Archives for 2012

Top 3 Zero Drop, Cushioned Road Running Shoes of 2012

Welcome to post number three in my top running shoes of 2012 series – this time I take on the zero drop, cushioned road shoe category. This is a category that grew in a big way this year, and is set to expand even more through the first half of 2013. Personally, I find a […]

Top Barefoot-Style Road Running Shoes of 2012

Time for post #2 in my “Best of 2012” shoes series. In this list I tackle my top barefoot-style road shoes of the year. I define barefoot-style shoes as zero drop shoes with minimal cushion between the foot and the ground. Vibram Fivefingers and Vivobarefoot pioneered this category, but these days my preferences have moved […]

Study: Running Economy Improves After a 4 Week Simulated Barefoot Running Program

English: Vibram FiveFingers Bikila shoes, top view. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The question of how footwear (or lack thereof) affects running economy has received a great deal of attention over the past year or so. Several studies have come out that have compared oxygen consumption in runners in both shod and unshod states, and most recently […]

A Word of Thanks and A Look to the Future

Santa Claus icon (Photo credit: Wikipedia) About a month ago I wrote a post about how I needed to take control of my exceedingly busy and stressful life. I’m happy to report that I’ve decided to take my future by the horns and wrestle it in the direction that I think is right for me […]

Top 3 Most Disappointing Running Shoes of 2012

As the year comes to a close, it’s time once again for me to reflect back on the multitude of shoes that I’ve run in over the past 12 months. There are plenty of standouts (I’m going to break my “best of” lists into three categories this year, may have one ready later today), but […]

Top 5 Transitional Road Running Shoes of 2012

Earlier today I posted my top 3 most disappointing running shoes of 2012 – I wanted to get the bad news out of the way first so I could proceed on to the good stuff! I’ve had the good fortune to run in a lot of fine shoes this year, and given the diversity of […]

The Brooks Launch Has Been Spared!

I just received a Twitter message from my friend Brad alerting me to a new post on the Brooks Running Blog. The post breaks the news that Brooks have decided to spare the Launch! If you aren’t aware of the recent chain of events with regard to the Launch, Brooks decided earlier this year that […]

Gifts for Runners: Advice for Suffering Spouses, Friends, and Significant Others

Every year around this time my wife and I have the same discussion. It’s a week or so from Christmas and she asks me what what I want “Santa” to bring me on the big day. She vents her frustration that all I like are running gear and expensive electronic devices (she’s got me pegged), […]

The Future of Minimalist Running Shoes and the Value of Variety

This morning I opened my email to find an alert that the newest edition of SGB Weekly magazine had come out and that it would be featuring a few articles by Thomas Ryan on trends in the running market as gleaned from interviews and discussions at The Running Event. The Running Event is the major […]

New Balance MT110 Update Revealed

A contributor on the Runblogger Forum just posted a link to the spec page for an update to the New Balance MT110 trail shoe at Running Warehouse. Given the steep discounts I’ve seen lately on the original MT110 (on sale for under $50 at 6PM.com), I suspected that some kind of sequel was on the […]

Altra Instinct 1.5 Zero Drop Running Shoe Review

A few weeks ago my wife and I were in our local food co-op and she turned to me and pointed at a woman in front of us in line. In a low voice she whispered “What are those shoes she’s wearing?” Now, you need to know that in our marriage I’m the shoe junkie, […]

Topo Athletic: Former Vibram USA CEO Tony Post Wants to “Amplify Your Innate Biomechanics” With His New Footwear Company

A contributor (thanks Nick!) to the Running Shoes community on Google+ shared a link today to an article on Wired that discusses former Vibram USA CEO Tony Post’s latest project. Post resigned his position with Vibram this past summer, and at the time there was some speculation as to the reason why he decided to […]

On Cloudracer Running Shoe Review

The running shoe world is full of companies claiming technological innovation in their footwear. Some of these so-called innovations are nothing more than gimmicks used to spin a good story in an effort to market and sell shoes, whereas others seem to actually provide some positive benefit. Some shoes have both – non-functional gimmicky technology […]

Your Feet in Wide vs. Narrow Shoes: Great Visual From Altra Running!

Altra Running posted a photo on their Facebook page showing an X-Ray image comparing foot shape in an Altra shoe vs. a narrow shoe with a pointed toebox (i.e., what most people typically wear all day). The difference is striking: I contacted Altra to confirm that these were real X-Rays, and was told that they […]

An Inside Look at the Skechers Performance Footwear Team

For the past year or so I have been in regular contact with Kurt Stockbridge and David Raysse, the core of the relatively new performance running team at Skechers. Starting with the original Go Run, I’ve now wear tested and have provided direct feedback to Kurt and David on at least 6-7 shoes that have […]