2 Weeks of Minimalist Living

I recently went to Germany for a couple of weeks and purposely only packed minimalist shoes...this meant 2 weeks without foot coffins. :)

The first few days were a little tough as I normally would generally wear regular shoes the odd time even though I much prefer the minimalist ones. Shoes with any sort of a heel to toe drop make me feel like I'm falling forward these days. After a couple of days in minimalist shoes I could feel my ankles and calves getting a little stiff, especially in the morning after just getting out of bed (I have a bunk bed in Germany, so climbing down the ladder first thing is always great fun). Soon the stiffness went again though and I was really comfortable. I went for the odd run with my other half, too, and felt good.

Some sunshine at last!!!!

Today was one of the very few dry days we had in nearly the last 2 months. So I took the opportunity to test the camera on my new phone while I was out walking with Cara.

Check this out...it's sunny but there's still a rainbow...

It was cold but sunny, the air felt really fresh, crisp and clean. I love this about the place I live in. Unfortunately, we have a lot of bad weather, which makes living out in the country a bit miserable at times. In good weather this feels like the nicest place in the world though.

Happy out

Decisions made - well, some anyway...

I haven't been writing anything in a while now, so I thought I'd just give a quick update on the decisions I had to make and was pondering over in my last post.

Some of them have still not been fully made, but I'm getting closer to a decision. Especially the business one is a hard one. There are tax implications, a lot of forms to fill in and a lot of other factors to consider as well as getting a website, stationary, business cards etc. This is currently all work in progress.

The naughty VFF Bikila continued

I finally managed to fix my left running Bikila.

I was impatiently waiting for the shoe goo I had ordered to arrive. Once it got here I made an attempt to reattach the soft arch bit to the actual rubber sole as they had come apart. Not sure what caused it - they might just not have been glued properly initially. I was glad to see that there was no damage, just a bit of detachment ;o).

So I got a bit of surgical spirit, some cotton buds and some clamps. I cleaned the area with the surgical spirit, using the cotton buds to reach inside the little gap as well. I then went and put some shoe goo in with the cotton bud end minus the cotton. It seemed to go in pretty well, and I probably even used a bit too much. As it's a big tub though I didn't worry about that (there's enough to fix another ton of shoes, but I hope I won't have to use it again anytime soon). I put loads in and then secured the two parts with a big clamp. I wiped off any excess goo that was coming out of the gap as soon as I put the clamp on and put the vff into a safe and well ventilated spot....and left it there for the next day and a half to allow the goo to cure.

The fixed Bikila with excess shoe goo

Barefoot Treadmill Running

I was dying to go for a run today as I haven't been running in a week. The last time was still in Germany. My VFF Bikilas are still not fixed, waiting for the shoe goo to arrive.

As the weather here has been anything but pleasant since we got back on Sunday, I opted for a treadmill run (otherwise I would have used my new Bikila LS on the road). No need for Bikilas there (they're slippy as hell on the belt because it's quite worn, kinda like sand paper that has been used a lot). No need for any sort of shoes for that matter. I decided to go barefoot and work on my form. I find the treadmill quite good for that as it is unforgiving. One wrong step and a blister is guaranteed.

The naughty VFF Bikila

During my last 5k race one of my beloved silver/green Bikilas started to disintegrate... The rubber sole is starting to come off the EVA arch yoke (not sure does it actually have a name...). I spotted it after the race. Not sure if it was due to the amount of water on the course - we were pretty much constantly running through puddles. When I took the shoes off I saw an approximately 3 cm long gap under the left shoe. I was not happy...to say the least. Cian helped me to do some research on the interweb to find out how to best deal with the issue at hand as I was not prepared to give up my Bikilas because of that. And we found an answer: SHOE GOO! :)

Back in Ireland....

We have just arrived back in Ireland. And - as expected - it was raining again. (It never really stops raining here). I was wishing my life away and so wanted to be back in Germany.

A little shopping in the big smoke on the way home lifted the mood a little. Another pair of VFF's richer (even if not the ones I actually wanted as they had no women's Komodo Sport in the shop....will have to save up now for the winter and might be able to get the Komodo Sports then - at least I was told that they would stock them towards the end of the year...) and plenty of other goodies later (crocs wellies, board shorts and some habanero nibbles) we hit the road to lovely (and wet...) Leitrim.

My new classics

Cian's new classics

Holidays in Germany - week 1

I couldn't wait to finish work and head to Germany with Cian for our well deserved 2 week break.

The first day would be a tough one straight away. We were up at 2am as we had to drive to Dublin to catch a 7am flight. Arriving in Germany around 10am we had some breakfast. Then we started to prepare for our 5k race in the inner port that afternoon. The weather was so different to Ireland, really hot, the air a lot more stuffy. We ran in a team of 4: Cian, my brother René, Judith and myself.

Team Potoothsenmeerschweinschken :)

A VFF Sunday out

Last Sunday Cian and I went into Carrick for a relaxing morning/early afternoon. We took Cara with us to get her more used to people and other dogs. She is very good and normally isn't bothered with other people and dogs at all, but it's good to put her to the test every now and then, as there is not much happening out where we live (extremely rural :)).

KSO feet

 We both wore our VFF KSO's and got some strange looks. But we don't care, we love them and what other people think doesn't matter to us. Some people also thought they were extremely cool. (Yes, we agree!)

The coincidental VFF run

After I had been for a 6k treadmill run yesterday I hadn't intended to go for another run today. The weather still wasn't the best, overcast with some occasional showers (I sound like the weatherman ;o)). I had been doing a lot of housework today (a late spring clean...) and was just moping around the house after, not really in the mood to do anything. Then I saw my Bikilas sitting innocently on the bedroom floor, on their own (because I had tidied everything else away..). So I took a notion and decided to take them out for a spin (never mind the rest day...I normally never run 2 days in a row).

So I got ready and Cara got unbelievably excited. She loves her runs!

My Bikila feet

First attempts - at blogging and minimalist running

Ok, so this is my first attempt at blogging...
I have never been very good at expressing myself and bearing in mind that English is not my native tongue I might sometimes struggle to find the right or appropriate words.

First of all I'll share a bit more about myself. I'm a German living in Ireland for over 10 years now. I live out in the country with my boyfriend (he's a little crazy at times) and my mad dog Cara. I'm working in corporate banking but due to a fortunate event (ok, I don't know if I should call redundancy fortunate or not...) to happen in the not so far future I am currently training to be a massage therapist (and loving it!).