Woohoo! 393 miles in 2008 so far and the rest since June 2006 means I'm a member of Nike's 1000 miler club.

Yesterday I bit the bullet and bought my new Nike Air Structure Triax 10 running shoes and some other bits and pieces. The running shoes are now in yellow and black, an upgrade from the red and black accents in the last pair. Super Feet have also released gender specific orthotic inserts so I bought a new pair of those too. This is all driven by my latest injury created from running a marathon on a cambered highway in a pair of shoes with too many miles on them.

I also got a new Nike+ sensor since the last one was running low on battery power after a year of running. Melissa pointed out that Nike now has a new armband for the iPod Nano Sport Kit setup so you can finally see your display through a panel in the band. Prior to this you had to shuffle down the neoprene material to get any feedback about the buttons you were pushing. Melissa bought one and I guess I'll have to wait til next week. My last purchase was a new pair of Balego comfortable socks.

So I have all my new stuff and I'm going to go for a 3 mile run, even though a part of me is nervous that it might be too far still for my recovering foot. At least we're running the 3 mile loop from our house which means at about 2 miles I have the option of cutting across the grass to get home. Some of my previous runs since the marathon I've been stuck 1 mile out from home when I realized that the pain was back and I have to walk that last mile, not helping my condition. Hopefully this won't be too much and I'll be home in three miles looking at this and feeling smug. I'm hoping the new shoes and inserts will be enough cushioning to save me limping home.

I remember reading the instruction book when I bought my Nike+ sensor that it would eventually die but I had no idea it would be so soon. I have to confess I never turn off the sensor and have run over 531 miles in the last year with it so it has certainly taken a beating but I would have expected it to last at least as long as a watch battery.

The units are sealed so it means I have to pay another $30 for a new sensor now. It's pretty good value if you break it down: $30 = about 5 cents per run OR 8 cents per day for statistics about my running patterns and a pace guide.

I just read on ipodnn that Nike accidentally leaked a product onto their European website and then pulled it back again. The device called the Nike Speed+ eliminates the need for an iPod Nano, or any iPod at all, by displaying the feedback from the Nike+ sensor on a watch device capable of showing pace and calorie information. This appears to be distinct from the unreleased Amp+ which is supposed to act as a remote for the iPod Nano as well as displaying the sensor information.

As for my own announcements, I've just signed up for the Chicago Distance Classic (half marathon) in August and the Chicago Marathon in October. Tonight I'm attending a Team in Training meeting to take part in the San Diego marathon in June. Two and a half marathons!

My training has been picking back up again after my physical therapy to address the tendonitis I was experiencing on the inside of my ankle. The physical therapist had a few revelations about my running style and my arch support in my shoes.

I woke up this morning and felt that tell-tale ache on the inside of my ankle again. I felt it a little while I was on the ghetto treadmill in our building. One of the things I notice about the treadmill is that although it faces a mirror with a hole cut out for a TV, the alignment of the treadmill is angled to point more directly at the TV. I'm curious if the reason I felt the pain was that I was subconsciously trying to correct my run so that I was running towards the mirror. Either way, it was foolish not to stop and either turn the treadmill or just stop. Prior to this I had run on a mirror-less treadmill at the gym and even done 3 miles outside without an issue. Hopefully two days rest will help.

A colleague told me about a rumored new wrist device for the Nike+ so I dug around and found a couple of descriptions (look under media players). As I've blogged before, the issue with the Nike+ sport armband is that the display panel is hidden beneath the neoprene so there is no way to see your pace as you are running or setup your run without shuffling the neoprene down. I discovered recently that it's pretty hard to use the touch sensitive dial with gloves on which meant I had to remove my glove to adjust the volume on an icy morning.

The Nike Amp+ should solve most of the problems of the armband by offering a wrist mounted display and remote control for the iPod Nano so you can just glance at your wrist to view current pace, duration or distance and then skip songs or pause your workout without the potential of hitting the wrong button through the neoprene.

I couldn't find anywhere mentioning a release date but it looks like it will be around $80 so save your Christmas money!

