Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Shifted...And Nadia's Progress

Guilty as charged. Not been updating as often as i should.

We've been shifting things over since last Thursday and finally moved in on Sunday. With minimal stuff left in the old place.


Entering new house ritual...crossing over fire to cleanse oneself

The new place is as cosy as the old one, only bigger, in my opinion.

The new place is also technically nearer to work...i can walk to work and save on petrol!

I will upload some pictures once i got the time to do so.

Meanwhile on the Nadia's front, she was a good 1.3kg at 28 weeks, and just today, at 30th weeks, she grown to 2.1kg! That explained the uncomfy feeling that wifey has! Comparatively, When Ryan was 28th weeks, he was only 1kg and at 30 weeks, he was 1.6kg! How Nadia grow so fast and so much did worries us, but Doc says it's ok and the only thing he needs to check is wifey's sugar level.

I promise to upload some house pics by May Day, meanwhile, i'm going out to get a copy of Personal Money magazine as someone says my face is in there!



Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Look What Is In My Wardrobe

Lifelogger refused to accept any pics that i tried to upload and now, i'm without a picture hosting site. So, i have no choice but to utilise the build in feature of blogger.com and apologies if the pictures isn't as big as it used to be.

Last Sunday, as i was unpacking and putting some stuff into the new home, i can't help but grin from ear to ear to find some of my old uniforms which i wore during my RMC days.

It still fits though - but that might be denial at work.


The beret and the chicken feather


No.4

And back in the early 1990's, all new boy would have a set of these tracksuit. Back then, when windbreaker-parachute like material was a rage, this cotton retro tracksuit was simply fugly. 15 odd years later...i think this is pretty cool. Infact, wearing them, at an angle, i felt i look like one of the angkasawan.


The brand was MONZA...go figure

I've also found some of the t-shirts and polo-t which was produced by my peers back then, with tagline such as GUTS and GLORY...RMC FAN CLUB...Beyond Imagination...you go figure. It's cheesy, yes, but i guess 15 years ago, when most of us felt we are almost invincible as a teenager, anything that shout out what (we think) we are, is just simply awesome.

I promise i will show more pictures in time to come. Meanwhile, continue to ROTFL.


Friday, April 18, 2008

I Dream of Special Forces

I had the strangest of a dream.

Wifey was in the dream as well.

Apparently, we got ourselves shortlisted to join the Special Forces.

Yes, she is pregnant and pregnant she is in the dream.

We were asked to swim 5.5km in full battle fatigue and only those that survive will be considered for the second round of interview where one will go through a mock war zone and being fired with rubber bullets.

Somehow, i did not make it after the first round but wifey managed to earn her green beret.

What is the dream trying to tell me?

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Second Letter to Nadia

Dear Ah Girl,

If you are reading this now, this would meant that this blog is still in existence after that many years. Papa is at work now while composing you this letter. It is raining heavily and as usual, Papa is multitasking at work.

Contarary to what your mum would say, Papa CAN multitask. He has like 8 windows opened in his laptop now. In case you are wondering what a laptop is, it is essentially a computer, roughly about an inch thick and about 14 inch length by 10 inch wide which in 2008, we uses it as a computer. I bet these would be obsolete by the time you knows what a computer is.

Papa is finding time to write to you amongst preparing data for 2 different reports, checking the work schedule for Papa's colleagues, solving issues which was left by Papa's ex-manager, adding one OP into the E-list and surfing Uncle Tey's blog for more of Papa's pictures.

As you can see, your Papa is pretty good looking.


Jumping with joy anticipating your arrival

And now, you most probably knows where you get your good look from. Don't be shy, it's ok to admit it. Really.

At the time of writing, you would had known that we all are going to shift into a new house in 2 weeks time. Loads of work has been done, being led by your mum and your Aunt. Since January 2008, loads of work has been done and at the current moment in time, the house is at 90% completion. The electric gate just went in as i'm typing this!

There is a lot to do to make sure that you and your brother has the best that mummy and papa could offer. This including making sure that both of you gets all the education you both need to be someone useful in the society. We only wish for the best for both of you.

