Hoka and UD updates.

Allow me to add to my last post regarding my experiences with Hoka One One and Altra. I have been using relatively new Hoka Bondis and old Hoka Odysseys for road and easy trail/gravel running over the past couple of years. I have used Altra Lone Peaks for more intense (read technical) trails. Interspersed throughout, I still run a bit in Salomons and every now and then an ancient pair of Mizuno trail shoes. Today I tried something different. I have a pretty good love affair going on with the two aforementioned Hoka models (there are also a couple of Hoka models that, um, don't do it for me - to be nice about it). Anyway. today I wore my old Hoka Odysseys on a 10 mile technical trail run. I wasn't expecting to like the experience much, but I did. While I'm certain that I wore some serious life out of the soles (they truly are not meant for this type of running), the Odysseys performed as good or better than any trail shoe I have worn. I normally feel a few jarring stabs from rocks and roots on this particular trail. The Hokas cushion rejected all unwelcome advances of that sort. They also remained stable and provided the right support on uneven ground - something about which I had been a bit concerned. I don't know if I will take them on too many other technical runs. But it is great to know how well they held up should I decide to use them for this type of running in the future.

The Scott Jurek UD pack with soft bottles also has performed passably. Last week I used it with a bladder (from Nathan) instead of bottles. I think I will not do that again without using a bladder designed for UD's deep back pocket. But for runs where smaller quantities of H2O are required, the soft bottles work great and the pack feels snug yet nonrestrictive.

Over the past year, I have begun to subscribe to the philosophy of 'Buy less. Buy better'. I have stopped buying clothing from companies that aren't responsible. Lately, all purchases (and there are only a few) have been Patagonia or Prana products. All are either recycled or contain organic materials - after reading about non-organic cotton, the decision to switch was easy. And for non-necessary purchases, I am still donating the equivalent of 10% of the purchase price to charities and relief agencies, or organizations that support human rights. Thinking about buying less and buying responsibly whenever possible is a bit of a change. But it is a practice that causes me to stop and think before automatically pulling the trigger on a purchase that may be much more of a want than a need.

A good book to read on the subject that I knocked out last week is Yvon Chouinard's, Let My People Go Surfing, which is an autobiography of a sort, that covers his life, his business life (with Black Diamond and Patagonia), and shares a lot of his philosophy of trying to do the right thing for the planet.