I thought I was going to hit 6 today but a last minute change of plans due to the failure of the Holiday Inn to block off rooms for our wedding in 5 weeks had me frantically calling around hotels. After the calls I decided to address the problem of my Nike iPod Sport Kit and the inconsistent readings. Specifically, the shoe pocket I had been using appears to have allowed the sensor to flop around too much so I suspect it was missing steps as I ran. The result was that over the same measured 3 mile route I have been training on for months it represented the distance anywhere between 2.6 miles and 3.2 miles.

First I tried some velcro to attach the sensor to my shoe but the velcro was in no way good enough to hold the sensor firm as I run so I went to the alternate plan. Using a craft knife I carved a sensor size hole underneath the innersole of my left Nike Air Triax 9 shoe. Interestingly enough there appeared to be a chamber in the middle of my arch just wide enough to house the sensor at the right depth so that when I placed the sensor in there and replaced the inner sole it was impossible to detect. I'm not sure if I've ruined my shoes by destroying the scientifically created tension or balance of my shoe but the ensuing 3 mile run measured about 100 yards longer than the 3 miles it was supposed to register so I'm satisfied with the solution. I'm going to calibrate it this weekend (yes, I know, I have said that before) and then see how it goes. My feet feel fine incidentally so we shall see if there are any longer term effects after a few weeks and many more miles.

Today I clocked 23:45 for the 3.1 miles or a pace of 7:39 per mile and I feel pretty good. After the ring shopping today if I have enough energy, I may head down to the track near Michigan Avenue and calibrate the sensor there since it's the only track I know of near here.

Oh, and the low flying aircraft title was meant to be a post about how, during the run, an American Airlines 767 flew just a few hundred feet in the air over the lake as I was running. This weekend is the Air and Water show in Chicago and I guess it marks the start of the event. In a post 9/11 world, it freaked me out to see a passenger plane running parallel to Lake Shore drive towards the John Hancock building and the Sears Tower. Since then I've watched a stealth bomber, a refuelling aircraft and what looked like a Tornado come whizzing past our lounge window which looks out over the lake from the 9th floor.

I'm already 2.5 miles behind my goal of 80 miles in the next month after a weekend of debauchery. This last week I've not been able to get myself in bed before midnight so the 6am rises have been pushed back to 7am and I've been dragging my heels when it comes to getting out to run.

I'm a little confused about my iPod Sport Kit. The run I usually do which I measured at 3 miles showed up on Friday as just under 3 miles (consistent with the marathon difference) but today it reported 2.62 miles which is much further off. I tried a different setting today by selecting a 3km by accident instead of the 5k I wanted to try so I just carried on running. The only other variable was that the sensor may not have been correctly aligned in the shoe pocket. Besides that, the run was identical so it seems wierd it would have changed. My time was 24:57 so by my traditional measurements that is 8:19 per mile. If nothing else, the discrepancy will get me out of bed early tomorrow morning to run again so I can try to track down the problem. I will also try and head to a 400m track tonight to recalibrate for my own stride. Time for work...

Day before the race Trains, planes and automobiles safely carried us through 8 hours of travelling to our hotel at the Hyatt Regency in the Embarcadero. The hotel was chosen by RunSFM as the race hotel for it's proximity to the race start. We had stayed there last year after our engagement in Napa so it was a no-brainer to book it.

We dropped the luggage in the room and made our way to the expo via Massimo cafe for some carbs in the form of a ham foccacia sandwich. The foccacia was fantastic but lunch cost just over 20 bucks for 2 people. Having seen the organization of the Shamrock Shuffle 8k in Chicago for 40,000 runners it was a little disappointing to see the expo for 16,000 runners where shirt pickup and bib pickup were in different venues and a strict order for collection. The result was lots of people asking questions.

The t-shirt looks really good - it's a technical T with breathing regions in the armpits. As Hal Higdon advised, I saved it for after the race to make sure no surprise chafing ocurred although there were plenty of runners who gladly donned the shirt. In the same hall as the t-shirt pickup we came across Dean Karnazes, author of Ultramarathon Man and race host, signing copies of his book and other items. Melissa got a picture of me with him and he signed my race number so I could look down for inspiration during the run. I'll provide a link to the photos from the weekend later.