As you would know, mummy operates a boutique with 2 other beautiful auntie. I'm not entirely sure if they will still have the business when you grow up later. The business currently are doing well despite all the competition they faces. However, if the business is still under their jurisdiction, you will, together with Maira, have a field day trying out the clothes and perhaps even inheriting the business!

I know, that is a little far fetched. Papa knows that you perhaps want to be a fighter plane pilot or even become a profesional triathelete like Auntie Kimbeley. Whatever it is, Papa and Mummy's hope is that you grow up to be someone everyone will be proud off.

And by that, i don't meant that you will rule the triads ok.

It will be 2 more weeks before Papa gets to see you via Prof Raman's ultrasound machine, until then, make sure you be good, stay good and most importantly, keep kicking inside Mummy's womb as that is the only sure communication that Papa and Mummy gets from you.

And of course, don't kick too hard ok!

Love,
Papa




Nadia : Week 28



Nadia is now a good 1.3kg heavy. She has been growing well and is very active inside mummy's womb.

Not only she occasionally tries to turn and tumble, she loves to punch and push too!

Dr. Raman gave her a clean bill of health and we couldn't be more thankful.

Somehow, she looks like her brother from the side view. Perhaps she will carry on the baldness like her brother.

With 2 more months to go, we are technically prepared for another bundle. Ryan has been a handful, and i know that Nadia will add to the challenges. I've already imagined the both of them running from the kitchen to the front door and up the stairs and under the stairs.

With a relatively bigger place for them to terrorize me and wifey, there is only possibility that both of us would be worn out by the end of the day.

I've been telling Ryan that he will be a big brother and he look at me as if he understand what i'm saying. I've been talking to Nadia, though not as often as how i did to Ryan though.

Nevertheless, it is exciting. 8 more weeks (24th June). It will be fun.

Nadia, papa will write you a letter soon.


Monday, April 14, 2008

BHP Orange Run 08

At 4.30am, wifey was telling me that it was raining heavily.

I saw my excuse not to run the Orange Run.

At 6.30am, the rain did not seem to stop and i sms-ed Arif, which then throw the question back to me again.

I decided to go and run as i need to break some sweat badly. Work has been heavy and stressful and anything to keep work off my mind would be definately welcomed.

At 7.20am, i went to pick Arif and Senn up.

We reached Curve right on time for the run.

Flagoff?

What flagoff?

Apparently, by the time we arrived, the run has started and we were a good 10 minutes behind. I was among the many non-registered runner aka pirate. The run was free, but i don't seems to find the time to register for it. I told myself not to drink anything on the drink station as not to deprieve others.

We managed to catch up with the runners and was soon making ground with the rest of the group.

Me and Arif decided to just go on a slow pace as both of us has not gotten any serious training in.

It was still drizzling slightly when we ran out of Mutiara Damansara. Arif was all sweat and raring to go.


Arif the Tryathelte - but actually an Ironman

I was having a relatively slow jog and was pleasantly surprised that i was hanging in pretty well. My last run was KLIM.


With Ironman Arif and Iron(wo)man Senn

During this run, i was also testing out the Nike Free Everyday and also the Nike Plus software via the Ipod connectivity. I was also testing the NikeFit top and the NikeFit shorts over their useabilities in fun run like these.

We reached the 5km mark in about 30minutes, which is pretty much a relatively 6:00 comfy pace. Not pushing and on any given Ironman Sunday, there won't be much sweat so to say.

But frankly, i was struggling to a certain extend but i wasn't struggling like in consitpated kind of way. You get what i meant la.


It's the sun la, that is why sweat

At the water station, we waited for Senn. While waiting a few people ran passed and could recognise me from this blog. How's that for being recogniseable OUTSIDE of this blog? :)

PLEASANT!

So, Hi to you Nik! and Hi to you Doc M!


NikeFIT white top and NikeFIT Shorts

The run took us from Curve to Mutiara Damansara, Passing by Pelangi Damansara into Sunway Damansara, then towards (the old) Sony HQ, then left towards Centrepoint and turning left at 1 Utama/BU4 junction before crossing over the Surian Tunnel back to Curve. Total distance was 9.99km (as recorded on a friend's Garmin 305 Forerunner) and 9.54km on the Ipod with Nike+ capability. It pays to calibrate the Ipod as it goes to show the accuracy which isn't too far off from the supposedly distance (when compared to the GPS).


