road review - Skechers GORun 3

ever feel like you're bringing last year's christmas fruitcake as a present to the party this year?

with so many great reviews of the Skechers GORun 4 already being posted out there, it seems almost redundant (if not unnecessary) to provide a write-up about the GORun 3s ... 

except that i really, really like this shoe.

the fact is that the GR2 has been a great performer for me - super-versatile for all kinds of training runs, and even getting me across the finish line in a marathon (although one of my worst, but due in no way to my footwear).  when i first checked out the GR3s in a Skechers retail store some 18 months ago, i didn't give them much thought ... mostly because i was so taken by the GORun Ultra.  but when provided with an opportunity by Skechers Performance Division Canada to put them through their paces, they have quickly risen to the top of my go-to arsenal.

what works about this shoe?

• light - what makes the GR3 a shoe that is really adaptable to speed and long-run workouts is that it doesn't weigh a ton.  the kitchen scale tells me that my size 10s come in at just around 7.3 oz (or thereabouts).
  
  
  
  
  
• bright - i deliberately wanted to test out Skechers Performance's Nite Owl technology, which is a photo-luminescent colour-saturated material that absorbs light and then emanates it as a glow for visibility.  in the daytime, these shoes are an unmissable bright alien green - and at night (after sufficient light exposure, of which natural daylight does the best charging job) it looks like each stride is being taken by neon glowsticks.
  
  
  
  the picture doesn't do any justice to the aura on these shoes!

• airy - the change in the upper material (especially over the forefoot) to the triangular sub-layer and open-mesh covering certainly factors into its overall lightness as well as it being a well-ventilated shoe.  i don't plan on trudging through a lot of mud and puddles with them, but i suppose that while its construction would mean that it provides less protection against moisture penetration it also would lend itself to decent drainage and evaporation.
• width - as with most Skechers Performance Division footwear to date, loads of forefoot room for adequate toe splay, plus a nice stretchy quality to that upper Power-Prene material.
• low-drop - by now pretty standard, the GR3 sports a 4mm offset from heel to toe, with the option to jack that up a bit to 8mm with the extra insoles included for a customizable ride.
• M-Strike - the distinctive feature first introduced in the original GORun, the mid-foot 'bump' provides subtle feedback about footstrike tendencies and encourages a more natural, under-the-center-of-mass landing.  there is a definite roll/convexity to the outsole, in part accentuated by a scoop profile towards the heel portion.  it may prove noticeable while walking but in the running stride it does exactly what it's supposed to - letting the runner know that the most efficient landing pattern is accomplished by not overstriding.
• tread - i like the pod-pattern on the outsole, with several key contact points being reinforced with rubber for durability and traction.  otherwise it's the proprietary Resalyte that for me provides decent durability without adding mass to the shoe.
• pricepoint - c'mon, $75 USD?  how can you go wrong - really.

get the up-close and personal look at the GR3 in my video review below:

as you might have already gathered, i do love this shoe.  no question that it garners 5 out of 5 footprints from me.

can you blame me now for being so excited to check out the GORun 4?!?

*** disclaimer:  i was provided with the GORun 3 by Skechers Performance Division (Canada) but was not obligated to provide a positive review.  all opinions - however poorly expressed - are my own.

road review - Skechers GORun 3

the Skechers hit parade

make no mistake - i know just how privileged i am to be in the small percentile of runners on the planet who have the luxury of choosing from a closet full of shoes.

i also recognize that many of the best runners alive today may not have shoes at all.  and certainly not ones that fit them properly, or that they were able to select for themselves.

however, given my context in an middle-upper class community situated in a first world nation, i've had frequent conversations with people about what pairs of shoes are the 'best' to run in for particular types of workouts and/or races.  since i do run six days per week (with some doubles) and have the habit of not wearing the same footwear two workouts in a row, i have definitely developed some preferences on what shoes help me to feel at my optimal level for any given day.

so without further ado, here is my top five list of shoes, period:

1.  Skechers GObionic
   
   
   
   super light, fast, zero-drop, ultra-flexible, wide forefoot - i'd take these anywhere, anytime (if only the upper didn't tear on me they'd still be in my rotation).


