Samurai S5000VX21 4-year update.

It's been about 2-3 years since my last update (June and January 2011).  I haven't worn them that much in the past year for a few reasons - not appropriate for work and also because I gained some weight last year.  Now that the holidays are upon us and I've dropped my waist size back down to 32 and half of HR just got let go, I started wearing them to work again.  

You can see the creases where I cuff the jeans when I'm at home and not wearing boots.  I'm trying to minimize the wear at the back of the leg opening.

In the front-view picture, the twist in the legs are a little more apparent.  The denim twists in the same direction (to the right) as the material shrinks.  

Just repaired the back pocket again. Hard to see, but there's a fresh piece of denim inside the asshole.  The seams on the sides of the coin pocket have burst.  

I'm thinking of buying a new pair of jeans this new year - definitely want to stick with Samurai, maybe in a more relaxed fit, though.  

Happy New Year everyone.

H.H. Brown Dress Boots

I did a little internet research and discovered that Matterhorn is in fact owned by H. H. Brown, who also make army boots.  In fact, my issued dress boots and ‘77 Matterhorn work boots were made at the same facility in Sherbrook (Quebec), 22 years apart. 

As it turns out, both my dad and I made the same sizing mistake 22 years apart.  We both ordered boots that were tagged for our shoe size, not realizing that H. H. Brown’s sizing doesn’t conform to any kind of industry standard.  He’s normally a size 7 shoe, and I’m an 8.5, but in H. H. Brown sizing, I’m actually a 7.  This means that by good fortune, my dad’s sizing mistake ended up in my favour.

As for my parade boots, I exchanged them for size 7.5 which fit perfectly if I have to wear thick wool socks for a winter parade. 

This week, I’m wearing my dress boots and polishing daily to rebuild a fresh foundation of wax so that I can get a great spit-shine on for Sunday’s Remembrance Day Parade.  

4 years ago, I posted about the results of my annual fitness test.  Yesterday, I ran the test again for the 2013/2014 training year.  

So it turns out that the previously marked route for the run was 400 m short (not my problem the army didn’t accurately measure that distance).  That means my previous time of 28:52 is actually closer to 30:47 for the 6.4 km (4 mi) run.  My previous 5 km split would then gain an extra minute or so to be 23:04. I guess I always suspected the route was too short. 

That said, yesterday’s stats would give me some new personal bests:

4-mile (6.4 km) run: 29:48

5 km split: 22:58

Chin-ups: 11

Push-ups: 50

Sit-ups: 60 / 2 min

I was worried about the run, having gained 10 lbs after having a kid, but I guess the body has a way of adapting to the extra weight to maintain a relative level of strength and fitness. 

Matterhorn Steel Toe Workboots

So, the story behind these boots goes something like this… My dad was cleaning out the garage and came across an old pair of boots from the late ‘70s when he worked out west for Syncrude.  He wore them once while visiting a plant and they’ve been in storage ever since. 

I tried the boots on, and they fit real good, so I took them home with me.  I wore them to work today to start breaking them in.