I am by no means an expert in the art and science of running, but I do know a few and I am not afraid to ask the painfully simple, often awkward questions. Let us just say I was quite surprised about just how many places on the human body that can blister. Therefore, I decided, for my fellow greenhorn's sake, to answer a few of these questions on the blog.

So far so good, the whole team is comfortable doing the 5K distance, but I would still like to see our time shave down at least five minutes. I would really like to see everyone run between 20-25 minutes. My buddies at the running club say I should focus more on speed work then distance. Surprisingly everyone loves distance runs but they hate doing speed work. I'd rather want to die for 5 minutes then for an hour, but every runners different. Attendance at my A.M running club runs and my evening team runs have been thin. I assume the holidays are the culprit. I'll been lenient for the rest of the year, but come January 2^nd I'll be expecting a new year's resolution rush.

FYI- the new Super Team 33's will be coming out January 20^th. This season will feature three color-ways based on the 998 and inspired by, of all things, luggage. The Black is inspired by Swiss Army bags, the Crocodile-high end luxury Italian luggage, and the Purple- a travel trunk. I have to say I am not a fan of the Purple but I'm in love with the Croc. Alas, they don't come in my size. Darn my tinny feet, and why is it that no one makes limiteds for women. And when I say limited, I mean it. Only 33 stores will have one size run per color-way. So if you have to have a pair I'd start looking now. You can get a peek at them on  LA MJC , (P.S this is a French site so I hope you paid attention in French class)

One rather boring part of my job requires me to read trade journals, which is as exciting as it sounds. However, on occasion, I come across an interesting tidbit that my sneakerheads will like. For instance, New Balance is planning a female fashion sneaker line to drop in the fall of 2008. This line will feature hot color-ways and more causal designs. Think of them as the female versions of Retros taken to the next level. NB is pretty excited about adding this to the line up. Though we are, and will always be a performance-based company, we recognize that even people clocking in 50+ miles a week also need a casual shoe. NB has done a lot with more casual styles in the men's department so I can't wait to see what they have in store for the ladies.

It's been a while since my last post and things have been going well. I've shaved two minutes off my average for the week. I managed to scrape together a team of runners to run together. We decided if we're going to be running anyway why not do it for a good cause. So we are raising money for the Wounded Warrior Project. This great organization helps wounded service personnel and their families. All in all everything is going pretty smooth. I ran 5k on my last long run and I'd like to cut about 10 minutes off that time. So there is still work to be done

Runners are notoriously picky, if you have an avid runner in your life you know this all too well. It is just murder to try to get a runner a meaningful gift. Not unless you know their exact size, gait, average weekly mileage, and favorite color. You will save yourself a headache and your runner a trip to the mall on the 26^th if you pick them up a newbalancetampa.com e-gift card. It will be e-mailed directly to the recipient with your own personal message (So no worrying about things getting lost in the mail). They can access New Balance Tampa whenever they need that new pair and use your incredibly thoughtful gift on whatever their little runner's heart fancy. That is so much cooler then a ceramic kitten.