What

Taking place in the pastoral beauty of historic Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the Gettysburg North South Marathon is a North vs. South Competition – Runners elect whether to run for the North or South and there will be a scored competition between the two sides. Race numbers and shirts are uniquely colored separately for the two sides.

The Good

The course winds its way through some spectacular rolling green hills, with more spectators than you would expect on a rural marathon course. The water/Gatorade aid stations were ample. History surrounds you as you run through the battlefields and takes your mind off your struggle to complete the 26.2 miles. This is a race for patriots no matter what part of the country you come from. Parking and transportation logistics to the starting line were well planned. There were plenty of port-o-johns. 2012 was the 2nd year for the race which was surprising considering how organized the event was.

The Bad

The price for entry was $100. For a small race this is a hefty price tag. The roads were not closed to traffic, so even though it was out in the country side, every once and awhile you had to avoid cars. While there was plenty of water out on the course, there was no water available at the starting line. The shirt is horrible. The design is a shield of ink that would stop any sweat wicking and is about 11' in diameter. Totally un-wearable. I understand why they created the giant circle of vinyl, they needed to print the design on several different colored shirts. They should read this post on screen printing.

The Experience

I had a great time at this race. I found out about the race two days before it was going to be held. I called my friend Stein who is doing the same training as me for The North Face Challenge 50 miler, and talked him into running it with me as a training run. We had scheduled 36 miles for the weekend  anyway so this seemed like a great opportunity to get a new bib and medal for the collection. Running it as a training run took all the pressure off. We didn't have a taper in fact we ran 36 miles Tuesday – Saturday before the Sunday marathon.

If I had been running for time the hills would have freaked me out. The course is made up of rolling hills that are sure to get in the way of a serious shot at a PR. We were able to take the sights in and we even walked through all the water stops. The funny thing is we ended up with a respectable finish time of 3:40 with very little effort. Our training for the 50 miler was paying off.

The North/South bit was fun, but didn't really come into play after we got shirts. North got Blue shirts and the South got grey shirts. Apparently, if we waited around long enough after the race we would have seen the part where they chose the winning side and handed out pint glasses to the victors.

Would I recommend the race to a friend? Absolutely! It is a beautiful course and the people were friendly. Overall it was a great running experience.

“The reason we race isn't so much to beat each other,… but to be with each other.” 

― Christopher McDougall, Born to Run

Ashmei

Ashmei is quickly becoming the luxury high performance brand for running. Ashmei sent me trail socks to check out. In true Ashmei style they are the Range Rover of trail socks. Taking an approach to gear that appears to be made up of three mandates, style, performance, and quality. The socks feel luxurious when you slip them on. They are made up of a dense weave of Marino wool. There is elastication around the arch and the heel, this keeps the sock securely in place around your foot. That is important in the fight against blisters. Besides looking and feeling great the Ashmei sock hits the right spot on non-slip, anti-blister, temperature regulation, moisture wicking, easy care, and anti microbial.

The retail price for the Ashmei Trail socks I tested is $21 US or £13 in the UK Three pack for $49 or £30. Purchase the socks from Ashmei

DARN TOUGH

Vermont seems to produce great products. Some of my favorites are Ben & Jerry's, Magic Hat Micro Brews, Cabot Cheese, maple syrup, and new to me Darn Tough socks. 

"The Cabot (no relation to the cheese) Hosiery Mill was founded in 1978, and has been a privately held US business that’s been around for three decades, and three generations.  In 2004, Executive Vice President Ric Cabot wanted to create a line of quality socks that could withstand both frigid winters and humid summers. The Darn Tough brand now manufactures over 20 different types of socks, for everyone from Nordic skiers to summer cyclists. Darn Tough prides itself on quality, so its socks come with an unconditional lifetime guarantee" The unconditional lifetime guarantee caught my attention. Between the name and the guarantee, these socks had better be good.