The very "colourful" Nike Free Everyday

As i approach the finishing line, i saw Tey. As usual, with his weapon of choice - his dSLR.
:)


Sorry ah...blame it on the effect of running and taking picture

I cross the finishing line in 56:36. Here is my running stats:

Distance : 9.54km
Time: 56:36
Pace: 5.35min/km
Ave HR : 158bpm
Max HR : 186bpm
Kcal : 776kcal

And here is a few pics of the few people i know that crossed the line.


Arif


Arif with Nik


Doc M


Wifey's cousin - Eddie


Lizzie


Senn

To all that finished the run, and most importantly, those that did their maiden/virgin 10km run, WELL DONE!


Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Nike Free

I was pretty skeptical about the whole Nike Free thingy. I mean, we wear shoe to help us run better, to provide cushioning and to give all the support and stability one need to propel forward.

The Nike Free i know are Nike Free 3.0, Nike Free 5.0 and Nike Free 7.0. The number is not the version number, but it's used as an indication on how close the shoe mimic barefoot running. In another words, the lower the number, the closer you "free" yourself from running with a shoe. Literally speaking, a 7.0 is like wearing a shoe and a 3.0 is almost barefooted. The 5.0 is a balance between the 3.0 and 7.0 (duh).


Free 3.0

Then again, why BAREFOOT?

OK, given that most kenyans run barefooted and a few Malaysians i know does the same (Ngae is one of them, he has Ngae Free 0.5 - the 0.5 is the thickness of his own feet's sole). But, seriously....WHY?

Well, for a simple reason that Nike wants you to simulate barefooted run BUT with protection!

You see, when we wear a feature laden shoes which can almost promise to bring you to the moon (and back, depending if you are listening to Savage Garden while running), running barefooted actually strengthen the legs. When we wear a shoe, all parameters such as rolling, pronation, twisting and perhaps even tip-toeing (i know some that run on their toes) away from their running mechanics as the shoes offer all the support they need to prevent them from doing that.

So, Free are kind of anti-thesis. It's whole purpose is to make you utilise your feet instead of the shoe to run. You see, when we wear those feature laden shoes, the only part of our feet which works (abutting the shoes) is our ankle. The feet muscle is not working as it should, and as a result, we get weaker feet.

In fact, running in Free gets your feet stronger. However, one is advised to start slow. Like wearing the shoe at home the first 2 days to get a feel of what the shoe is about in terms of stability (and looking silly when the neighbour sees you walking about in your shoes at home, OR it could give them an impression you have some big ass gym inside your home!)


Free 5.0

Essentially, what the Free user might feel are:
1. This shoe feels great! I can wear this to sleep!
2. Shucks! My feet ache!

If you feel item 2 above, it simply says that your feet aren't conditioned as yet and they are getting used to running barefooted (or almost). One shouldn't give up...or attempt marathon mileage (or even 5km) on first usage attempt. Rahter, give time for the feet to get stronger, and it promises that you would swear by the shoes.

If you feel item 1 above, don't get cocky.

Basically, you slowly build the mileage up from week to week until you could run comfortably in those shoes. Infact, it's reccomended that you start with a 5.0 and either work your way up or down (depending on your preferences) in terms of cushioning and real feel. Infact, i was told that 3.0 is a favourite with those doing martial art. No longer they have to wear those *Butterfly* brand rubber sole ugly martial art shoes!


Free 7.0

Nike Free now has V2 and V3 out in the market already (as in Version 2/3) to address the durability issue of the first original version.

As for me, i've not had any chances to try it as yet. *hint hint @ Nike*

Anyone with experiences running with Free?










Monday, April 07, 2008

Ryan Is Sick

On the rarest of occasion, this fella finally fell sick.

Not that me or wifey is proud that he is, but the mere fact about how unprepared we are as parents!

We were in PD on Saturday for a weekend getaway. I was stressed at work, having to clean up tonnes of things which was left behind by someone. Wifey wanted a break teribbly too, to *getaway* from the pregnancy blue (Nadia will be due 24th June!).

