Yes, I'm still alive

Wow. It has been far too long since I last posted. We have been busy with so many thing and unfortunately I just never made time to write. So while I'm currently waiting for a bus to arrive I thought I would start a blog post.

Since I last posted my knee has gotten much better. It no longer hurts when I run!!! Woot!! Loving that. Getting into a good groove running has been hard though. With our DNS of the Hypothermic Half there was really no huge momentum in training. Combine that with cold snowy weather and I just wasn't feeling it. However we now have a couple races in mind for the year including the Edmonton marathon in 23 weeks. Which means marathon training starts now. Looking forward to getting back into the swing of things for that.

Other things of note since I last wrote.... Let's see. Oh yeah. There was the one time that I was running in my water shoes around the neighborhood. It was a little icy out and I was running in the dark. Going along at a good clip when all of a sudden I kicked something with my foot and almost went down. Turns out there was a huge chunk of ice on the ground that was frozen to the sidewalk. When I kicked it, it didn't move. Ouch. Pretty sure that I broke my toe with that one. Thankfully it wasn't hurt bad enough to stop running. Laff

Nice big hard ice chunk. My water shoes offered me no protection.

Another warm day I went for a barefoot run and overdid it a little. Managed to get in 8 miles barefoot. Felt fantastic. However it was still a little cold out and so my feet were a little more numb than they should have been. This led to a little sloppy form and a huge blood blister across my right foot. Silly me, however I had so much fun going barefoot.

Mmmmm, blisters.

Had them for a little bit. Ah well

Other than that in terms of new shoes there hasn't been too much change. I got my pair of Neo Trails that I was lusting after but then returned them after realizing that I wouldn't really use them enough to justify having them. Instead I got a pair of Stem Footwear (now Leming Footwear). My Lemings are now my absolutely favorite pair of shoes ever. Great casual shoe, fun running shoe. I will post a review of them shortly.

My new favorite shoes. Sooo nice.

So there is a mini update on what is going on. Getting back on a running training plan and hopefully with it getting back into blogging more.

Almost Barefoot Running in January

Well the snow finally hit again this morning. I am so thankful that we have had such a dry and mild winter so far. When I first started running barefoot I was sure that my time was limited with the winter approaching but I have been pleasantly surprised.

I wanted to comment on my run last night. Run Here I started out for a 5 miles run. I cannot believe that my next race is just over a month away. I began in my water shoes and felt good. I was being sure to pull myself back and keep my pace slow and easy. I have been working on my form (I'll post soon about my coaching session with Tina) and as my form has been improving I have been getting faster. It is quite hard to go slow now but I know that it important for my health that I have some easy runs. A mile in I was feeling quite warm and I saw that there was very minimal ice on the sidewalks, so I took off my shoe and ran the rest of my run in my wool socks. Ah Freedom. It was wonderful. Of course the ground feel in just my socks was great, I even noticed that I could run over the tiny rocks that they use to sand our streets, without feeling pain. I felt them and knew that I was running on rocks but somehow it didn't register as pain. I ran over some ice and it wasn't a big deal, I slipped a little once but I didn't fall or even really have to catch myself. I did run on what I thought was ice but it turned out to be a small puddle my toes were immediately wet but somehow dried very fast and I was never cold. My only complaint of the whole run had nothing to do with my shoes or socks. The Running Room has a run clinic on Monday evenings in my neighbourhood. I have often seen them out running and have run past them on a number of occasions. Last night I ran past the group twice in the opposite direction (face to face). I was annoyed. Twice as I ran past these women they were running 3 wide and THEY DIDN'T MOVE! Yes I am yelling. Both times I had to jump into the grass and run (somewhat dangerous in my socks and in the dark, there could have been anything in the grass and I wouldn't have seen it). Seriously it seems like they think that because they pay for this run and are running with the Running Room that they own the sidewalk. This isn't even the first time I have noticed this with Running Room groups. In the past I have encountered groups that run 2-3 across the sidewalk, groups that run on the wrong side of the path, and every time they DON'T MOVE.  Not sure what they teach in those clinics but I would think that basic running etiquette would be nice. Seriously, who does that? Next time it happens I am going to stand still and let them smack into me if they decide not to move. Really it's so maddening. (sorry vent over)

When I got home from my run, I checked out my socks and my feet and I am super happy that my wear patterns were right where they should be. Between my first and second toe and on my heel (from when you put your heel down after the initial contact with your forefoot).