The Darn Tough "True Seamless" Run/Bike 1/4 sock I tested out is made of 62% Merino wool and the rest of the materials (Spandex and Lycra) give the sock its shape and fit. If you haven't tried wool for running, it isn't like wearing an itchy sweater your grandmother knit for you. Merino wool feels great against the skin, it naturally regulates temperature, and by nature it is antimicrobial. Depending on what type of running (trail vs. road) and the fit of the shoe I am wearing, I like to have a variety of thicknesses in my sock collection.The Run/Bike Darn Tough socks I wore were 1/4 sock mesh ultra light non cushion. It is a thinner light weight no frills sock. When I started running the more cushion the better. As I have evolved my choice in socks has evolved too. I like a thinner sock and light weight shoes. I have friends that run sockless, but I can't bring myself to do it. I like a barrier between me and the shoe. The Darn Tough Run/Bike are a good sock that fits well and you can't beat the guarantee, in this case the Tommy Boy sales pitch doesn't apply. I'll take the guarantee and sleep well knowing I will never have to use it. The toughest part of the Darn Tough socks will be finding them right now. The Darn Tough site has a Where can I get 'em store finder. In Maryland there was only one store. I recommend searching them out. They are made of an eco friendly material that is renewable, and they are made in Vermont. Name one crappy product that ever came out of Vermont.

CW-X Pro Shorts

I have been putting a lot of miles in lately and have been looking for ways keep my legs feeling fresher. I have been foam rolling, messaging, icing, and compressing a whole bunch. Compression seems to be an effective active and recovery method in the fight against fatigue. I decided to give these a shot. When you first put them on you really notice the springy elasticity in the targeted zones. They quite possibly provide a little help in recoiling and reloading the muscles. I really like the shorts with one exception. There is a meeting of seams right in the center of the… well I don't know how to say it better than, center of the taint. Definition of "taint" This caused quite a bit of chaffing and discomfort after the first run. I tried Under Armour compression under wear and Ruez underwear with them. The Ruez did the best job of alleviating the issue. Once that was taken care of Bob's your uncle and everything was aces. These may be my new favorite running shorts, that is until the fix the seam issue and then they will be may favorite running short. Here is what they say about the shorts… "The CW-X Pro Tights offer optimum muscular support for activities with linear movement, such as running. CW-X's patented CW-X Support Web™ provides a suspension system for the hamstrings, reducing workload in the pull phase of the running motion. Combined with targeted variable compression to increase circulation and reduce fatigue, your muscles don't have to work as hard over time and your legs will feel fresher."

Background

About a month ago I ran the Goshen College Maple Leaf Indoor Marathon, twice in two days. The Maple Leaf Indoor marathon takes place in the small Northwest Indiana town of Goshen, on the campus of Goshen College. The indoor track is roughly 226 yards (208 meters) around, making 204 laps 26.2 miles. The track has four lanes and the race is limited to thirty entrants so it isn't too crowded. Every thirty minutes runners switched direction to avoid continual left or right turns for 204 laps. There were no water stations on the "course" but tables were setup on each corner of the track for runners to put hydration and nutrition. They race volunteers refill bottles for runners as needed, with water or Gatorade. The race was chip timed. The chip counts the number of laps you have run. Progress was shown on a big screen TV and runners were able to track progress as they passed the screen.

People from all over the US run. Many members of the Marathon Maniacs show up to run both days. I have never run an ultra, but there is a sense of camaraderie here that I sense is similar to an ultra event. People are chatting with each other before, during and after the race.  

The first marathon I ran was a year ago at the indoor marathon. After finishing, as sore as I was, I started seriously thinking about running the marathon on both days. In November, I signed up to run the marathon both Saturday and Sunday. 

Training

My plan was to train for this adventure similar to training for a single marathon, run lots of miles! I loosely followed a Hal Higdon plan adding some weekends of back to back long runs. The second weekend of January, I ran 11 on Saturday morning and 20 on Sunday morning. The next weekend I ran 17 on Saturday and 15 on Sunday (70 mile week). Two weeks later, the last weekend of January, I ran 19 on Saturday and 21 on Sunday (71 mile week). The following weekend I did 20 on Saturday and 20 on Sunday (70 mile week). Last year I ran my longer runs near what my expected marathon pace was to be, which contributed to an Achilles injury 6 weeks later. This year I tried to be smarter running my long runs slower than marathon pace. Although running on the weekends at 5:00 a.m. in the cold NW Indiana winter there were runs I pushed the pace more just to get home and out of the cold!