So, we headed down to PD with the usual gorgeous aunties and handsome uncles and one small leng lui baby (the usual la, Auntie Chit, Auntie SP, Auntie Olivia, Uncle KC, Uncle Roland, Uncle Kevin and lil Maira)

We were in Legend Water Chalet, yeap, it's that expensive place. But me and wifey settled for the tower hotel room, reason being, we do not want to have some heart attack seeing Ryan climbing over the balcony and into the water.

The place is a-ok. It's big (the room) and for the price you are paying for, it's essentially paying for 2 rooms actually (the one we have had a king size bed and a queen sized bed). We then decided to jump into the pool to cool off the hot afternoon day.

And that was the worse possible choice we made.

The pool was dirty. I was itching the moment i was in there for 2 minutes. I thought i was the only one but apparently, even Wifey started to itch. Then, we noticed that Ryan too, had red rashes on his body.

We left the pool as soon as we got in.

That evening, during dinner, Ryan had a fever.

And the fever had me scrambling all over PD for a pharmacy. All closed since it was already 10am.

I looked for clinic, but can't find one within 5km of the hotel (nearest was the Hospital near Marina).

It was by sheer luck when i stumbled on one 24 hours clinic right where i usually have breakfast when i go to PD for work. I never realised it was there because it was runned down (exterior) and the interior would remind you of a very old clinic, operated by very old doctor.

I didn't see the doctor, but i bought one bottle of Paraceptamol from the clinic. It cost me RM10 (!!!)

Ryan's fever then went up and down. I even bought the fever patch (the one form Hitsamitsu - Bye Bye Fever) and stuck one on his back.

It was cool (as in COLD) and he did shiver when i put it on his back. Even in his sickness, Ryan stills entertain.

His fever subsided the following day and came back again in the afternoon. It went off in the evening and came back at night.

I stuck one of the patch on his forehead when he was in deep sleep (and so, he don't ahve the tendency to pull it off) and by 6am this morning, the patch was dried up! It goes to show his fever actually went up while we were all sleeping.

Never once he complained. Infact, if you see him, you won't know he is sick unless you place your hand on his forehead or body. He still run around like he is alright and still climb here and there as if nothing has happened.

So, this morning, with his body still with temperature, we decided to bring him to see doctor.

The first vet pead we went to was literally filled with kids. We were 18th on the waiting list. The nurse did nothing to access the situation to prioritise who the doctor should see first. Imagine if a baby comes in with fever and had to wait for 2 hours before seeing the doctor. By then, it might had been too late, the brain might had been fried. So, me and wifey had blackmarked this children clinic in Taman Tun. Shame on them! (Post Note : Apologies for being judgemental - realised that i shouldn't had judge the clinic even before having a chance to talk to the doctor. I blame it on my own ignorance and instinct as a parent to get Ryan treated)

We then took a drive to Uptown area and stumble upon one clinic for children. The nurse instantly asked for Ryan's temperature to be taken and had him see the doctor within the next patient that went out. Mind you, the clinic wasn't empty and no one has any qualm about the situation as i'm sure the parents there knows better about all these!

Doctor diagnose Ryan as having viral fever. And the only reason how i could think of it is by swimming in the dirty swimming pool in Legend Hotel PD. He might had drank/sipped some of the water and resulted with him down with fever and diarrhea. The doctor then took a look into both his ears (in case it's ear infection that causes the fever) and access the situation.

Seems that what i've done for Ryan so far has been correct - 5ml of paraceptamol (250mg) every 6 hours should do the trick.

We were told to give him loads of water (which we does everyday) and to keep him as comfy as possible (meaning, more air circulation).

The last i check, Mum in law says his fever wasn't as high, but his body is warm to hot.

Whatever it is, he was still running around in the house.

How to believe that he is sick in the first place?

To tell you the truth, this episode has shown how unprepared we are to combat his fever. Not helping as this boy hardly fall sick to begin with. And i guess just like me, once he is sick, he will be sick and that only happens once in a blue moon.






Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Triax, Supernova and Pegasus Shootout

As most of you know, I was given a pair of Nike Air Pegasus+ by Nike to try out for KL International Marathon (KLIM) 08. I was given a pair of Nike Air Triax 10+ last year by them as well to try out for KLIM 07. Prior to this pair of Air Pegasus, I was given a pair of Adidas Supernova CSH 7 which I used for my IronMan (IM) 08 race.

