I'm going barefoot.....maybe?

So after reading Born To Run a few months ago and attempting to be an "in the know" runner I've been interested in all the minimalist and barefoot running buzz. Can it truly cure runners knee? Because after weeks of physical therapy during my marathon training, I still couldn't walk right for a few days following the Bayshore. So is running barefoot (or in minimalist shoes) truly going to cure all my running aliments? In January I even attended a Good Form Running class, which helped me determine I heel-strike; however, the difficult part was correcting the form. Since it was winter at the time I would run on the treadmill, which was prefect time to run barefoot. Although I didn't feel that my running form was changing significantly during my barefoot treadmill runs. However, I'm still fully committed to improving my running form...a perfectly healthy 25-year old should be able to run & run & run & run without any knee pain whatsoever.

Of course, I'd seen, read and heard about the Vibram FiveFingers; however, there was no way I was going to commit to the shoes (which are not cheap) without knowing whether barefoot/minimalist shoes were for me. Over the past several months I've decided the Merrell Pace Glove would be the perfect mesh for me, designed with minimal support and sole, but still lace up similar to a "traditional" running shoe. So they combine what I'm interested in with FiveFingers with my "traditional" running shoe (Mizuno Wave Alchemys)? We will see, I'm planning to finally purchase a pair in the short-term future and put them to the test. Obviously going through the appropriate wear-in/break-in phase. Can they cure my runner's knee and put me on track for half marathons in the fall or the Green Bay marathon next year.....or sometime in the future. Bring it.

Project Time

Since becoming homeowners last November we've learned all about the many joys of home ownership. One of the projects we've seen fully completed was the "blue room" or my "project room". Dubbed the "blue room" for the blue carpet (as hideous as it sounds). Below is the room pre-project. White walls with multiple holes filled in, blue carpet, and outdated white kiddy ceiling fan.


We decided to keep the room bright and opted for a blue/gray color on the wall, remove the blue carpet and replace it with brown carpet, and a new ceiling fan.


One project down and several to go; however, we are well on our way. Next on the list is the living and dining room area, for which we just finalized the color scheme. Light tan/khaki with sage as the accent wall.

Also making progress all my hand-planted bulbs are preparing to bloom any day now! My expectations were they would bloom sometime in August, so any day now would be perfectly aligned with my expectations.