gear review - illumiNITE running jacket

you just never know what you'll find at the second-hand store.

rifling through the women's (yes, i'm a gender bender when it comes to clothing!) 'spring jacket' section in the local goodwill thrift store i found a nylon shell jacket from a manufacturer that i'd never heard of before.  the collar tag had the URL "www.illumiNITE.com" on it, and i figured that if they had a website they had to be at least somewhat legit.  the name immediately led me to believe that this jacket had some kind of reflectivity technology incorporated into it, and upon closer inspection it certainly looked like there was some kind of daisy-flower pattern woven into the fabric that might provide some added visibility when running in low-light conditions (reminiscent of the features of the skora phase x) ... which is exactly what i was looking for on that particular visit.

i didn't pick up the jacket then and there because i figured that if the company was obscure to me, it would probably be obscure enough to anyone else who might randomly be thumbing through the hangers in that section.  it also gave me a chance to do a bit of internet research, which provided me with enough feedback to want to return to specifically pick it up.  
after returning home and comparing it to my uber-basic nike running shell (with it's wide reflective strips), i was prepared for disappointment.  maybe this 'illumiNITE' stuff had been promoted on late-night infomercials alongside the hulk hogan thunder mixer.

undaunted, i took to the roads with it - and found that in practice the illumiNITE jacket told a different story.  watch my review below for the 'enlightening' details!

all in all, a worthy and helpful addition to my running gear repertoire - i would recommend illumiNITE technology and products to anyone who (a) runs in the dark and (b) braves the 'facing traffic' side of the road!

gear review - illumiNITE running jacket

road review - asics gel galaxy 4

i doubt that you will find anyone else writing a serious training review on this shoe. 

although produced by asics, a great athletic company (their name is an acronym for anima sana in corpore sano after all), they are like many other businesses in their industry that produce some mass-market 'lifestyle' type of footwear.  i'd venture to say that the gel galaxy 4 falls into this category.

previously i'd posted that i bought these shoes at the local value village which is a favourite haunt of mine [note:  i am an avowed thrift-store junkie] - and therefore i have no idea what kind of life they lived prior to settling into my running closet.  what i wanted to purchase was a pair of shoes that would (a) have a little more material to them to protect my feet during the heaviest winter weather (we can often see 15-25 cm snowfall accumulation on any given day, and down to -30°C windchill temperatures); and (b) have decent enough traction to cover the tundra-like terrain without the use of additional gripping devices.  and it just so happened that on the day that i dropped into the store, these were on the men's footwear shelf:

they aren't the prettiest things ... so what made me add them to the rotation?  here's just a quick rundown of key features for me:

1. upper construction - this was definitely top criteria in selecting another shoe, especially from the second hand store.  the overlays, the toe bumper, padded tongue/ankle/heel sections - lots of added protection against the elements.  remember, i was looking for something to help me specifically with winter running.
2. outsole design -  it's kinda funky, don't you think?
   
   looks a bit like a fossilized ancient squid or something ... but its precisely that off-kilter pattern and texturing, combined with the transverse forefoot flexlines that made me think that this would work in terms of providing decent traction while allowing a forefoot striker like me to still work the shoe as i needed to.
3. weight - the shoes are essentially clodhoppers for me.  at a little more than 11oz. in size 10.5, they're almost twice the shoe that my merrell road gloves are.  it's almost like having these on your feet:
   
   so why does this work for me?  well, i knew that i would be selecting heavier shoes based on the kind of protection that i wanted ... but i also intended to use this particular pair of shoes for recovery runs (right now mondays and fridays for no more than 12km each outing) - and so it's in part helping me to stick with the discipline of not pushing too much on my easy days while still providing a good workout for my legs.  keeping the turnover rate high while feeling like i've strapped weights to my feet makes me at least believe that i could be running faster.
4. visibility - while i'm not entirely sure that the asics logo design on the side of the shoes is reflective, it does provide sufficient enough contrast over a large enough area that makes the shoes noticeable while running in the early pre-dawn darkness.
5. sizing - beggars can't be choosers, especially when it comes to second-hand shopping.  but these shoes i found in a 10.5 which provided ample enough length and surprisingly decent toebox width - no scrunched pinky toes here.  the fit set these shoes apart from a couple of other pairs of runners i was able to find at the same store.
6. pricepoint - now this isn't fair to be sure, as i purchased them used ... but for asics footwear, i think that these shoes would have be regular retail for about $59.  i managed to pick them up for $12, and they were still in fantastic shape.  their durability has held up for me (through ice, slush and salt), and so i feel like i've gotten excellent value for money.

bottom line?  would i recommend these shoes to another runner in training?  actually, yes.  with the proviso that they should be used in rotation with other shoes.  given that these gel galaxy 4 are probably something like a 12-14mm heel drop shoe, they're obviously not helping me reinforce my barefoot-running style - but they are keeping me alert to my footstrike pattern and working well to keep me safe on the winter roads of south-central ontario.  overall i give them a 3.5 out of 5.

road review - asics gel galaxy 4