I remember after finishing last year my quads were pretty beat up. I think a lot of that had to do with the constant turning on the track. This year I ran about half a dozen times on the track, up to 7 miles, in preparation for the marathons.

I ran pretty hard last year as it was my first marathon and I didn't know any better. Plus, I was excited to complete a marathon and have a good time. I remember waking up Sunday morning thinking "I couldn't run another marathon today if I wanted to." With that in mind I planned to take it a bit easier on Saturday knowing I had another 204 laps to run on Sunday!

Saturday's marathon

The race started at 8:00 a.m. and being less than 15 minutes from the race, I woke up around 6:30. I had a bagel and water, showered and dressed and was out the door by 7:00 a.m. I arrived at the college with two water bottles and plenty of gel. One bottle had Caffé Latte Hammer Nutrition Perpetuem and the other was water with a Camelback Elixir electrolyte tablet. It was nice to see some familiar faces of local runners and runners from the race last year. Everyone has a story of why they come to little Goshen to run an indoor marathon. Vince, from California, had met one of the race volunteers at a marathon and came to Goshen because of him. Vince ran both days for his 15th and 16th marathons of the year (only 8 weeks into 2012 mind you)! Many Marathon Maniacs run the marathon on both Saturday and Sunday. 

I started off easy thinking an 8:30 or so pace would be good. The problem for me pacing-wise, was figuring out what pace I was running. Garmin GPS don't work indoors. I knew 7.5 laps was roughly a mile, so 1:00 per lap would put me at a 7:30 mile. Running 1:06 per lap put me closer to the 8:30 per mile mark. There was a big clock at the start/finish line and I tried to keep an eye on it to make sure I wasn't running too fast. A few seconds faster per lap could make a big difference per mile. My legs felt good and I was paying close attention to making sure I took in plenty of fluid. The first half was pretty uneventful and done around 1:52. I had chatted with some of the runners which helped the time go faster. It does get a bit boring running in circles for hours on end! About 124 laps in (mile 16), I was feeling strong and as the leaders went by, I decided to see if I could hang with them for a few laps. I ticked off 5 laps in the 59s-58s range (7:30-7:37/mile). I remember the laps feeling pretty easy, but also wondering if I'd pay for the faster laps later. 

Running in circles makes this a great spectator race. Being a local race, I knew my wife, three boys, and her parents would be showing up at some point. Around lap 170 they all showed up. They had made a big banner for me. It was a great mental boost to see them. I know it wasn't exactly what they wanted to do on a Saturday morning, but they were there, cheering me on. They watch me go by 30 more times until I finished! My official time was 3:44:09.

I think mentally the last five miles were the toughest. Another local runner, Jim, paced me the last 10 laps or so. He must have been able to sense I was struggling and it sure helped having someone push me. I placed 5th overall, just missing fourth by a minute or two. My legs felt pretty good, tired but OK. There was a good spread of food: pizza, chocolate milk, bananas, oranges, and cookies. I was able to get plenty to eat. I also drank mixed a bottle of Hammer Recoverite. I showered up and put on my Zenzah calf sleeves and tri shorts to help with the soreness.