In the line to meet Dean we started chatting to the guy in front of us, Oz Pearlman, who told us he expected a top 10 finish and that he was on his 9th marathon I believe. We later heard the medal ceremony from our hotel room that Oz won his age group (20-24) and finished in 2:41:38 - congratulations Oz!

After the expo we headed back to the hotel and ditched the energy beans, energy bars and other items and headed down to the hotel lobby for pasta at the Eclipse restaurant in the hotel. This wasn't the official pasta feed but an alternate put on by the hotel which seemed like better value than a food court feast at Pasta Paradiso. We were seated by a lone server and after 10 minutes a woman at a nearby table explained that they had waited 30 minutes for service and that the order was wrong. Not wanting any glitches in my preparation, we left and headed for Pasta Paradiso. The reason for the rush was that I wanted to eat early enough before my early bedtime to give me enough time to get a good nights sleep and optimal carb loading. This meant dinner at 6, bed at 8 and out of bed at 3.30am.

Pasta Paradiso was no better - we waited in line for about 20 minutes before hearing reports that they were out of the specials listed for the race so we left there and headed to North Beach for some reliable Italian food. We found Figaro - house of Gnocchi and had a thoroughly enjoyable dinner. I had read an article on the plane from Runner's World about avoiding bowel problems for long runs and adhered to the suggestions of avoiding dairy the day before.

After dinner we headed to the hotel and I set out all my equipment for the next morning, laying out the clothes, pinning my bib to the shirt, writing my name in big letters with a sharpee and prepping the iPod Sport Kit for action. The name on the shirt was a trick I learned watching the Chicago marathon last year where it was easier to pick someone to cheer from if they had their name on the shirt. I figured I would need all the encouragement I could get. At 9pm I finally fell asleep and 6 1/2 hours later I woke up for my first marathon. The next post will wrapup the race and the aftermath.

Earlier today I mentioned I was heading over the Apple store for the Chicago launch event for the Nike+ Sport Kit. Well, it was at the Niketown store instead I discovered but it was on my way so all was well. The store was mobbed and I soon discovered the focus of the event was a 3 mile training run with volunteer pacers while you tried out the new Nike+ Sport Kit with a nano, headphones and Nike+ running shoes all provided. They also gave me a drifit t-shirt for registering to demo it and since I still felt good despite running 5 this morning, I bought a pair of socks and a pair of shorts and joined in.

The first pair of running shoes on offer for for the trial were Nike Air Zoom Moire - low cut, lightweight in black and red with a single "zoom" pocket. I asked for a shoe similar to the Nike Air Structure Triax 8 which is a stability shoe and was given the Nike Air Zoom Plus which is still made for normal runners instead of pronators like myself. In the left sole of the shoe you remove the inner sole to reveal a pocket to hold your Sport Kit+ sensor, replacing the foam insert. It was a little fiddly to remove the foam piece but the sensor went in easily and I replaced the inner sole. The iPod Nanos they gave out came preloaded with all the current Nike+ sport mixes and some extra songs which was fun to play around with as we waited for the pacers to line up outside.

A Nike representative demonstrated the operating procedure for the new functions to get you ready to workout. I entered my weight to enable the calorie counter and we selected a power song for the run. On the new menu you have the option of time, distance or calorie based goals and each has a series of submenus. Once you make the selection of say, a basic workout we picked a playlist to run to. The Nano asked me to walk around to activate the sensor so the Nano could sync up and then it asked me to hit the center button to start the workout.

I joined the 8 minute mile group and the pacers headed left out of the Nike store and then the first left all the way down to Lake Shore Drive. As you run you can hit the center button at any time to get a check on your time, distance and current pace which as an option can be read to you by a male or female announcer. This is great since it means I don't have to risk running into a tree to check the display for updates :-) The other in-run feature we used was the 2 second hold of the center button to trigger the "power song". It reads out your statistics before giving you the boost song selected before the run. The idea is that this kicks up your training intensity by playing a song to really make you kick out but we were in a pace group so I held tight.

