New shoes, clean chain and a completed To-Do list.

I wonder if Darilyn would be impressed?

After discussing with Karen whether trail shoes were necessary she said if they gave me more confidence then they were worth getting.

Then I spotted Rebel Sport were having a 4 day sale and on the final day managed to get myself there.

First of all I didn’t think they had trail shoes.  I found all manner of other sorts of shoes but not trail.  Then as I was slowly walking up the main isle walking past the rows of men’s shoes thinking that was it, I came across the Trail shoes.  Both men and women’s in the same isle.

And what do I spot?!  Both Asic shoes I tried on last weekned.  Both were cheaper than The Frontrunner by $20 and both had a further 25% discount.

I pulled out my i-mate to do the math (I don’t do math in my head on a Sunday – or many other days of the week).  Well, at $139.99 I could afford the Trubcos and I could afford the fancier red ones.  The red ones were pretty, they looked racey.

Unfortunately they only had size 7 (38 ) in both and I’m sure I tried on 7.5 (38.5) at the shop last weekend.  Well the 7’s fitted fine.  But still the red ones put pressure in one spot on my foot so I reluctantly took them off to put back on the shelf.

When I say I put them back on the shelf I did it the long way.  First off there were shoes strewen all of the place and odd pairs.

I picked out the boxes for the shoes I was trying without realising there was already a pair of both shoes on the bench seat.  Then I found that the shoes in the boxes had mis matching codes so I paired them all up correctly, then I found the stray pairs from along the bench and then I put them in order on the shelves by size.  Ok, so I am a bit of a neat freak, live with it, Mark does

In a way it was good the dearer pair hurt a little, cos I really didn’t want to spend more than $139.99 though would have paid another $20 or whatever it was but still I think I’ve got a great pair of shoes. PLUS, the Trubcos have longer laces, I’d never have managed to double knot the red pair.  But the red pair had racey laces!

I remembered last week when I was on the treadmill my heel didn’t feel as secure as I’d like – maybe the 7.5’s were a smidge too big. I checked the size 7’s and I still had a good thumb nail of space before the end of the shoes.  Isn’t that the way you measure?  So I got them.  They felt fine just walking up and down (while tidying up the shoe display).

We were only across the road from Pro-Fitness so I popped in there and de-frosted my gym membership (I had frozen my membership while I took special running classes and was keeping up my bike training – Richard said I had too much on and the gym sessions really needed to go for a while).

The only thing left on this weekend’s To-Do list was cleaning my bike chain – GROAN.

I decided that I’d try the new product I’d had in the spare bedroom wardrobe.  It’s Rock’n Roll Extreme Lube.  It’s a cleaner and lube all in one.

I wish I’d given it a go much sooner.  It was easy peasey!!

So there’ll be no more excuses for me.  Usually it’s quite a performance and I have to get my bike stand out and hoist my bike up there, then wash the bike, use the Park Chain Cleaner first with the Citrus Cleaner, then put a bit of dishwashing liquid in and repeat the process, and finally rinse (several times) just using water in the chain cleaner.

I like the Rock’n Roll method, it was done in no time at all and my chain is beautifully clean.

I suppose there will come a time I should give it the 3 part clean, especially if I’m washing all of my bike.  Becuase I’ve never used the Rock’n Roll lube before I don’t know if it’s just a “tide over” or it’s really just as effective as a full-on chain clean.

I reckon my bike has a much better chance of having the chain cleaned if all I need do is squirt a bit of this on the chain and wipe the excess of till it’s really dry.

What could be easier?!

So I’m all done for the weekend.  Now it’s time to go and sort out my gym gear for Monday, my running gear for Tuesday and get my bike kit sorted since I’m going to drive to work tomorrow (bike in boot) then ride home Monday, ride to work Tuesday and then pack the bike up and drive to Tuesday night running group.

Yippe, back to training tomorrow!

Jill and her Green balloon

Well it’s 10:30 and I can’t find any sort of update on the Shoe Clinic Harbour Capital Marathon.

I thought there would be some sort of commentary similar to what we have for the SBS Marathon in Christchurch. But nope, nadda, zip.

I checked out the weather on wunderground and there’s an 80% chance of rain.  So I guess Jill will likely be running in the rain.  But it’s not cold, 13 degrees right now.  That’s pretty nice, and just as well if you’ve got wet clothes.

I guess with about 1.5 hrs or running Jill has covered the majority of the course.

Will just have to patiently sit here and wonder how she’s managing those last (and often the hardest) k’s to the finish.  I bet she’s thinking about the slap up meal she’s having tonight.

Thinking of you Jill.