Yes, I’m lucky. I don’t think I need to buy anymore shoes for the next 2 years of active racing.

Before all these fancy branded shoes, I relied basically on my New Balance, which was officially my first pair of proper running shoes and the previous last seen in action Brooks Targa2 which I absolutely adore (and given away to a driller I worked with in Sabah). So, as you can see, my appreciation of these running shoes sort of evolved from the very basic running shoes to the almost top of the range type.

Having said that, I am still wondering how the Asic Kayano 13, which has many runners singing praises about feel. But I guess as far as all those are concerned, I am truly blessed with what I have.

As a benchmark, I will compare the Air Pegasus+ with both Triax and Supernova; using Triax as the benchmark as it was, after all the first “technologically enhanced” shoe I ever had.


R-L : Triax, Supernova, Pegasus

I will compared all 3 shoes based on OUTLOOK, FEATURES, CUSHIONING, STABILITY, VENTILATION, DURABILITY, SAFETY and of course, my own category which I will call “The Ouch Factor”.

To start with, it would be interesting to note the sizes of the shoes which were given to me. Triax was a US11, Supernova was a US10.5 and Pegasus was a US10 (4E). Please be reminded that the shoes was only given to me if it fits my feet, i.e. it won’t be given to me just for the sake of giving from all parties concerned (yes, even if I were to BEG!).

Also, the other benchmark would be the fact that I’ve ran 3 different marathon with 3 different shoes, so, each shoe did clocked a proper marathon at the time of review.

OUTLOOK
Let’s admit it; most of us buy the shoe because it looks good. Even though the function would not serve the purpose we would want to buy it in the first place. That goes to explain why some of us out there are willing to spend on something that might not even serve its purpose (retail therapy???).

I love the Triax design and color. Maybe because of the striking orange hue with the overall white color. It screamed for attention. The trademark Swoosh was also highly visible and would make one feels like they are serious athlete. To compare it with a car, this is the badass racer boy wannabe Honda – ever ready to go.

The Supernova, with the same white overall concept with yellow based subtlety painted on a few places was as striking as well. The yellow was more striking when it was new. But after some mileage (and tones of sweat), it sort of fade off. The Supernova’s design was typical Adidas. To borrow the car analogy, it would be like looking at a Toyota – expected and reliably predictable.

The Pegasus, on the other hand, looked boring at the first glance. Most probably because of the grayish blue overall with reddish orange Swoosh here and there. Due to the color contrast of the blue-red combination, the Swoosh was more subtle. But it is something that you might grow to like over time. However, to say it wasn’t attention grabbing was entirely not true as my colleague did notice it when I first wore it to the office after I got the shoe! To carry on the analogy, it is best described to look like a Merc – reliable and you know you can race it.

While taste is subjective and open for debate, my personal favorite is the Triax – as I love how the shoe stand out amongst the three I have and oh well, I had to admit it, I am a self confessed narcissist, so any attention is good.

FEATURES
When the Triax first came out, it was the flagship model where it would be able to “talk” to the iPod Nano and tell the runner their speed and all the stats of their workout. It was indeed a first amongst the many. It weight lighter than my previous 2 shoes and it was a welcome change at that point of time.

Meanwhile, Supernova was the one with enough features to please any nerds which wants to feel like super athlete. With a new technology called Formotion, it was indeed the biggest differences I felt when compared to the Triax. But of course, when I compared the Triax with Supernova, I was told I wasn’t comparing apple to apple but rather apple to orange. The Supernova equivalent in Nike is the Vomero, which some would say is like running on pillow (I could had been able to review the Vomero if it was just half a size bigger!) The Supernova also comes with a prototype insert for connectivity with a Polar HRM and could be used as a pedometer. I’m not sure if the production Supernova (the one I got was strictly working prototype and wasn’t sold until recently) comes with that insert which is similar with Nike+.

The Pegasus, being Nike’s bread and butter model, was pretty predictable. To me, it is classified under the “can’t go wrong” category; very much like the Supernova. It has all the Triax has and it’s much lighter compared to the Triax (one side of Pegasus is 365gram). I can feel the differences as I was used to be running in shoes which weigh almost a tonne and any shoes lighter than a tonne do feel light, whether it is light or not.