See the darker spots between my 1st and 2nd toes.

I have been very guilty of not letting my heel touch the ground ever. This has lead to sore calves. After this run I was pain free and feeling good. IF only the snow hadn't come today. I was looking forward to getting out in just my socks again. I am noticing that after being in just my socks my watershoes feel tight. I have wide feet and even a bunion on my left foot and really need a super wide shoe. Kyle and I are looking into ordering Stems soon. Oh and I won a pair of Invisible shoes from Jeff over at http://barefootinclined.blogspot.com/. Thanks again Jeff. I am crazy excited to get these, I never win anything so this is so sweet. I think I will be ordering a pair of custom shoes, I just have to decide what colour of laces I want.

My sweet wool socks from Marks Work Warehouse.

So that is what I've been up to lately. I will be posting about my experience with Natural Running Coaching right away. It was so awesome. A little birdie told me that very soon Tina will be offering online coaching as well as in person coaching. I cannot express how wonderful and helpful the coaching session was. I recommend it to anyone and really everyone who wants to run naturally, it is like a fast forward button to learning how to run without shoes. But I'll save my full review for my next post.

Take care,
Robbie

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!

Yeah, I know. It's been quite a while since we have posted. We have been a little busy with the holidays and not much in the mood for posting I guess. Ah well. Even though I haven't been posting it doesn't mean that we haven't been running. Thankfully we have still been doing a lot of that. My last post I talked about a run on the 20th of December where I was able to get out barefoot. Well I was able to do the same again on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve this year landed on a Saturday, which is my long run day. Since Robbie didn't want to add in a long run on Christmas as well as all the other stuff we had to do (Opening presents, going to Church, driving her sister to the airport, and then going to my parents house for Christmas) she had her long run on Christmas Eve too. Thankfully we were able to squeeze both in without too much trouble.

My long run was set for 12 miles and it was great. I started running in my water shoes. It wasn't too cold and thankfully the pathways were pretty clear. Oh wait, that reminded me of Robbie's run earlier in the day. She warned me that some of the less maintained pathways were really icy. She proved that by finding a nice downhill section while she was going pretty fast, being unable to find somewhere with traction and slipping on the ice trying to slow down. Down she went and she slammed her elbow and her head into the ground. Ouch. She phoned me at that point. I was all set to drive out and get where when she decided that she was okay and that she wanted to finish out her run. She's a Rockstar.

The pathway that took out my wife.

Anyways after Robbie's warning I stuck to the well maintained pathways running along Deerfoot Trail. Got 6 miles down and then started to head back. At that point I decided that it was warm enough to barefoot it for a while. And so I did. Wonderful. I do love the sensations of it although I did get many stares at the weird guy running with no shoes on. So that was my Christmas Eve run. My runner's knee was bugging me off and on, which sucked, but it was okay.

The pathway I ran on. Nice and clear.

Water shoes?

Off they go for 2 miles! Woot!

One annual tradition that our Church does is to have a family Communion on Christmas Eve. It may not be the most convenient thing, but it is definitely one of the most special things that we as a family do. In what is such a busy time, with rushing here and there and the pressures and everything else that happens at Christmas, it's nice to have some time to just stop, relax, breath and meet with God as a family. The Church is always done up very nicely with candles everywhere (which freaks my mom out) and it's always a much needed time.

Then we had Christmas. The kids got spoiled like always, although Robbie and I did a lot better at not giving them too much. The kids didn't get too many presents but you know what? They didn't even seem to notice. So happy about that. For Christmas Robbie got me some CEP compression sleeves, which I love and have been so thankful to have. I got her a pretty purple running jacket from MEC.

After Christmas I had a couple shorter runs. 4 miles in my water shoes and 5.3 miles in my Neos. Not much to say about those runs except that my knee was bugging me. The second run was supposed to be 6 miles, but I had to cut it short because my knee was bugging me too much. It was at this point that I decided that after the half-marathon that Saturday that I was going to take a week off (at least) to try and get my knee to feel better. I hate feeling limited strictly by my knee and I need to get better. No sense in being stupid about this.

