I’ve dabbled in creating all sorts of contents like talking about camera gear equipment, motorcycling, home products, and SUP fishing. Recently, I started this journey of wanting to improve my health and fitness. Back in 2021, I suffered a knee injury and would suffer niggling pain when performing activities that require bending the knee such as squatting and running. Being an active guy all my live and not being able to do activities that I enjoy doing was rather miserable.
I was also getting fairly heavy (80kg) especially around the tummy as with most men in their 40s. I did all I could to keep the pounds away like dieting, cycling and gym but the tummy fats simply persisted. But the knee... oh gosh... I really don't believe that it can't be fixed... so I started doing light cardio by walking around my neighbourhood 2x a week and then slowly progressed to walk-run-walk... at the time, I was using the simple Garmin Vivosmart 4. I then decided to get serious and got the top of the line Garmin Forerunner 955!
With a positive disposition and super running watch, on one fine evening in September, after sending the kids to their tuition class, I went to the nearest running track and went for a short run. Ahh.. the smell of the running track brought back memories of my school days... I've not been running since I ROD in 2016. No more IPPT and 2.4km so no point running right? Since that faithful evening, I never looked back!
In just 4 months, I participated in the RealRun 2023 (5km) and the Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon (I did the Half or 21km). I was still slow, running sustainably between 6:45km/min and 8:00km/min. My weight was also started going down but nothing drastic... still in the high 70s... by mid April, thanks to the fasting month of Ramadhan, I'm down to just under 72kg! The last time I was this light was 20 years ago! Most importantly, my knees were getting better and stronger. By end of 2022, I have also amassed 8 pairs of running shoes!
It's amazing how much tech can be found in modern running shoes. By the time I wrote this blog, I have already ran over 1000km and have purchased 15 pairs of running shoes (worth $2,000). At this point, I know I'm going to continue running for a long time to come and since I'm fortunate to be able to afford getting new pairs of shoes, I thought I would document both my running journey as well as my experience running in them.
I wear a size US 10.5. Has a slight wide right foot of around 4 inches at the widest as well as a slight overpronation. I'll always go for a wide version if the model has it. If not, I can still wear normal width shoes if I pair it with thin socks. Previously, I was a heel striker but has since changed to mid-foot - which I understand improves cadence and efficiency .
For a start, I would like to talk about the shoe that I've been using to run with on-and-off for the last 5 years which is the Mizuno Wave Glory that I got for free as part of serving national service in Singapore. I won't be writing too much about this shoe as it's actually retired. Nonetheless, you can check my Youtube video review if you are interested. PS: the video audio was kinda crappy as I had used my phone camera. I assure you the quality will get better in future videos once I get into the groove of creating content.