I’ve running in Topo’s shoe offerings since the inception of the brand. My general experience has been good, with an appreciation for the concepts they were trying to get across and the approach they took. However, the execution felt just a little lacking, with some materials not as refined, and the ride not very notable. […]
Review: Brooks PureCadence 5
June 7, 2016 By 6 Comments
With my return to teaching, I’ve realized that time constraints necessitate making a change to how I write reviews (or they’ll never get done!). I’m going to try a more streamlined approach that I hope will allow me to churn through a backlog of reviews that have been accumulating since the beginning of the year. Here goes… With […]
Brooks Neuro Review
June 6, 2016 By 4 Comments
The Brooks Neuro is one of the very few Brooks shoes I’ve run in. I’ve only ever run the Cascadia 10 and Green Silence, and not many miles in either of those. I was very intrigued by the design concept when I saw them at Outdoor Retailer last year, especially the decoupled design that lets […]
Montrail Caldorado Review: Next-Gen Montrail
May 4, 2016 By 5 Comments
Montrail is a shoe company with a long history in trail running, and with ultra running in particular (at least from my viewpoint). They sponsored the Montrail Ultra Cup and Western States 100 for quite a long time, as well as supporting an ultra running team very early on, and being one of the premier […]
Trail Shoe Review Roundup: Montrail Fluid Flex ST, Scarpa TRU, Altra Superior 2.0, North Face Ultra MT, Brooks Cascadia 10
May 1, 2016 By 20 Comments
I’ve had a chance to try a lot of new shoes over the past year, and while this is usually great, it sometimes compromises how much time you can get in each shoe. The following shoes are all trail models currently on the market that I ran in last summer and fall but never got […]
Salming Speed 3 Review: Solid All-Around Racer
March 30, 2016 By 24 Comments
Salming has really shown up in the US market over the last year, and their shoes were included in two of my top 3 lists from my best of 2015 post. The Salming Distance is one of the best riding, all-around road shoes I’ve run in – it’s similar in application to something like a […]
La Sportiva Crossover 2.0 GTX Review: Best on the market, but not for long.
March 28, 2016 By 3 Comments
The La Sportiva Crossover GTX was one of the original winter shoes with a gaiter integrated into the upper. I’ve had the first version of the Crossover for over 4 years now, and still use it from time to time. It was built on the original C-Lite platform and last, and offered a snug fit […]
Hoka Speedgoat Review: Solid Shoe With a Big Flaw
March 9, 2016 By 7 Comments
When I first received the Hoka Speedgoat, I was pretty sure that I would never run in them. I had heard from other runners that the fit was way too narrow, and upon taking them out of the box I was rather shocked by just how narrow the toebox looked. It honestly looks like a […]
adidas Adios Boost 3 Review: Minor Updates to a Classic Racer
March 7, 2016 By 13 Comments
There are very few shoes in the $120+ range that I think are worth the money. The Nike Free Flyknit 4.0 is one, and the other that jumps immediately to mind is the adidas Adios Boost. The first two iterations of the adios Boost were personal favorites (see my reviews of v1 and v2) – […]
Altra Lone Peak Neoshell and Lone Peak 2.5 Review
February 16, 2016 By 21 Comments
Altra is unarguably one of the brands on a very quick rise in the running world these days, especially in the trail and ultra market. I’ve had a long history with the Lone Peak, picking up a pair of the original Lone Peaks pretty much right at release. I ran a couple of ultras in […]
Pearl Izumi Trail N2v2 and N1v2 Dual Review
January 31, 2016 By 35 Comments
The Pearl Izumi trail lineup has quite the dedicated following. I’d guess, without know exact numbers, that when the first versions launched in 2013, they significantly boosted Pearl Izumi’s sales judging by how many I see at ultra races. The shoes weren’t updated till this July, a two and a half year span, which is […]
Topo Athletic Runventure Review
December 21, 2015 By 10 Comments
Topo Athletic has evolved quite a bit in the few short years since their inception late in 2012. Their first offerings were Tabi style shoes that featured a separated big toe. Pete has a great intro into Topo and his thoughts on the original Tabi versions in his review of the MT. My history with Topo […]
adidas adizero XT Boost Review: Unique and Effective Trail Shoe
December 10, 2015 By 15 Comments
I’ve had a pretty long history with the adidas adizero XT line, having run in all of the XT models except for the first one (still keeping my eye on eBay for a pair). The shoes have evolved somewhat from the XT 2 and 3, which had a very versatile, all-mountain outsole that still runs […]
Nike Lunartempo Running Shoe Review
December 8, 2015 By 11 Comments
My mileage has been relatively low for the past few months as teaching (loving it!) and family responsibilities have taken up a lot of my time, but most of the miles I have run recently have been in the Nike Lunartempo (formerly called the Lunar Trainer – my pair still has this name printed on the […]
Asics Tartherzeal 3 Review: A Grippy Flat Built For Speed
November 12, 2015 By 10 Comments
A few weeks ago I reviewed the Asics Gel Lyteracer RS 4. The Lyteracer is a Japanese racing flat that was brought to the US by Running Warehouse, and I was quite impressed by the shoe. It offered a forgiving heel, a no frills yet durable upper, and was light and responsive enough to use […]