Sunday's marathon

Sunday's marathon started at 7:00a.m. I wasn't as worried about getting to the race early so I arrive about 20 minutes before the start. My legs were a bit tired and sore, but overall OK.  I had some tightness in the quads and hips. All of the turns take a different toll than running outside. For my second go around (literally) in 24ish hours I told myself that it was all about finishing. A local runner friend, Chris, was running on Sunday and we chatted before the start about strategy and pacing. We started off running together as he hadn't done much training for the marathon. In fact, his longest run had been a 10 miler the week before! We started off at a nice easy pace and I felt alright. I had more of a tired feeling in my legs than soreness as we got going. Chatting with Chris, the first two hours went by pretty quickly. By the 2:01 mark I was half way done. Yesterday I ran into a bit of a mental block already at lap 71. Today I didn't have any of those issues. I just kept pushing along. Around lap 126 I was feeling really tired. I was struggling mentally with whether or not to walk. I finally decided to walk one curve to the table where my water was. I grabbed my water and started running again. Part of me didn't want to walk as I was worried I'd have trouble getting going again, and I knew walking meant being out there longer. Another part of me didn't care. I wanted to finish and be able to walk home! I had to push my pride aside a bit and realize I'd run over 40 miles in the last 24 hours, in circles no less, and had a right to be tired. Every couple of miles I'd walk half a lap or so while drinking or taking a gel. I didn't want to walk, but it was tough for my body to keep going. My wife and kids showed up again around lap 170 with a new banner to cheer for me. When I thought I had 2 laps left I asked the boys to run with me. Then I found out I had only one lap left and ran so fast they couldn't keep up with me! 51 seconds for the last lap which translates to a 6:35/mile. I was so excited to be done. My wife said I looked pretty emotional when I finished. I suppose I was, this was a huge endeavor for me. Two marathons in two days it big in itself, but the indoor part added an extra challenge. My marathon count now stands at four; three indoors and one outdoor! 

My time was 4:06:59. I had hoped to finish under 4:00 hours, but it just wasn't going to happen. If I wouldn't have walked I would have been closer to a sub 4:00, but I just couldn't keep going. My time was almost 1:00/mile slower Sunday than Saturday, but I don't know that I could have pushed the pace much more. Sunday was surprisingly easier mentally. I expected to struggle with boredom and mental fatigue Sunday, but Saturday was actually worse.

Lessons learned

I committed a cardinal sin of running on Saturday, taking in fuel (Hammer Nutrition Perpetuem and Camelback Elixir electrolyte tablets) that I hadn't used in training runs. I felt OK during the race, but had some major GI issues later in the day after I got home. I felt alright when I woke up Sunday, but just had a butter bagel and banana for breakfast. I stuck with water and gels Sunday, no Perpetuem. I did use one Elixir tablet later on in the race. The first two gels I took had plenty of caffeine, I was hoping it would give me a boost and help to hold off the pain a bit. I'm not sure if it worked or not.

I don't know if this is a lesson learned or not. I did wear different shoes each day. Saturday I wore my Saucony Kinvara. They tend to beat up my toes a bit as they are narrow in the toe box. Sunday I wore my Nike Free Run +2 which have a wider toe box. I also wore Zensah calf sleeves on Sunday and tri-shorts which have some compression to them. 

Side notes

The first woman to finish Sunday, Melissa Gillette, set a world record for the fastest women's indoor marathon at 3:08, totally destroying the previous record by over 7 minutes. Pretty cool to be a part of that! She was a machine and passed me about 50 times! Runners World had and article about her accomplishment.

On another related note: I figured since I'm doing this crazy double indoor, why not try to raise money for a local charity. I picked a charity, http://gosheninterfaith.org, that our family helps out with. They provide housing for local homeless persons in area churches. I had set a goal of $1000 and was able to raise over $1900! I was glad to be able to give back a bit through this crazy adventure.

Conclusion

The Maple Leaf Indoor Marathon is a fun event. There is a lot of camaraderie among runners. If you are looking to run two marathons in a weekend, I encourage you to check out the Goshen Maple Leaf Indoor Marathon. It is a event that is run very well (the race director usually runs both days). Goshen is also a nice place to visit for the weekend.

Post by Matt Fisher on twitter @fisherfamily

Saucony Kinvara 3 are a light weight minimal trainer weighing in 7.7 oz. for men and 6.7 oz. for women with a 4mm heel to toe differential. The fit of the Kinvara is exceptional with no hot spots on the upper. Saucony is using their FlexFilm™ to create an overlay that has less seams and is lighter than traditional materials. My favorite part of the update on this wildly popular shoe, is the shifting of the rubber on the bottom of the shoe.

