We have the technology

When I was a bit younger than Claire is now, one of my favourite shows was the Six Million Dollar Man, starring Lee Majors. I would sit, absolutely giddy, waiting for that show's awesome intro, narrated by Oscar Goldman, Steve Austin's boss.

"Steve Austin, astronaut. A man barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster."

If you haven't seen the show -- which ran from 1974 to 1978 -- this is it in a nutshell: Austin, an astronaut, is seriously injured during a test flight that goes wrong. He is rebuilt in an operation that costs $6 million (for you math geeks, that would be $27.6 million today if you adjusted for inflation).

So what did Austin get in the operation?

• A bionic left eye with a 20.2:1 zoom lens along with a night vision function. It also had other features, such as an infrared filter used frequently to see in the dark and also to detect heat, and the ability to view humanoid beings moving too fast for a normal eye to see.

• Bionic legs allowing him to run at tremendous speed and make great leaps. Austin’s upper speed limit was never firmly established, although a speed of 97 km/h is commonly quoted since this figure is shown on a speed gauge during the opening credits. 

• A bionic right arm with the equivalent strength of a bulldozer; it also contained a handy dandy Geiger counter.

I had the Steve Austin doll, as well as the dolls of Maskatron and Sasquatch. Those episodes used to freak me out when I was young. Sasquatch was originally played by Andre the Giant and, later, by the guy who played Lurch in the Adams Family.

Playing the Six Million Dollar Man was pretty much pretending to run around in slow motion -- that's how the original show attempted to portray super speed -- while making the famous "bionic" sound.

Loving the show as I did, it probably explains my love affair with gear.

I admit it -- I'm a gear head.

I love guitar-related gear. So much so, I'd estimate the amount I've bought, sold and traded over the last six years would probably exceed the GNP of Burkina Faso.

The guitar-related gear fixation is now being slowly replaced by exercise-related gear. I'm going to break this blog in to two parts. Today's will look at clothing while the next one will look at exercise-related electronics gear.

PART 1 -- What We Wear

Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man...

-Polonius in Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3

This is what I used to run in.

Cotton T-shirt, cotton shorts, cotton underwear and New Balance something-or-other sneakers (as I used to call them) purchased at -- I think -- Walmart for about $30.

I bought the shoes several years ago, long before I started running. They have been used for walking, mowing the lawn, finishing the basement and standing in line at Tim Hortons.

They were also the shoes I used when I started a later-aborted attempt at the Couch 2 5K program in 2010.


When running in this get-up the shirt would quickly get soaked and add an extra 5 pounds of weight. Same with the shorts.

And the shoes -- my god the shoes -- wouldn't do a thing to stop about 100,000 pounds per square inch of pressure from radiating through my feet, up my legs, along my spine and rattling my molars.

They were brutal.

But, not knowing any better, I'd pull them on my shock-crippled feet and head out again.

Only to burn out after a week.

When I decided to take up running again, I did some research.

What I found out was this -- yes, running is accessible because just about anyone can afford a T-shirt, shorts and a cheap pair of runners.

However -- and I'm not being a snob about this, really I'm not -- running on a sidewalk in that outfit is just begging to injure yourself, have to take time off, get back out of shape and, like I did, give up running because of all the misery it was causing you.

This time I decided to invest in a good pair of running shoes. When I started researching them, I had no idea how complex the whole thing was. Websites made reference to arches, pronation, under pronation, over pronation, stability, cushioning, weight, running gait and a thousand other variables to consider when buying shoes.

Overwhelmed, I went to the Barrie location of the Running Room, a specialty chain started by Canadian John Stanton back in the 1970s. He's Canada's elder statesman on running. He started selling shoes out of his living room (hence, Running Room) because there were no stores focusing on running as a hobby back then

There's now about 100 stores across Canada.

When I arrived at Barrie's and told them I was thinking about running again, the salesperson spent about 45 minutes with me. She had me take off my shoes so she could examine the wear pattern on the soles to see what my stride was like.

She asked me my weight and what type of surface I would be running on.

Then she asked my to run for her, up and down an aisle in the store while she lay on her stomach so she could see my footfalls. She quickly identified me as an under pronator (also known as a supinator). Basically that means that when running my heel strikes the ground first and I roll on to the outside of my foot before pushing off with my forefoot.

Yes, these are my feet. See how they both roll to the outside, especially the right one? That's called under pronation.

She recommended me a few pairs of shoes that would help address my gait. They were heavy on the cushioning and light on stability.

I tried on a few pairs and settled on a pair of Asics Gel Cumulus 13s (Most companies introduce a new version of each of their shoes every year, sometimes making small tweaks, other times major changes. It's not unusual for a runner who is not happy with a new model to go out and buy a dozen pairs of last year's version. Here's an article on the debate about when to retire running shoes. Yes, people actually debate this.)

I only had to run a few minutes to feel the difference a good running shoe makes. I no longer felt like I had two cinder blocks for feet. No more bone-jarring and teeth-rattling runs.

I later added another pair so I could switch them up for long versus speed runs. My other set is a pair of Saucony Triumph 10s. Not as heavy on the cushioning and much lighter for shorter, faster runs. (Good runners range in price from $100 up to $200)

Okay, so my feet were good, but what about the rest of me?

Once again, I headed to google.

It turns out most runners hate cotton. HATE IT. Why? Because it absorbs moisture like a sponge, dries very slowly, gets heavy when wet and, worst of all, chafes skin in all the wrong places.

Off I trundled to the Running Room and bought a pair of shorts, a singlet and a T-shirt all made of a type of synthetic material that wicks moisture away from the skin and dries incredibly fast (athletes refer to it as "technical" attire.)

No more heavy clothes, no more chafing.

The problem is that this type of clothing is pretty pricey. Each article of clothing ranges in price from about $40 all the way up to $100, depending on the brand and features.

My wardrobe was a little thin in the beginning until I discovered Walmart sells an in-house brand called Athletic Works. Same material as the big house names (Nike, Adidas, etc.) for a fraction of the price. Singlets are $8, T-shirts are $10 and long-sleeved Ts are $12.

My wardrobe's grown a bit.

Moral of the story -- yes you can run in just about anything. But I'm here to tell you if you want to run and be comfortable, invest in a good pair of shoes and some technical gear.

Your body will thank you, even though your pocketbook may not.
 
Part 2 will focus on my favourite gear -- electronics!