2.  Skechers GOrun 2
   
   
   
   if i want to go fast, these are perfect.  if i want to recover, again these will do the trick.  lightweight, work-with-the-foot dynamics - i think that i've recommended these shoes more than any other to my friends.


3. Skechers GOmeb speed 2
   
   
   
   these got me across the line in Boston-qualifying time. racing flats that have great pop to them and make you forget that you have shoes on your feet at all.


4. Skechers GOrun ultra
   
   
   perfect recovery shoe - but also the pair that most encourages me to forefoot strike, so they feel primed for bursts of speed. #GOalldaylong


5. Skechers GObionic trail
   
   
   
   for all of your off-roading plans.  nimble, airy, solid all-terrain traction and just enough impact dispersion material.  i should race in these more.

the Skechers hit parade

race report - snowflake series race 3 (10k)

on a rather last minute suggestion from my friend rhonda-marie i made my way north into orillia for the third race in the CANIrunning snowflake series - a 5/10k competition.  it seemed like a good way to start off 2014, and who knows ... maybe i'll become more like my running idol yuki kawauchi and race my brains out this year.

pre-race
it was a slick drive on snow-packed/icy highway 11 from barrie to orillia, so i was worried that i hadn't given myself enough time to get to the start line to register.  maybe the motto for my commute there would be my mantra for the day:  slow and steady.

arriving at the waterfront in orillia, there were two small card tables set up in a snowy parking lot - that was registration HQ.  the snowflake series is marketed as a no-frills race:  $15 per race (or $50 for the four-race series), no shirt, no medal, with all proceeds going toward The Sharing Place, a local food bank.  the process was no muss-no fuss:  fill in your vitals (race bib number, age, name, home city) with a golf pencil, pay the entry fee, try to manipulate your now frostbitten fingers to pin the bib to your outer shell.

i prepped with a 2k warmup jog with strides, including a quick trip to the one port-a-potty seemingly stranded out in the snow-covered park.

the underfoot conditions that we would be running on were similar to what i encountered on the highway - packed down snow and icy, tire-track worn patches in -21°C windchill.  i can honestly say that i was worried when my 'warm-up' only managed to notify me that the entire front half of each foot was frozen numb ... being a forefoot striker i really rely on my ability to push off from my toes and this was not a good start.

by the time that the group that had gathered (i eyeballed about 150-200 of us) were herded to the start line, i'd managed to recover feeling in my feet.  the race organizer/announcer did a solid job of announcing the route, the hazards (e.g. traffic - these were not closed courses), and the fact that there was no awards ceremony afterwards ... only hot chocolate and timbits (enough incentive for me!).

the race
with simple verbal countdown we were off.  i started about 15 feet from the front runners (who were off in a flash - what did they have on their shoes, tire chains?) and worked my way through the pack easily enough into what looked to be about 12th spot.  i tried to find a group to run with, but i didn't want to blow up so the pace that i found manageable kept me lagging about 5 seconds behind a pack of three.

the course itself was easy enough to follow - turns were marked with small orange pylons and signs, and one major turn/intersection had a course marshal to help encourage/manage traffic.  for a no frills race, this was one of the best controlled courses i'd seen.

i was pleased (given the greasiness/lack of traction) with the pace for the first 5k.  at points i wondered whether or not i'd made the right choice to wear my skechers gorun 2s when i'd also packed my brand new merrell mix master 2s, but the tread seemed to perform just as well as anybody else's footwear.  today's road surface was a great equalizer.

the 5k turnaround (it was a loop course) was treacherous at best - a hairpin turn on a single lane of road marked by those little pylons.  there was simply no running through that, and a shuffle pace meant risking a turned or busted ankle.  what was impressive, however, was that in the midst of the turn my watch beeped 5k - they must have measured this course using a garmin. :)

setting out on the second loop i quickly recognized that several of the front runners had wrapped up their morning, and that i was now in about 6th or 7th place.  this was a similar experience to the MEC burlington race five back in november, only i didn't have the benefit of my pal trevor to push the pace on me here.  but before the 6th km was up i managed to catch up to one of the guys (now the lone guy, having lost two of his pack compatriots after 5k) whom i was chasing during the first half.  his name was jason, a half-marathon specialist ten years my younger - and we managed to link up and finish the race together.  even though he'd not run in about three months before today, it was evident how quick he was as i gave another full-out sprint effort over the last 150m and could only manage to stay on his heels crossing the finish line.  