This new configuration of rubber has extended the life of my Kinvaras. I have run 100 miles on them and they are holding up well. All of my runs have been on the street with an average pace around +/- 8 minute miles. I weigh 164 lbs. The previous models wore out after 75 miles on the outside lateral edge. So much so that I could feel it in my foot strike. The adjustment of the rubber is why this is my favorite shoe update of all time.

Overall, while running the shoes are light, flexible, and comfortable. The Kinvara 3 maintain much of the feel of the last two models of Kinvara. If you loved Kinvara 1 and 2, you will love Kinvara 3. If you are like me and liked Kinvara 1 and 2 but couldn't justify the quick demise of the sole, you will love Kinvara 3. This was a superb update to the shoe, Kinvara 2s should have been called Kinvara 1.5, this shoe is a true update and improvement on the line. As always the styling and color options for the Kinvara kick ass.

A pair of Kinvara 3 were provided to the reviewer from Saucony.

Here is a review of the K3 from Average Guy Hits the Road

Create your artwork in a vector format.

If you make your design in Photoshop you will not be able to scale the design any larger than you made it originally. Design in 300 dpi on your computer. A 72 dpi image may look great, but try printing it out. The size it prints is the size you are stuck with. Vector designs can scale up and down without any loss in image quality. The crisp vector lines screen print better too. If you have a design that you like but it isn’t vector, you can either have an artist recreate the design for you or ask the printer if they will recreate it. If you are including sponsor logos request either .eps or .ai (Adobe Illustrator) files. Some screen printers offer art services for design if you would rather somebody else design your event tee.

Limit the design to one or two colors.

In the silk screening process they use one screen for every color. Typically screen printers will charge you for each screen they make and for each pass they have to make over the screen. More screens and more passes equals more expensive shirt. If your design is going on a dark colored shirt the printer will have to lay down a white screen called and underlay so that your colors stay vibrant. Even if you are using white in your design on a dark shirt they will hit the screen with ink twice. To keep costs down try to use a lighter colored tech tee.

Don’t use gradients.

Gradients never print as smooth as they look on your monitor. The mesh on the printing screen can reproduce a relatively large dot of color. Gradients and halftones always make a shirt look shoddy.

Don’t cover large areas with solid color.

You are ordering performance tees because they wick sweat and breath better than cotton. When you lay down a lot of ink on a shirt, you create a blanket that can’t transfer moisture. One year I received a St. Patrick’s Day shirt that had a giant shamrock on the back. It was suffocating to wear and went straight into the garbage.

Design to fit the smallest size shirt you will produce.

When it comes to apparel the simpler the better. Make sure when you scale the image down that you can still read all the text and that the lines don’t close in. Ink spreads, it is easy to loose detail in a design.

Any thing less than 100 shirt order is a pain in the ass project for your local screen printer.

Most of the time the screen printer is doing you a favor if he prints less than 50 items. Remember this and be nice. They probably have an order for thousands of shirts they will either have to move off the press to do your shirts or wait until your shirts get off the press to start. There are some new printing processes that make it easier for printers to take on smaller projects. I will provide a list of printing resources below. Please feel free to leave a comment if you have another printer or you are a printer that would like to help runners create small batch tees.

Resources:

Running Warehouse Screenprinting

Spreadshirt

Eastbay Team Services

ExsellPromos

I am looking down the horizon again and thinking about my next big race in early June. I am running the North Face 50 mile challenge and a couple marathons in the fall. Working full time, dealing with a long commute, and making the most of my family time, there are key ways I find time for training. Here are 5 key tips to balancing training and enjoying life in the process.

1.     Schedule, plan and tell someone!

The best way to ensure you have time is to involve your family, ensure your schedule is worked out and that it is part of your day to day activities. If you know you need to run a lot of miles one week, tell your significant other, make sure they know when you need to accomplish things by so you can plan around. For example, on a Monday I tell my wife “I have big run coming up this weekend, need to figure out where to fit in.” She knows it is coming and by the time the weekend hits, we both already have it set that it will happen.

2.     Consistency

Ok, now you have a plan, and everyone is aware. Keeping consistent will allow you to fit miles in. Turn your running into a habit. Keep yourself in the same mode everyday so that you can mentally handle when things need to get done. Also, if you keep consistent you will be able to keep other things in life on schedule too. Schedule running like it is your job. You go to work at the same time every day, and you try to leave at the same time.

