Nirvana?

Sorry for the poor picture. I figured you'd rather have a picture of my own personal Nirvana versus an image I found on Mizuno's site. As I didn't have the one of the nice cameras with me, I had to use my camera phone, which is normally reserved for the subway alone.

Well, I ran yesterday. The third time in the past 2 1/2 weeks. Very very tight at first, even a little painful. I ran at 8 minute pace for four miles. At the end, I was euphoric. That runner's high never lets me down. However, I knew the true test was yet to come. How would I feel after a night of sleep, a night of muscles tightening without the pain relief of one Bextra and two Advil. Well, this morning has provided mixed reviews. Sharp pain followed by no pain at all. We'll see how this evening's run goes.

On to the Nirvanas. They are Mizuno's answer to the immensely popular Asics Gel Kayanos. I've run in Kayanos for the past five years or so and have loved every minute of them. Well, aside from the IXs. I didn't like the IXs very much. Too much non-mesh material on the upper. Well, Asics decided to mess with a good thing and fundamentally changed what the Kayanos are in its latest release, the XIs. Asics went for a more light-weight, cushioned design and cut down on the stability aspects of the shoe. As you can tell from reading about all of my injury woes, I need stability. So I went to my shoe guy and he introduced me to the Nirvanas. It was love at first feel.

The Nirvanas have the cushioned stability feel of the Kayanos, with a little bit more arch, and with the wide toe box of many Sauconys. Plus all that mesh. I love mesh. The only test now is to see how they hold up. My Kayanos have been great shoes. Good for at least 500 miles. If the Nirvanas can do the same, I won't be going back to Asics any time soon.

Looks like I've found a shoe to do Comrades in next year. Now if I can just convince Liz that going to South Africa next June is a good idea.