A New Hope...

By Frank

Nope, not refering to Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope. Instead, I found a glimpse of hope to achieve my marathon dream at next week's Macau Marathon 2009. This new hope comes in the form of rubbers, mesh, EVA and GEL! It's a pair of racing shoes from ASICS, the GEL-DS Racer VII. Hehehe...

As mentioned in my previous entry on the Penang Bridge International Marathon 2009, I was "poisoned" into getting the ASICS GEL-DS Racer VII upon setting my eyes on it. I have been eyeing on it since reading about it. In fact, the production of this shoe actually came to a halt after the sixth edition. I guess the people at ASICS heard my call for help, hence re-releasing this shoe and boy it came just in time. The shoe actually just arrive in stores last week!

Why did I call this a new hope? I initially had planned to wear the ASICS GEL-DS Trainer 14 for the race. As from what I have written recently on my review on it, I have a little trouble getting into speed with it. It didn't perform as much as I would like it to be. The second choice will be the Nike LunaRacer+. It may be the lightest shoe I have currently but I bought it at a size too small and recently develop some irritation on my Achilles region, probably due to my slightly different running gait now. As for the Saucony Grid Fastwitch 3, though an incredible shoe, I'm still faced with the phobia of getting 2 cramps at once from the loosen laces during my Sundown Marathon this year. Therefore, the ASICS GEL-DS Racer VII instanly became a new hope for me.

The ASICS GEL-DS family. Racer on the left and the trainer on the right...

I'm not going to review the shoe just yet. But initial impression was awesome! A racing flat with a mild medial support, it weights in at about 195 grams. It may be about 40 grams heavier than the Nike LunaRacer+, but it offers great comfort, flexibility, response and not to mention ventilation. It's going to be cool running in this shoe at Macau which is going to be about 16 degree celcius or so on race day. Plus, I simply love the colour combination of white and red. I always do with these 2 colours. With 30KM ran in it, I found no problem so far and hope it continues to do so. With a week till the race, I guess I will probably give it another 20KM or so before it goes into my luggage bag.

Oh and ya. Speaking of my luggage bag, I actually bought 3 bags for this trip. Hahaha... I'm a bag collector actually and am eyeing on a backpack for quite sometimes already. And I don't want to bring my "famous" BBB (Big Black Bag) for this trip as it's bulky and clumsy. Therefore, I bought myself a Deuter Futura Pro 42 which I think should be known as BRB (Big Red Backpack). Not Be Right Back. Haha... Another 2 will be a hip pack and also a camera bag. Wooo... I noticed that I spent so much on bags for this trip. Hopefully I can control my spending when I'm at Macau and Hong Kong. Food is acceptable though. Hahaha...