The variously-aligned spirits of Malaysia intervened tonight with a message. The internet at the apartment was down when we got back which meant I could not follow my usual routine of work at the clients, come home, work, eat with colleagues (generally discussing work), work some more, shower, sleep, repeat. It seemed to me that deities of all pantheons were looking down and shouting ‘go for a run you fat bastard’, so I strapped on my Five Fingers and headed off.
This was the first time I’ve run in Five Fingers and it’s an interesting experience. As you’d expect it’s pretty similar to barefoot but the extra coverage makes you feel impermeable to small stones, cracks in the pavement and the like. You find yourself running over patches of gravel just because you can. But I can also see why so many people injure themselves starting out ‘barefoot’ running in minimalist shoes – if you’re not careful it’s easy to run further than you intended and injure your calf muscle or Achilles tendon. And I noticed when peering at my form in a shop window that it was allowing me to heel strike slightly without really noticing it. I ended up running probably 1500m (plotting it on a map later showed it to be just over 2km), which is a bit further than I usually run barefoot and I’m sure my shins and calves will punish me for it tomorrow (waking up later shows that assumption to be correct).
I cunningly planned my route to end up next to a shopping centre so after some stretching outside cooled by wafts of air-con I wandered around the supermarket stocking up on groceries and relishing the chilled air. I definitely prefer the feeling of going barefoot – it’s so much quieter for a start - but that wouldn’t be wise where I am now. Publika shopping centre seemed much cleaner and well maintained so I might give it a go there next ‘Wheelie Sunday’, if I can find somewhere to stash my shoes without them being tidied by an over-vigilant cleaner.
Incidentally for the barefoot nerds out there (I’m looking at you Marin) I’ve also been checking out the prices & availability of ‘minimalist’ shoes. Merrell Road gloves & Trail gloves sell for about 380 MYR retail ($120ish) in the sports shops. Adidas five-finger copies are a bit cheaper. Nike Frees are just under 300 MYR or around $100. You could probably get them to reduce those prices a bit if you weren’t as hopeless at bartering as I am. You can also get Nike Frees in Petaling St markets, for I’m guessing around 160-200 MYR (I’ve been to scared to ask). They’ll be knock-offs, but what are they going to do – skimp on the padding?
The internet is due to be down all night and will apparently be fixed at 10am tomorrow*. Without the 3G on my phone it feels a bit like it used to feel when there was a powercut and you would put the kettle on to make a cup of tea and wait it out. My first thought was ‘excellent – I can give Liz a skype’, then I tried to use the internet radio, then I picked up my tablet and tried to hop on-line. I could write up some visit notes but that seems far too much like hard work and I think I deserve a soak in a hot bath and an early night. Unfortunately I’d arranged to work from home tomorrow morning to get a bunch of coding-type stuff done, which is much easier when you can listen to music, swear freely and not have to wear a tie. I’ll probably have to go in tomorrow morning instead as their anticipated fix date will be 10am Malaysian time. Who knows when that will come around?
*In case you’re wondering I’m writing this in the evening on a word doc and will transferred it over to blogspot when I get the chance.
This was the first time I’ve run in Five Fingers and it’s an interesting experience. As you’d expect it’s pretty similar to barefoot but the extra coverage makes you feel impermeable to small stones, cracks in the pavement and the like. You find yourself running over patches of gravel just because you can. But I can also see why so many people injure themselves starting out ‘barefoot’ running in minimalist shoes – if you’re not careful it’s easy to run further than you intended and injure your calf muscle or Achilles tendon. And I noticed when peering at my form in a shop window that it was allowing me to heel strike slightly without really noticing it. I ended up running probably 1500m (plotting it on a map later showed it to be just over 2km), which is a bit further than I usually run barefoot and I’m sure my shins and calves will punish me for it tomorrow (waking up later shows that assumption to be correct).
I cunningly planned my route to end up next to a shopping centre so after some stretching outside cooled by wafts of air-con I wandered around the supermarket stocking up on groceries and relishing the chilled air. I definitely prefer the feeling of going barefoot – it’s so much quieter for a start - but that wouldn’t be wise where I am now. Publika shopping centre seemed much cleaner and well maintained so I might give it a go there next ‘Wheelie Sunday’, if I can find somewhere to stash my shoes without them being tidied by an over-vigilant cleaner.
Incidentally for the barefoot nerds out there (I’m looking at you Marin) I’ve also been checking out the prices & availability of ‘minimalist’ shoes. Merrell Road gloves & Trail gloves sell for about 380 MYR retail ($120ish) in the sports shops. Adidas five-finger copies are a bit cheaper. Nike Frees are just under 300 MYR or around $100. You could probably get them to reduce those prices a bit if you weren’t as hopeless at bartering as I am. You can also get Nike Frees in Petaling St markets, for I’m guessing around 160-200 MYR (I’ve been to scared to ask). They’ll be knock-offs, but what are they going to do – skimp on the padding?
The internet is due to be down all night and will apparently be fixed at 10am tomorrow*. Without the 3G on my phone it feels a bit like it used to feel when there was a powercut and you would put the kettle on to make a cup of tea and wait it out. My first thought was ‘excellent – I can give Liz a skype’, then I tried to use the internet radio, then I picked up my tablet and tried to hop on-line. I could write up some visit notes but that seems far too much like hard work and I think I deserve a soak in a hot bath and an early night. Unfortunately I’d arranged to work from home tomorrow morning to get a bunch of coding-type stuff done, which is much easier when you can listen to music, swear freely and not have to wear a tie. I’ll probably have to go in tomorrow morning instead as their anticipated fix date will be 10am Malaysian time. Who knows when that will come around?
*In case you’re wondering I’m writing this in the evening on a word doc and will transferred it over to blogspot when I get the chance.
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