The clear winner in this category was clearly the Supernova with all the Superfeatures which could almost give any Supertire a run for their money should the features on the shoes be translated to a tire.

CUSHIONING
When someone talks about cushioning in sports shoes, people tend to relate them to Nike or to Asic. While one uses the “Air” denomination as the standard, the other uses the “Gel” notion to denotes the plush factor.
So, it wasn’t a surprised when I first wear the Triax, it was really comfortable and I was really confident in running in the shoe for 42.2km eventhough I did not have the luxury to “season” the shoe prior to that.

But when Supernova comes along, the cushioning was so plush, it makes me feel running in the Triax is like being barefoot on tarmac. The Formotion was really really a great feature as it provide advance cushioning on the heel upon impact.

However, the Pegasus+ was as comfy as the Supernova and as plush, maybe even plushier. Having said that, I did try to fit into the Vomero+ and I tell you, that Vomero top it all off when it comes to cushioning, unfortunately, it was half a size smaller (didn’t I said that already?)

The thicker than usual sole on the Pegasus did contribute to the better cushioning without sacrificing or adding on the weight onto the shoe (that in return made me compare the Pegasus to a Merc la – Bigger but surprisingly comfy!)

In terms of cushioning, I would say it’s a tie between Supernova and Pegasus+.

STABILITY
When runners gather to talk about running shoes, apart from comparing how overpronate their feet could be, or how their biomechanic when they are running contribute to them either clocking their personal best or otherwise, the issue on stability will somewhat come into the picture.

Stability in this sense was referring more to the side to side motion of the feet and the back to front motion as the heel strike and the ball of the feet takes off. Technically, the better the stability, the greater the control. Having greater control will contribute to lesser possibility of injury. With that, the runner could perhaps break the current 42.2km record of 2:15 set last Sunday.

But seriously, stability in shoe is as serious as preventing your car from drifting while running (whilst the drifting motion in car are sometimes on purpose, drifting in running would only contribute to you being rested for the rest of your running career).

The Triax was technically more stable than the previous 2 shoes I had. Having cross support on the upper shoe and the stability factor on the arch/feet was a great contributing factor to me running injury free (well, almost). While it was sufficient, I believe it could had been better, especially on the forefoot where to some extend, after wearing them for a longer period, you wish that your front feet would not slide left and right as much.

The Supernova utilized it’s own trademark three stripes as part of the stability structure. With the stabilizing plate at the bottom of the shoe, it gives a very nice “take off” feel as you push forward. This was clearly missing in the Triax. However, the upper stability was sometimes in question as I do find my feet threatening to twist when I land on uneven surface.
The Pegasus was heavily supported on the upper portion of the shoe. The traditional webbing used to maintain the shape and intergrity of the shoe ensure that your feet do not “slide” under uneven surface and ensure that every strike lands as it should for good power transfer to the ground.

For this category, I would say the Pegasus pip the Supernova slightly.

VENTILATION
The horror of some people is that their sport shoes smell like a whole basket of fish died in there and left to rot.

While some shoes has ventilation even on the bottom, it was sort of a counter productive at time when running over a puddle of water would almost guarantee that the water would seep through from the bottom. So much for keeping the interior dry!

Before I go on, I would want to put on the record that my feet do not sweat a tonne like my face when I eat something spicy. So, I do not have issue with my shoe smelling like 2two basket of durian was left in there over night.


To start with, the Triax’s ventilation was good. When I remove the shoe, my sock felt warm and slightly damn. The mesh was good enough and provide decent ventilation.


The Supernova on the other hand has great ventilation. To compare how good the ventilation are, Shazly would be the best person to refer to. He has both the Triax and Supernova just like me. In the Triax, he sweat bucket. In the Supernova, his feet as just damp. If you run next to him, you would hear squishing sound from his feet when he wears the Triax but never on the Supernova!


When I had the Pegasus+ on for KLIM 08, my socks was never even damp to start with until the 36km when I accidentally wet the Pegasus as I drenched myself with ice water. Eventhough it was partially wet, it took me less than 6km back to the finishing line and the shoe was as dry as the Sahara!. Unbelieveable!