3.     Be flexible

So many hiccups come along the way. As much as you want to be consistent you need to find ways to adjust along the way. Running at the same time each day is best but if you need to travel, work has you in early, or your kids are up half the night and you can’t wake up, there are always other options. Flip your schedule, do something at night or vise-versa. Don’t let everyday excuses be the reason you can’t “get a run in” everyone’s life is hectic.

4.     Pack your bags and find the squeeze!

One of the most fun ways to knock out miles is to always be prepared. The easiest one is to always have your gear ready in the morning or the night before. Don’t spend hours trying to figure out if something is clean or where did you put your watch. Planning ahead saves a ton of time. Have a handy-dandy bag packed with you with all your running gear. At the end of a long day or 30 minutes at lunch, who knows, you might be able to squeeze a quick run in.

5.     Forget about the pressure and make it fun!

 So many things come up that affect training goals.  It is so easy to come up with excuses “I don’t have the time, ” “There is too much to do,” or “Work is getting in the way.” We tend to “force” the run in and lose sight and remember joy of running. Find ways to keep it fun for yourself so you always look forward to the next run. Tricks could be meeting up with others, coming up with mind games (contact me for more ideas.) If you miss a run, don’t feel you have to make those miles back up.  The mental elements of training are just as important as the physical ones.

Enjoy your miles,
Brodie, AKA Tarzan Runner

Before the HAT 50k I had only put 14 miles on the ROCLITE 285. I was worried that if the ground was too hard on race day the heavy duty lugs might put a hurtin' on my feet over the 31 miles. When I was trying to decide which trail shoe to go with, I tested three shoes out on some muddy trails. The great fit and sure footed traction of the Inov-8 ROCLITE 285 sold me. I am lucky that I tried them on rain soaked trails, I might have gone with an alternate shoe if the conditions had been better, and that would have been a mistake.

The week before the HAT 50k the weather reports were indicating rain on the day of the race. I refused to believe it would actually rain during the race. It did. On the way up to Susquehanna State Park, sheets of rain fell from the sky. I have already run the HAT twice before, it is a super tough course even in ideal weather. I found myself in the van before the race wondering if it would be a big deal if I just didn't run. Several of us sat in the van until the very last minute trying to stay as dry as long as we could. 

Lining up at the start I was sure of two things, the training I had done had me prepared for the grueling run, and I had the right shoes for what was sure to be a sloppy day of trails. The HAT consists of three loops. The first loop is a shorter loop that gets you out on the single track. The trails were muddy and a little loose, but by the second pass the trails had been mashed up by nearly 500 mud stomping ultra runners. By the third loop of the race the trails looked like some one was going around and laddling pudding on the course. Charging up the hills my Inov-8s dug in and I never lost my footing. All around the trail were wide swaths of mud where you could see lesser shoes had lost there traction. Running down hill on trails is my favorite kind of running. Because of the loose ground many runners had to be cautious going down the wet slopes, not me. The lugs on the ROCLITE 285 acted like lion claws digging in to zebra's hide. I was moving fast and in control. Where I thought the lugs would bother me was on the two sections of road. I would bet there is a total of six miles of road in the race. The very last bit of road is a pretty steep downhill and I have to admit the front of my feet were feeling a little fatigue from the aggressive lugs. Once we got back on the last two miles of single track trail the irritation went away and I was fine. The shoes are light, responsive, and caused NO hotspots or blisters even though the shoes were soaked by both rain and stream crossings. I did feel like they held some water and didn't drain quite as fast as the MT 101s I ran in last year, but that could be from two different causes. I wore a fairly thick compression sock and MT101 don't have sock liners where the ROCLITE do. I suppose if your brave you can run without the liner. The Inov-8 ROCLITE 285 was the perfect shoe for the HAT 50k's terrain and conditions. Stats on the Inov-8 ROCLITE 285

The race had nearly 400 finishers this year and I finished in the top 100. I feel pretty good about it. I also PR'd the distance. Congrats to all the finishers, the HAT is a seriously tough course. Special congrats to both Caleb Masland (my coach) 1st place overall, and congrats to Kristin Van Eron 1st place female overall. Both of which were hanging out in Westy before the race. My little 1988 Volkswagen Vanagon is good luck. I also want to thank Stein Langlie for being a great running buddy throughout training and the race. We ran the whole HAT together and finished with the exact same time. A side note Caleb Masland, overall 1st place finisher ran in the Inov-8 X-Talon 190.