Next was the Martin Parnell race in Cochrane. This was an annual race to help fund-raise for Right to Play. It started at 9 for the marathon distance. Robbie and I both decided to do the half-marathon distance. It was a super casual race, well not really a race, more like a run. The course was just a 2.5 km out and back along a pathway (that was also an off-leash dog run. Almost stepped on a couple of little dogs. Fun times. Thankfully there were no aggressive dogs out). So we went back and forth about 11 times until my Garmin said we had run at least 13.1 miles. I decided to run in my Neos and Robbie chose her water shoes. Here is my Runkeeper link for the run so you can see how exciting the course was. ;)

Martin Parnell run in Cochrane.

This was a fun run. No pressure, just get out and run. The wind was pretty strong going one way. So I froze my bits off going one way and warmed them up going back. The difference between running the one direction and the other was quite startling. We managed though. :) The aid station had water, hot chocolate, coffee, shortbread cookies and fruit leathers. Not the typical aid station but you could stop whenever you felt like it for however long you felt like it. Martin Parnell was there as well as ultrarunner Ellie Greenwood. Kinda cool running with people you see on the cover of running magazines.

Robbie rocking it.

Even better though was meeting up with the other barefoot runners we know. We ran with Toe-Girl Tina for a while and near the end ran into Paul and family and Barefoot Neil and family. It was a great time and we were glad to get out there.

Paul. He ran ~8k barefoot (after wearing his Kevlar socks for the first little bit)

I hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas holiday. Tomorrow I'm back to work, but the upside is that since it it now January I can go to Riva's Eco Store and buy my Neo Trails. Woot!!! So looking forward to that.

Mid-December Barefoot Run

I have to say that I am certainly loving the weather this year. Normally by this time we have tons of snow and -25° C cold snaps but this year it has been pretty mild. Weird considering how earlier this winter I heard a report that it was supposed to be a long and cold winter. I'll certainly be grateful for the weather we have so far either way.

Anyways so Monday comes along and I'm set to run outside. I have all my cold weather gear with me just like normal, however when lunch time comes I take a look an the temperature is a nice balmy 7-8°C outside. Lovely. I can shed a couple extra layers of clothing. So I head out wearing just my base layer top, base layer tights, bondiband and water shoes. No socks. Woot!!! I run for about a mile and I get a thought. It's pretty nice out, why not take off my shoes. Off come my shoes. The ground is a little cold but it felt so great to get out barefoot again. Even with the coldness my feet feel alive and loving every sensation. I'm running along the south side of the Bow River downtown and the pathway is clear of snow, just a couple of small icy patches. Absolutely lovely. Cross the river and discover that the City is much more deligent about putting gravel down on the pathway on the north side of the river. Silly city. I joked on facebook that they should be more considerate of all the people running barefoot along the pathways. In the middle of december. I guess we can't really expect that from them.

So nice!!!

I decided what the hey and ran along the gravel for a while. Uncomfortable but not really painful at first. Much better than what it used to be. Nice. I had to finally put on my water shoes again once it started getting painful. No need to be a hero, I like being able to walk without raw stinging feet. ;) All in all I got in about 6 miles total, with probably 4 miles of that barefoot. In the middle of December. Never thought I would be doing that before. I certainly envy other runners in much fairer climates who can run outside year round without fear of frostbite. Glad to have a nice day during the winter to enjoy. Here is to taking advantage of many more days like that.

Although I did manage to get a blood blister on my toe. Hazard of cold weather. Cold = less feeling and easier to hurt yourself without knowing.

It is almost Christmas

Things have been super busy around here. I cannot believe it has been 11 days since I have posted. I am slowly starting to get better after my awful sickness. I still have a cough but at least I can breath again and I am able to run.

I have been reflecting lately about how different this Christmas will be for me. Last year I had just begun my journey to get healthy and lose weight. I was doing well and actually managed to continue to lose weight over the holidays last year. This year is so different. I have reached my goal weight and I am a runner. Oh my, I can't believe I wrote that. I am a runner!!! If you had told me last year that I would call myself a runner or that others would see me as a fast runner (funny. I am pretty slow) I would have laughed. This year though, leading up to Christmas I am running. I am training for 2 half marathons and oh yeah, I am eating cookies!!! I am at a place now where I can indulge and not gain because of the miles I put in and because my body has settled in here. Now I need to learn how to indulge moderately, I still have a tendency to binge and eat nothing but cookies. It will come I am sure.

