delight to wear from the moment the sizing and material selections were dialed in.

The fit of these is much looser in the rearfoot than the Evo, and since I tend to land on the inside of my heels – especially on the right – the wear pattern on the outsole is abnormally heavy on the inner section:

Traction on the outsole has worn down enough that I have some minor slipping on loose terrain, but that’s not the point of breakdown here. Rather, since my heel impact area drifts so far inward, I actually land upon the inner portion of the perforated leather upper – and I’ve done this so much that I’ve worn a hole in the leather:

My Soft Star contact said she is pretty sure they will be switching to exclusively suede backs instead of perforated leather on the next version of the RunAmoc, because it is a more durable material, and it also "stands up" and holds its shape better to keep the foot more centered. Since my pair was a hybrid (one perforated leather heel, one suede heel), I can attest that the suede heel style does indeed hold up much better; my only concern will be how well it dries after getting soaked in wet grass or stream crossings.

If the heel is switched to suede, I’d like to see the forefoot upper remain perforated, both for the ventilation benefit and for faster drying. In the meantime, I’m still logging mileage in my current pair, because I truly love using them, and because I’m curious as to just how far I can run in them before they completely fall apart.


Exhibit C: Vibram FiveFingers KSO

Here is one of my FiveFingers KSOs after nearly 750 miles:

The KSOs were one of my first pairs of minimalist footwear, and this pair has more mileage on them than any shoes I’ve ever owned. The outsole is holding up fantastically, but as you can see I have a little “situation” with the heel strap – namely, it tore in half about 4 weeks ago. Normally the end of the strap threads through the horizontal eyelet, and the top portion folds through it before doubling back on itself with a Velcro attachment.

I’ve still been running in these, with a makeshift adaptation:

Now I thread the top strap directly through the eyelet, and there’s barely enough length to fold it back to fasten on top. The heel isn’t quite as secure as it was before, but it still manages to stay on my foot fairly well. I also make one more adjustment:

Since I haven’t brought myself to officially cut the torn strap off yet, I just wrap it around its remaining portion and go on my way.

As far as the upper is concerned, I’ve experienced another structural issue that’s not unusual with FiveFingers users:

Separation along the seam of the big toe, which is more likely to happen if you pull directly on the toe when removing the shoe. I quickly learned to take off my FiveFingers by grasping the underside and pushing it forward off my foot, but by that time the damage was already done.

Obviously, neither of these problems has prevented me from racking up mileage on the KSOs, and I haven’t experienced either of these issues with the KSO Trek. However, I’m definitely more attentive to the Treks, making sure to rinse the uppers after every few runs – I suspect that salt buildup might have contributed to brittleness of the KSO strap – and removing them properly each time.

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Even with all of the above developments, I’m very satisfied with the performance of each of these minimalist options, and none of the issues I’ve described is enough for me to stop using those particular brands. Rather, I believe that as these products become more prevalent and more rigorously tested by various users, the companies will identify points of weakness so they can tweak future models for improved performance. Vibram is famous for incorporating user feedback into new models, and it appears that VivoBarefoot and Soft Star are proving themselves to be just as responsive.

Each of these companies has demonstrated a commitment to developing high-performance minimalist footwear, and I look forward to seeing what changes and improvements they have in store in the future.

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Ouch!

(Warning: pictures of feet attached.)

Say ... does one of these toes look strange to anyone?:


So much for all those epic runs I had planned. I used to consider the pinky toe a generally useless appendage – but all it takes is a minor fracture (or hopefully just a deep bruise; I'm too cheap - and too much of a slacker - to hunt down a mountain doctor to find out for sure) and a decent amount of swelling to make you realize just how many small movements and muscle contractions that little thing does during the course of everyday activity.

And right now, every one of those little movements is killing me.



What you see here is a result of me playing around with my downhill speed in my FiveFingers on a rocky trail in Big Trees State Park. Apparently I wasn’t paying close enough attention when the trail got a little narrow, and the rocks got a little rockier, and … bam.


It happened about 45 minutes into a 2.5 hour run; needless to say, the rest of the run wasn’t exactly what you’d call comfortable.

So now I’m icing and splinting and taking meds in hopes that the pain dies down sooner rather than later so I can head back out to some of the killer trails right outside my door. Meanwhile, my wife is Googling all of the possible complications that might possibly befall someone who suffers a broken toe, and worrying that I’ll develop a chronic pain syndrome, traumatic arthritis, or some horrible infection that eventually necessitates amputation.

Painkillers and paranoia – I can’t say it’s my favorite way to start a vacation, but I guess things could be a lot worse.

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