So, this round truly belongs to Pegasus+.

DURABILITY



Triax has clocked almost 500km over the period of 1 year and it was the heaviest used shoe when I was preparing for IM08 this year. However, It proved to be able to take the abuse I put on her and still look new. However, the tell tale sign that the shoe is coming to it’s end of life is from the sole of the shoe where it clearly show sign of wear and tear. What used to be orange is now replaced by black rubber material. However, I did great mileage with this shoe and I guess it’s time to put her to rest.

The Supernova is still new but I’ve clocked almost a decent 150km in them. As expected, it is still taking the abuse and the heavy 78kg of bodyweight it has to support (yes la, I gained weight). As with any Toyota car, I don’t think this shoe would have durability issue.

As for the Pegasus+, having only clocked a total of 50km at most, it’s still too early to tell, but if going by the convention that Nike make their shoes pretty much the same, and that the Pegasus+ is on the higher range compared to Triax, I strongly believe it would give me another 450km before even showing any sign of wear and tear.

As my experience is based on Nike shoe where durability is concerned, I would give this one to the Triax, for being the most “seasoned” player amongst the three shoes.

THE OUCH FACTOR
I guess most of you would think I’m referring to the pricing factor and how it would hurt your pocket (hence the OUCH factor), but I must tell you that you are wrong. I’m not that predictable la.

The OUCH factor here is referring to the tendency of the shoe giving you blisters on first usage.

Triax was almost a disaster, though comfy, I had to endure two sets of blisters when I used it for the marathon last year. While it is expected of a new shoe not to “form” according to my feet, the same could not be said for the other shoes in this list. It was a OUCH OUCH factor for this shoe. To be fair, the socks I wore was a lil too thin for a marathon as well. And from then on, the 2 other shoes I wore, it was with slightly thicker socks (same thicker socks to be precise, got to create a controlled environment what).

The Supernova, with it’s No Seam feature, did promise an almost blister free environment. However, while using it for less than 20km and it did not give much problems, the same can’t be said when I ran it in the IM08. I did have a small blister on the last pinky, but the euphoria of completing the race blocked off all the pain I had. Seems ironic that the blisters that occurs was in a shoe which was build to be seamless!

The Pegasus+ was actually the biggest gamble. With almost no training and extra low mileage and only driven by the fact that I’ve finished an IronMan race and thus, should be able to complete the 42km, I took extra risk by wearing a totally new shoe which I did not even walk in for 2 hours from the time I received it. Insane!

But the decision did pay off. Not only I was blister free, this pair received the “AHHHHhhhhhh” factor instead of the OUCH notation. With extra thick sole, it was even better.

For this, I would name myself the winner for taking risk on all three occasion. But seriously, the choice is pretty clear, it’s the Pegasus+ which win “The OUCH Factor” by not getting any OUCH at all.

CONCLUSION
There is one last thing I want to compare. And yes, it’s perhaps just myself which are particular about this feature on the shoe – the reflective material and it’s placement.

If I could have a shoe which emits lights (and it got to be LEDs) I would be the first to get it (I’m not talking about those kid’s shoes which flashes like some ultra ah beng).

What I’m looking for is the safety factor. As you all know, I run at almost insane hours and while traffic will be minimal, I have to protect myself from potential drivers which decide that no human sane enough to be running at 5am in the morning.



For this, the Triax has funky steps like reflector material on the front and back. The Supernova perhaps took over how a Solomon would looked like. It is minimal but serves It’s purpose. But the Pegasus+ literally will light up the road where your heel lands. With 2 large reflective material and 2 more up front which is visibly from the front, it sure looked like a mean shoe.



Weighing in all the factors above, The winner would be Pegasus+ (4-to-2 win).



However I would say that the choices for the shoes are pretty much personal preferences. I was just lucky enough to be able to review all the 3 shoes above and so happen that the every shoes I review seems to be better than the other one; being able to compare the shoes over a longer period of time and being able to compare them back to back with each other did me to come out with this comparison entry.

Now, what is left is to test ride the much hyped Kayano 13.

Oh ya, no one noticed the shoe that one Marathon runner wore during KLIM? I guess most of you would have to wait until October then!