Goal weight. All dressed to preform at my Christmas Concert

Onto running. Things have been going so well. I am finding my form much more easily and running has become a joy again. Thanks Tina. I am even getting some more speed. I think that once all of the snow is gone and I can run in fewer layers I may actually be faster than before I switched to minimalist shoes. I am continuing to run in my beach walkers. They feel so good and I am amazed at how waterproof they are. On my run last night it was a mix of slush, puddles, ice, snow, and some dry spots. I ran through at least 2 ankle deep puddles last night and didn't notice any water getting into my shoes. Amazing! 

My last long run was on Saturday. It was good but I was definitely bonking at the end. Run here. I had been indulging in a great number of cookies and chocolates for most of Friday and Saturday, but I have a much smaller stomach now so I didn't eat much else. I guess all that sugar wasn't what my body needed to go out and run for a couple of hours. Overall the run was great. The weather was amazing. 5ºC with a pretty strong westerly wind. I love chinooks!! It made me look forward to spring and running again when there is no snow and ice on the ground and I don't need a bazillion layers to keep me from freezing. The bonking came at the end of my run. By mile 8 I couldn't eat anymore of my fuel. My stomach was uneasy and I couldn't imagine putting anything else in there. I was running in an area that is newish to me. I had run out that way but never back. I had to stop and check my map on my phone because I was disoriented and didn't know where I was going. I did finally get going in the right direction and made it home. I was beat. I guzzled a chocolate milk and a large glass of water. Stretched out my IT bands then fell into the bath. I am not normally tired after a long run and I really wondered how on earth I was going to run a half marathon in 2 weeks.  Pictures from my long run.
 

Fast forward to last night. Run Here.
It was warm again last night and I was feeling great. I ate supper with the family and then quickly put on my gear. The noise and busy-ness of my kids was getting to me so I needed to get out!!! I set out without any set distance or time that I wanted to accomplish. I was going to do at least 4 miles. I ended up doing 7 miles and ran progressively faster as the run went on. It felt amazing to be running fast more quickly than normal. I got home feeling like I could have run for a lot longer. I guess I can do the half next weekend, as long as I eat real food along with my cookies.  I passed this house while running, it was so lit up the whole street seemed to glow.

And just because it is always a nut house here I thought I would share some of the pictures I took yesterday during the day.

First up Joey (2) helping to make scrambled eggs. Surprisingly we only found one shell while we were eating.

Goofy Pictures and a sweet picture of 2 of my girls. We are super excited for Christmas here. It is all sorts of crazy!! 

More winter training and Christmas drawings

In preparation for our upcoming Half-marathons at the end of December and in February I have been trying to run outside as much as possible. Even when it is not very nice out. Chances are the half marathons won't feature great weather with snow free condition so I better get used to it. Especially since this is our first winter running. I have to say though I'm still quite enjoying it. Running in my water shoes (at least until I get my precious Neo Trails. I know, I know. I'm still going on about it, but it's my blog so there. I'm totally looking forward to new shoes in the new year). I'm really digging the water shoes. The grip isn't super great on ice, but that's also a good thing as it helps with form. :)

Anyways so I have been running outside lots. Long runs on the weekend and shorter runs downtown during the week. On Monday I had a 5 mile run outside and it was wonderful. Still having some issues with the knee, but stretching it out first seems to be helping a whole lot. Need to make sure that I'm doing it all the time and I think that would make things even better.

Snowy paths. Packed snow and ice can be challenging

While I was running outside I was struck with a thought. It has seemed really hard lately. 5 miles seems like a whole lot more work than it did in the summer and fall. In the summer I was wearing just shorts and a t-shirt and maybe Vibrams. Now in the winter I'm wearing several full length layers. I'm not sure how much extra weight there is, but considering how much more work it feels like while wearing normal shoes, I can imagine the extra weight of base layers, track pants, extra shirt, jacket, two pairs of socks, etc, can be more draining. That said I still love it when on long runs that when you get past the first 5 miles I still feel that I can keep going on forever. Well I could go on forever except for my knee. Sigh. Stupid knee.

Beautiful

More things that Robbie and I have noticed. Running on packed snow and ice can be really challenging. The packed snow can be very bumpy and uneven. We find this to be much harder on the joints when your feet aren't landing flat every time. I can imagine it can be the same way with trail running, except with snow it can be hard to anticipate what angle the ground is going to be.

I ran another 4 miles today, but I couldn't do it outside. I forgot to wash my outside running clothes and I didn't want to kill everyone around me with the smell. I'm sure people appreciated that. I just ran 4 miles on a treadmill at work. 2 miles in my Neos, however my toes felt a little cramped today, so I changed into my Bikilas for the last 2 miles.

