“Alas, I know if I ever became truly humble, I would be proud of it.” ~Benjamin Franklin

For those who may have read my first blog entry, it references that this is “not all about me”. Having said that, this post about various equipment/gear that will be used during my travels is kinda “all about me”. 🙂

As I am still assembling and awaiting the arrival of equipment for this trail running adventure I will break this blog into segments. And while I already have reliable gear that I trust, have tested and enjoy using, there are new products I’ve purchased which have yet to be experienced. The most recent being the Forest River R-Pod 180 we bought from the friendly, knowledgeable and extremely helpful staff at Howard RV Center located in Wilmington, NC. Bill, Tom and David all provided us with excellent customer service and we look forward to continuing our relationship with them over the years to come.

R-Pod 180 (aka Hobbes)

Now while I’m not familiar with using, driving, parking and living in the R-Pod (which henceforth will be affectionately called “Hobbes” – see previous blog), I am very familiar with driving my 2006 Toyota Tacoma across the country multiple times.

Cindy & Statia w/ Calvin ~2009 on a frozen lake in MN

It has been decided that our trusty Tacoma will be named “Calvin”. Devoted fans of Bill Watterson will get the connection. So as I travel across this great land I will be relying on Calvin, Hobbes and our loyal companion Friday.

Friday

In regards to trail running equipment I will begin with perhaps the most important gear… footwear! Any and all suggestions and preferences are welcome (keeping in mind, it’s not supposed to be all about me)! I began running trails on the rugged, rocky, narrow and extremely steep trails on St. John, USVI in 2014 and wore New Balance Minimus 1010v2. I liked how light weight they felt and the tread felt “grippy”. I literally ran through three pair before experimenting with the Saucony Peregrine 4.0. I still have my first pair (pictured here)

 which I logged over a hundred miles across the challenging terrain of St. John. Like an old pair of jeans or pajama pants, I just can’t bring myself to throw them away. My next two pair of trail runners were the Saucony Peregrine 5.0 followed by a pair of 6.0’s

that I currently alternate wearing along with my newly acquired Altra Lone Peak 3.0 (with a high top type design).

For the 2017 St. John Trail Race held this past February I had purchased a pair of my favorite Saucony Peregrine 4.0’s and took them out on a few short (6-7 miles) runs to break them in. Upon arriving on St. John two weeks prior to the race I went for two 13.6 mile trail runs with these shoes and unfortunately discovered on the second practice run the sole of the left shoe had a section of traction material missing. With race day being a week away I had an older pair of Peregrine 5.0’s, but they were in poor shape due to the side mesh material beginning the tear on the inner side of both shoes. So, come race day I used the new 4.0’s despite the left one missing a piece to the sole. I completed the race in a better time than I had expected, but upon inspecting the left sole after the race I discovered another piece had been torn away. I will return them to Saucony not so much in hopes of receiving another pair (I already have an identical new pair in the box), but to let them know there might be a manufacturing defect to be aware of in this model.

In my next installments I will report further on my experience with the new Altra Lone Peak 3.0, a Salomon hydration vest as well as the first over night adventure aboard “Hobbes”! 

HAPPY TRAILS!!