From the Volt

I've been wearing my current pair of Nike Lunarglide 6 running shoes for over a year and a half, and they've racked up a lot of miles. I've trained for & run 10k's & half marathons in them and they're definitely reaching the end of their life.

One of the reasons I hadn't replaced them yet was that I really don't like this years Lunarglide 7 (Plus spending sneaker money on basketball shoes is tons more exciting than running shoes). While they haven't changed a whole lot from the 6's I really dislike the toebox, which is a really loose material, and I much prefer the more structured shape of the 6's.

So I did a little hunting online and found a store that still had the Lunarglide 6 in my size. Because they're an old model I got them at a great discounted price, however that did mean I was pretty limited in the colours available, but decided this pair in Volt/Flash Lime/Liquid Lime are just the right side of too loud.

As I mentioned in my post about the Nike Hyper Elite basketball socks last week I think its definitely worth investing in good ahtletics socks. So with that in mind I added a two pack of Nike running socks to the order so the new shoes are extra comfy.

Hyper Elite

I know socks are generally regarded as being really boring, but I'm definitely of the opinion that sports socks are the exception to that rule. It was when I started running that I released what a difference good socks make. It doesn't matter how great your shoes are if your wearing socks that are going to rub and be uncomfortable as soon as they get a bit sweaty.

For basketball Nikes Hyper Elite socks are awesome. They have extra thick panels and cushioning in key areas and really help to keep your feet comfy when playing.

I'd seen this awesome multi-coloured pair (more than a little reminiscent of the colours in Nike's flyknit shoes) a few weeks back, but hadn't been able to find my size (for some reason I always struggle to find my size in Nike socks). So when I saw them again when I visited House of Hoops this week I didn't hesitate to grab a pair.

They're not cheap but I definitely think its worth the investment especially if your playing regularly. I was going to get a pair of Kevin Durant Elite socks as well, but when I checked the price I decided that paying an extra £5 just for the KD logo was a bit ridiculous.

Winter Accessories

Over the last month or so I've picked a few new accessories to refresh my day to day outfits. Autumn/Winter is definitely a good time for accessorising as the cold weather means you can mix up materials and add some layering and texture.

I picked up a new Timex watch as my last one had stopped working. I think I'd had it for about six years and I really loved it. Unfortunately it had a mechanical fault, and it really wasn't worth the expense of having it repaired when it only cost £45 to start with. I tried to find an exact replacement, but Timex had stopped making it, but I was able to find one that was very similar. 

I love the simplicity of Timex's watches. The military field watch styling is both casual and smart depending on how your dressed and its firmly established my new go-to everyday watch. Like my previous Timex this model was also under £50, so it's awesome value.

I always find a new tie is an easy way to refresh my work outfits, and when I found this blue & green striped tie I decided it was worth splashing out on. I think it was 50p well spent, and continues my run of finding great tie bargains in charity shops. It doesn't have a label to say where its from, but it definitely has a classic polo style to it.

Lastly I picked up some heavy duty winter socks from Gap. I have 3 or 4 pairs of these now and they're great for cold winter mornings. I love the combination of heathered blue and brown shades, combined with the bright red.

XX9

Its been a while since my last blog post as the last month and a half have been crazy busy with work and moving house. But I'm back on top of things and have a bunch of stuff to blog about over the next couple of weeks. But way back at the end of March I spent a week in New York, and of course I spent a lot of time hunting for interesting sneakers, and the shoe I was particularly looking for was the Air Jordan XX9.

In February I wrote about how much I liked the XX9's that Russel Westbrook has been wearing, and my excitement for his debut Jordan brand signature shoe. However since then we found out that Russ's shoe is going to be a lifestyle shoe, and not a performance basketball shoe, which for me was really disappointing news, and made up my mind that I definitely wanted to get a pair of the XX9's.

I was very tempted by the white/silver All-Star colourway, but while visiting Flight Club I was able to find a pair of the legend blue/white/silver colour from the Gift of Flight pack. Flight Club is a consignment sneaker store, where for a fee they will sell your shoes, so have an incredible selection of rare and hard to find shoes. It was pretty impressive to see so many rare Jordans, LeBrons, and Yeezys, and even a pair of Freddy Kreuger SB dunks that are one of my all time grail shoes. I would definitely recommend visiting Flight Club just to see the array of amazing stuff they have.

The Ultimate Gift of Flight pack was a very limited pack that was released just before Christmas last year. It was made up of the XX9's and a pair of XI's in legend blue. Because XI's are so popular the pack was in huge demand and sold out instantly. However unlike most people who bought the pack for the XI's it was the XX9's that I'd wanted, especially as Russ wore that colour when the Thunder played on Christmas day. And luckily for me someone had decided to sell their XX9's separately from the pack, and because it's the shoe that's generally less popular I was able to get a super limited shoe at a great price.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I thought it was a shame that Nike never released one of the OKC Thunder colourways that Westbrook has been wearing, especially as the orange looks so great on them. However a trip to Nike town helped to solve this as I grabbed a pair of Nike Hyper Elite socks to go with them and give them the hit of orange they'd been missing. For anyone who plays basketball I'd definitely recommend the Nike Elite socks, they're incredibly comfortable and help to keep your feet feeling good during a hard game. I've played in the XX9 once so far, and I really loved them. The fit and traction were especially impressive, so much so that I'm really considering picking up another pair.