post-race
checking my watch, i managed to complete the race in 44:09 (about 4:24/km) - which according to the unofficial results is decent enough for a 2nd place age-group finish.  far from even my personal training time best for the same distance, i was pleased with the result as i was really treating this as a tempo run for the week, and it served as just that.

following a 2k cool-down jog (part of which involved helping to push a mini-van spinning its tires over the crest of a hill), i took full advantage of the aforementioned timbits and hot chocolate.  at this popular spot i chatted it up with several people that i'd recognized from the running room/barrie roadrunners group - all of whom commented that the running community in orillia is very much underestimated and very strong.  for sure there were a number of jackrabbits out there today, and i think that i'll be looking out for more CANIrunning races in orillia to help sharpen me in 2014.

kudos to all of the snowflake series organizers and participants - i will definitely make a point of seeing you again!

race report - snowflake series race 3 (10k)

skechers gorun 2 - road review

i did a 'first feel' review of the skechers gorun 2 a while back, and while my initial impressions were that skechers had a solid pair of shoes on the market my opinion was definitely limited in scope and experience. thanks to an online sale from The Shoe Company, i decided to pick up a pair and give them a real go(run). 

am i ever glad that i did.

this second generation design from skechers intended to promote a more mid-foot (read biomechanically efficient) stride pattern has garnered just about universally positive reviews.  and even though all of the other shoes that are part of my running rotation now are zero-drop (no differential in sole height from heel to toe), i had wanted to test out this 4mm drop shoe for marathon race-day because it could potentially help with the late-stage muscle fatigue that accompanies constant running on the balls of my feet.

i've now logged three runs in the gorun 2 - two easy runs of 10k and one tempo 10k run (which produced a PB for that distance).  these shoes make me completely unaware of the work that i'm putting my feet through - which is fantastic.  check out the video review below:

they will definitely be my kicks of choice on sept. 15 at the erie marathon, where i (once again) hope to finally attain a boston qualifying time.

given my experience with the skechers performance division so far, i've got to say that these guys know first hand what its like to rewrite (their) history.  

remember this lawsuit-worthy footwear?

haters beware!  skechers has moved from the detention room to the dean's list.  the gorun 2 is definitely worth of a five (out of five) footprint rating.

skechers gorun 2 - road review

in-store review - skechers gorun 2

last night i was chaperoning my daughter and her friend at the mall, so i decided to make a quick trip into our local sportchek to ogle their footwear wall.  to my surprise, in and amongst the nike, asics, under armour and k-swiss running shoes was the skechers gorun 2!

eager to fistbump my own gazelle one day, i asked the salesperson if i could try out a pair ... so here are my initial in-store impressions:

1. light - that was to be expected.  they weigh in at 6.6 oz for men's size 9s.  built for speed yes indeedy!
2. non-noticeable m-strike area - in the gorun (i tried those on about a month ago) that rockered middle area was definitely noticeable while walking, standing and during the in-store jog.  not so in the gorun 2 - i can see how these would still promote a mid-foot strike without providing discomforting feedback.
3. 4mm drop - i like that.  it feels pretty flat, and the scooped heel helps too.
4. width - not so bad.  i've read some concerns/complaints about the fact that these are a bit narrower than other models in the skechers performance line, but these seemed decent enough - but i did pull out the insoles and ran a circuit that way, and felt roomy enough for good toe splay in them.
5. extra laces!

at $109 CDN i was tempted ... but refrained.  i've got some gobionics to tackle first (on order from amazon.com), and i think that from there i would really like to try the gorun speed when they become available.  but i did tell the salesperson that they were an excellent feeling shoe, and that he should definitely try a pair (having told me that he's a pronounced heel striker ... hopefully i managed to convert him from the dark side).

in-store review - skechers gorun 2