Our kids are getting super excited for Christmas. Come home today and my daughter Rebekah was so excited to show me the pictures that she drew. I thought they were really cool and inventive so I wanted to share them.

Lucky me, I've been here before, only with Castle Lego for the boys

Gecky is our Crocodile Gecko

Apparently the boys are not dreaming of sugar plums, but of presents.

I've informed them that this drawing will not be happening. ;)

Classic sisters teasing their brothers about the mistletoe

5 miles on a snowy day

This morning it seemed like everything was going wrong. I was feeling really tired and didn't want to get up for work. I had run out of frozen strawberries for my morning smoothie. I lost my access card for work. When I got on the bus I realized that I forgot to pack a lunch. When I got to work I realized that I forgot to pack my Garmin. When I went to the gym to get changed for my run, my new access card wasn't yet coded for the gym. Things were not the best but I was still looking forward to my run. I had 5 miles on the training plan for today and it had recently snowed a little. How crazy is it that I was really looking forward to getting outside and running, to getting out in the cold.

Well it wasn't that cold. Probably about 0ºC. I still wore my base layer pants and shirt as well as track pants and jacket. Once again I forgot to grab my mitts so my hands were a little cold. Ah well. I managed. On my feet I was wearing running socks and my VIVOBAREFOOT Neos.

My knee felt good the whole way through. Keeping my form in check seems to be getting easier, however I must say that we are having the coaching session with Toegirl Tina tomorrow (alliteration for the win!!) so I'm sure I'll find out all the ways I'm still screwing up and need to work on fixing things. Can't wait.

Cold but beautiful

Back to the run. It was beautiful outside. Saw quite a number of runners out, even some still in shorts. I ran east from Eau Claire along the river. Went across the bridge to the Zoo island. and back to work along the other side. Some dryer patches of pavement, lots of snowy patches, even some snow and ice. I also ran a short portion on a gravel path. My Neos worked wonderfully. I had the liners in so they were warmer, the trade-off being that I couldn't feel the ground as well. I never once felt like I was slipping and my feet stayed warm the whole time.

Path on the Zoo island. Love it here. Have to come back again

another cool thing about running by the zoo is that you get to run with dinosaurs. :)

Wet, but not too icy yet.

Gravel path. Fun!

I have heard that the Neo Trails are excellent winter shoes. Very warm with great tread. I'd love to try them out and see just how warm they are in freezing temperatures. Maybe sometime in the future I will get to play around with them, but not yet. :) I am working on a review of the Neos and hope to get it up shortly.

My replacement lunch. Very yummy and no wheat. Woot!

Long run and hospital run

Kyle here. Yesterday was my long run. My first long run since I hurt my knee. My knee has been feeling better and so far my trick of making sure my form is good has been helping my knee to remain good. Would it last through a long run. That was the question. It was about -16º C outside so first I had to consider what I was going to wear. I opted to go with my running base layer, long johns over that and then track pants over that on my legs. On my top I was wearing a running base layer, cotton t-shirt, and then a Running Room wind proof jacket. Not a warm jacket, but it was pretty windy at the time so I knew that I needed something to cut the wind. On my head I was wearing my Bondiband toque and Robbie's Flexi-chute over my mouth. On my feet I wore a sock liner, big wool socks and then my water shoes. I wore heavy gloves on my hands.

Now I say it was a ling run, but it feels kinda funny calling 6 miles a long run. Considering before the half marathon we were doing 6 miles on normal days and 13 miles on our long run days. It has been a long time since I've done a long run so 6 miles felt pretty good. 6 miles is also the farthest I have gone in minimalist shoes doing actually good form (I'm pretty sure I was heel striking in my Vibrams before. Amazingly it didn't hurt me to do so). 6 miles felt good though. All said and done the 6 miles was a great length. Felt good to be getting my distance back up. My knee acted up every now and again. It first started at about 3 miles in. All I needed to do though was correct my form and slow down and the pain went away. Awesome. As far as injuries go, one that reminds you to keep your form in check is pretty good. :) I must say that my knee is a little sore today, but I think I just need to take care of it a little more next time. Ice it and use tylenol. Even still it's only a tiny bit sore so it's all good.