I ran with one of the pacers most of the way talking about running marathons and he gave me some tips for running slower than race pace but generally it was "check your splits each mile" which I feel is a little late to realize you ran too fast. I think on Saturday I'll try the 1/4 mile splits suggested by George in response to this morning's post.

We turned back at the shack on the beach and ran back to a running track for 3 laps before heading back to the Apple store where the gear check had been moved. You will notice that the setup didn't involve any calibration for leg length etc. I'm not sure how it works but several runners compared their displays and all read 3.7 miles or thereabouts.

As we walked upstairs there were Nike staff giving out "Tune your Run" towels to the runners and gift cards to download the Crystal Method Nike+ Sport Mix. At the top of the stairs we received a raffle ticket to win one of two iPod Nanos and one of two Sport Kits but of course I didn't win :-( There were JambaJuice smoothies, $1 gift cards for Jamba Juice (I know - $1!!?) and free bottles of water and Clif bars. The event was well worth it and the Apple store also gave a demo of what happens after you run.

When you connect your iPod Nano to the computer it downloads your run data and then uploads it to the Nike+ website. The Nano can hold 1000 runs but the website will "save an unlimited number forever" - this is an internet term I'm sure but you get the idea. The Nike+ website has a preview you should definitely check out if you are interested in the Sport Kit. It tracks your runs in a format that is easy to see your progress and each run can be reviewed on a graph to show how your pace changed throughout the run and each time you hit the status button during the run is marked so you can review each marker. This is a nice feature for bookmarking parts of your run like reaching the crest of a hill or turning to head home. It also shows a huge red dot on the run whenever you hit your "power boost" song button too so you can see how you worked harder at that time. There are too many features to the site but those are the ones I picked out.

After the event when I got home I downloaded the Crystal Method mix with my free gift certificate and I have to say it was really good. Forty five minutes of mixed music at a gradually increasing intensity with a good beats per minute to allow you to count out your "1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8" as your feet hit the pavement and you try to set your pace.

All that remains is for me to say that if I didn't have a wedding coming up in just over 2 months I would have bought this today and a Nano - it was that good. The shoes were disappointing for me as they were a little narrow but I'm sure they'll come out with wider fitting shoes soon. In the meantime, an employee at Niketown pointed out that the only thing different about these shoes is the ready made "groove" for the sensor to slip in, which means you could easily try and DIY on an old pair of your favorite running shoes to make it work. No embedded RFIDs or devices to tell the sensor to work so I am just hoping someone is nice enough to buy me one. I'll add it to my Amazon wishlist tonight and maybe someone will be nice enough to pick it up for me. The name in case you are generous enough is Adam Howitt, Chicago ;-)

I woke up to the sound of cars driving in the rain and knew it would have to be a 5 mile run without music today. The good news is that with it came some cooler temperatures. It's 67 degrees right now which is great for running in.

After a hard run on Saturday with tired legs I finally gave in and bought a new pair of runnings shoes to break in for the marathon. The girl at fleet feet when I bought the last pair suggested I buy an identical pair 1 month before the marathon to break them in but I am nearly 2 weeks late on that front. It felt great to run in them this morning and the 5 miles was very straightforward. I also picked up two new pairs of my favorite running socks by Balega, a thin moisture wicking hat to keep the sun out of my eyes (not today) and some new energy gel packets to try to find something I can actually eat on the run without feeling nauseous. Rather than try them on a run and risk spoiling it, I am trying to take them during the day as a snack. The first one was an orange and vanilla flavor CarbBoom and I'm delighted to report that it passed the test with flying colors. I have 3 more to try - one from PowerBar, another from Gu and the last is made by Crank Sports.

I am so lucky to live on Chicago's lakefront where the scenery is beautiful and there is a huge variety of birds. I mentioned the swallows a little over a month ago. Last week I noticed what my birding colleague identified as a Yellow Throated Warbler hiding in the hedge by Montrose Harbor. This morning I saw what I think was a heron (subject to review from my colleague). The heron was stood beside one of the lighthouse towers at Melrose enjoying the rain.