Boy oh boy do you guys love ice cream. The past couple of days I’ve been operating under the mistaken assumption of pseudo popularity because my phone has been ding-ing nonstop: except it’s not long lost and reconnecting friends declaring their fond thoughts of me, it’s ice cream enthusiasts trying to win themselves some free ice cream. Well that’s all well and good, but I thought it was high time i evened things out- the previous two posts were thai food and dessert posts respectively, and I’ve got a cafe feature coming up soon, so here’s my attempt at injecting some balance into this blog.

Reebok invited me down last week for their Crossfit Bloggers Bootcamp in conjunction with their new Reebok Delta One shoes launch, an invitation that honestly had me befuddled for awhile because ..did they get the right blogger? Oh well. For some reason I found myself up bright and early at something like sunrise and trudging over to their CrossFit Fire City at 111C King George’s Avenue.

Getting all laced up in my new Reebok delta ones.

Bloggers be bloggers.

Essentially the bootcamp was supposed to be a running workshop hosted in crossfit city and not actually a crossfit session itself. I had no idea what this Crossfit thing was prior to the bootcamp but everyone was going on about how revolutionary it was so i went home that day, youtubed this Crossfit thing and saw this:

I got slightly scared. It’s freaking insane. It’s a good thing I saw this after and not before the bootcamp or this blogpost might not have come into being. I’m just saying.

Anyway, I digress. Here’s a picture of me pretending to know what I’m doing stretching and all that. You can spot me easily cos Reebok very helpfully gave me a hot pink highlighter shirt.

complete with sheepish idk-what-im-doing grin

And it’s true- I really had no idea what I was doing. I’m not a runner by any means (obviously), and the only time I regularly run/swim is when I’m off school for summer break, otherwise I just flop in my hall room and watch FRIENDS. The rest of the bloggers were like, professional runners or fitness buffs, and it’s actually quite funny but you can tell in the photos that I’m trying very hard to pretend to look like i actually understand whats going on.

Coach Sam, who tried equally hard to fix my running posture.

Here he is with the Reebok Delta One shoe that’s designed to move the way your feet move. It’s the latest running innovation- even cheerfully marked out in different neon colors to show which bits of your foot does what- the contact zone features soft foam reduces shock with every stride, the midstance zone is engineered to provide a smooth mid foot transition, and the propulsive zone is apparently ultra responsive with a high rebound foam compound to give you a good kick off when you run.

I’m not very good at all these terms, but in all honesty these are the most comfortable pair of sport shoes I’ve worn, ever. My previous pairs were standard models from Adidas and Nike chosen primarily for their design (pink!) and color (pink!) except it turns out design and color arent supposed to be your main concern when buying sport shoes.. not that I would know. Still. These babies are bright neon and made me feel like I was running on clouds.


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You know its true because check out my hair flying in the wind am i right.

This is the only photo you guys are going to get of me running because I look terrible when I run. My face gets blotchy and red and I get embarrassed and out of breath from the running and the embarrassment that is my face. Unfortunately, Coach Sam videoed me running (a clip that’s never going to see the light of day/ burn baby burn) in an attempt to fix our individual running postures:

Most people, self included, tend to run heel-first ie. with our heels making contact with the ground first, something that’s all dandy now but that will kill your knees in about ten years. This is not ok. The ideal running posture is when the ball of your foot hits the ground first, which is what the Reebok Delta One is supposed to guide your feet to do while running.


Image Doodle Credits: Stooffi

Learning how to run lol.

More pictures of me pretending to know what’s going on.

We were made to watch videos of olympic runners/ playbacks of ourselves running so we could see what our feet were supposed to be doing. Here’s a picture of Steph with cute explanatory doodles regarding posture and running

Generally very happy because I had video proof that my running posture legitimately improved in a short two hour timespan- upright posture, landing on the balls of my feet, etcetera etcetera. The shoe is meant to guide your feet and improve your posture, which turns out, is critical, because bad running form can give you back, leg and neck injuries. On that note, it wouldnt be fair for me to claim that the shoe made all the difference in my running posture simply because I honestly dont understand the technology that goes into the making of the shoe well enough to support the claim, but I can in all clear conscience say that the shoes were insanely comfortable, which no doubt makes running easier. Also, confident statement that they’d be sure to catch a few eyeballs at the gym or along the road thanks to their bright neon streaks.

With the rest of the bloggers.

An insanely tiring morning because hey- have you woken up at six to be yelled orders regarding running rounds and doing squats before?! Suddenly I feel a surge of empathy towards the Army boys. Still, better exhausted with functioning knees than refreshed but with lower back pains. The Reebok Delta Ones are available in selected Royal Sporting House stores for $169, and come in men and women styles.

Now, if only we could convince them to produce these in pink..

Thank you for the shoes and experience, Reebok x VML Qais!

x
♥jem