Mmmm, frosty

My layering strategy worked pretty well. My feet were nice and warm. My hands were nice and warm. My body was pretty good with the exception of one (ahem) delicate area. I'm thinking some thermal underwear next time would solve that problem. One other item of note is that the cotton shirt wasn't a very good idea. It was soaking wet when I got back and heavy. Also Robbie found snow under my jacket in the back. The snow could only have been crystallized sweat. Yuck.

Sweat snow!

So that was my long run yesterday. What was the hospital run? This morning at church Joseph (our almost 2 year old little guy) was in the foyer and tripped over his shoes. He smacked his head on the edge of a wooden door and sliced his head open. Blood everywhere and a screaming boy. The other kids were in the sanctuary, pretty upset. Rebekah and Sarah were the most upset and were just crying. Poor kiddos.

Auntie and Pastor called 911 and the paramedics showed up shortly after. They checked him over bandaged him up and said that we could drive him to the hospital (they also offered a ride in the ambulance, but we didn't think that was needed). I was less shaken up by all this so I drove him. He was a wonderful little trooper. Once we left he didn't cry at all. He was happy, listened well and was fantastic. He got a little bored in the waiting room, but that was the only complaint. :) At one point he was knocking on the door and then was banging his head on the door too. I stopped him from doing that for obvious reasons. Apparently the head wound didn't feel too bad to him.

Joey with his bandaged head and bloody shirt. Shame, it was such a nice outfit.

He was still pretty happy though

The doctor came in and checked him out. Thankfully the wound would press back together nicely so they only had to glue it together, no stitches needed. Phew. So Joey has a nice new war wound on his forehead, bloody clothes worthy of a zombie costume and Robbie and I got all the excited we could handle for today.

Head wound all glued up and ready to go.

Knee is still rocking and so many pretty shoes

Kyle here. Last night I went for another run as per our half marathon training plan. It was for 3 miles, so I just ran up to the top of the community and back down. I believe that it was about -7º C, maybe -12º C with windchill. I had on my base layers again. I decided to try wearing my Bikilas with Injinji socks. As I set out of the house I still had a little bit of dread that my knee would hurt again. Well the 3 miles came and went and my knee was perfectly fine. Awesome. Looks like keeping my feet parallel is really going to cure my runner's knee.

So as I said earlier I decided to try wearing my Bikilas with Injinji socks. I must say now that I am not a fan of wearing both. It felt like there was too much between me and the ground. I could feel rocks that I ran over, but I could only feel that they were there. Nothing hurt or was uncomfortable at all. Like I said, it just felt like there was too much between me and the ground. So I can easily say that the Water shoes are the way to go. At least until my Vivobarefoot Neo's come. Then we will see. I so can't wait and I just want to get out in them. 

With that in mind, today while I was at a conference I decided on a whim to see if there are any stores in Calgary that carry them. I found one. Riva's The Eco Store.  It was even within walking distance of the conference. Woot! Lunch time came and I headed out. For anyone in Calgary, they are located just east of Fort Calgary at 1237 9th Avenue SE and they have a ton of Vivobarefoot shoes.

Riva's The Eco Store

I went there to try on a pair of Neo's to see what they were like. But also to look at all the pretty shoes. Tried on the Neo's in the size I ordered and they were tight in the toe box. Crap. We will have to see when my shoes come if it will be okay. Otherwise I'm not sure what to do. We shall see. Rather than describing the shoes, I'll just post pictures of them. Robbie and I will definitely be back to this store. So nice to be able to try them on and their prices are quite comparable to the Vivobarefoot store. They have a ton of selection which they said will only get even better. In the spring they will have everything available. If it's on the Vivobarefoot webpage, they will stock it. I highly recommend Riva's!

The only problem is our lack of lots of extra funds. Sigh. If we had tons of money I would go nuts in this store. Laff If anyone from Vivobarefoot is reading this and wants to send us a shoe to review, that would be fantastic. Not likely to happen, but I guess we can dream. :)

Try on a pair and you can enter to win a pair. But don't, so I'll have a better chance. ;)

The Neo's I tried on. Small toe box. :(

Dressy shoes. Love to get a pair of Dharma's for work.

Robbie would love a pair of these. Would work great for church.

Lovely shoes. The Dharma is on the far right. I'd want it in black I think.

My Neo's are in the same coloring as the third on in.

More shoes.

Even more

Even some boots.

Beloved Neo Trails. One day these will be mine. Oh yes, they will be mine.