Kelly Brinkman and new shoes

Kelly Brinkman

Just wanted to give a shout out to Kelly Brinkman, a fellow upper midwest athlete and adventure racer.  Someone did a Q and A with her on their blog that i've included here.

I met Kelly last summer during the MNOC adventure-O - an orienteering based adventure race near the twin cities.  I raced with a guy named Phil - a camp four marriage that was a surprisingly good match - and we found ourselves chasing team GearJunkie for the lead.  Four hours into the race on a trekking section i was spent, not having prepared myself for Phil's fitness level which kept me working HARD the whole race.  I remember coming meeting up with GJ on the trail as approached a CP from different spots.  As we headed off down the trail their female was just bounding ahead, circling back - apparently un-phased by all the previous effort that the day had entailed.  She reminded me of a deer, prancing and leaping down the trail.

check out those shoes!

I've always felt that compared to most adventure racers i was a reasonably strong runner.  I had nothing on this girl.

Anyway, i liked the article and am super psyched at all her success.  In addition i was thrilled to learn that she is a treadmill runner too..... and a total bad ass.

Seems like there are a handful of this type out there - an article in the newest issue of Trail Runner Magazine talks about the benefits of 'mill running for serious athletes as well.  Interestingly enough - the cover of that same issue has a runner sporting the new Inov-8 X-talon 195's, which happen to be my newest pair of shoes - i only broke them in this last saturday. Maybe the folks at TR are spying on me and reading my mind.  Then again, maybe not.

my new shoes