Before trying them on, I knew they were going to fit nicely.  They have a great low rise (3" inseam), which is tough to find without folding over a waistband.   The fabric is ridiculously soft and I had no issues with rubbing or chaffing on the waistband.  I also noticed how lightweight they are.  Despite having a float liner, they remain lighter than average.   A note on the liner…what a comfortable fit!  Instead of feeling like I was wearing granny panties, they are cut more bikini style…as close as I'll ever get to running in briefs.  I feel like I have to earn that right and until I qualify for the Olympic trials, I'll stick to shorty shorts.   The split side is also a great feature.  It allows the leg to feel uninhibited when striding out and snaps back with it's stretch mesh on the follow through.  During my 14 miler in the rain, I was surprised at how well the fabric performed.  I expected them be weighted down with water but they were able to withstand the elements and even wicked it away!   Even in opposite conditions they surpassed expectations.  There are several ventilation systems in place that make all the difference in the heat.

My only complaint about the shorts is the elastic waistband.  Where it is extremely comfortable, it is only tacked down with stitching in front and tended to roll (not completely) when washed.  I never had a problem with it rolling while worn but when pulling them up, I found myself having to adjust the waist to fit just right.  One other thing to note is the back envelope pocket.  It is inconspicuous and handy but I almost wish that it had a zipper.  It tucks over nicely but I'm so paranoid about losing my keys, that I'd love that extra bit of peace of mind.   Bottom line is that these are excellent warm weather training shorts and come highly recommended.  Now, if there were only some girlier colors to choose from…

- Jenny J.

With the HAT 50k in coming up in three weeks on March 24, I wanted to have a good trail running shoe for the big day. I have been running in the La Sportiva X Country Trail shoe for many of my longer trail runs this winter. They are a fine shoe and I have piled up some miles on them, so I wanted to try some others to make sure I would have the right shoe for race day. I picked the Brooks Cascadia 7, Inov-8 ROCLITE 285, and the Inov-8 f-LITE 195 for this test. I took the shoes out to a technical hilly trail with a 4.5 mile loop that has mud, loose rock, roots, single track, fields, and five stream crossing. All of the HAT conditions were covered accept for the long road section.

I started off with the Brooks Cascadia 7. If I had tried the three shoes on in a running store, I would have probably walked out with the Cascadia. They feel only slightly heavier than the Inov-8 weighing in at 12.2 oz. vs. the Inov-8 ROCLITE 285 at 10.1 oz. The Cascadia have a plush feel and a cushy ride when walking on carpet. I had to get them out on the trails to know for certain.

It was raining when I left the house and arrived at Oregon Ridge, these three shoes were in for a mud run. I hit the trails with the Cascadias snuggly laced and noticed my heel was lifting a little bit. I was thinking if I keep these I'd need to play with the lacing to make sure I get a better fit around the cuff of the shoe. The traction in the Cascadia was pretty good and fell in between the two Inov-8 shoes. I haven't worn a trail shoe with as much EVA foam as the Cascadia has in quite awhile and was surprised by how much I missed getting the feedback from the feel of the trail. For some people this might be a bonus. I imagine some like a softer cushier ride where you are more protected from the roots or jagged rocks. I would equate the ride between the shoes as luxury car vs. sports car. I prefer the sports car out on the trails so I started looking forward to trying the Inov-8s during the first loop in the Brooks. What pretty much sealed it for me was the stream crossings. I purposely got the shoes wet. I wanted to see how they drained. The Cascadia 7 drained really well, however the heavy squishy feeling stayed with them. Barreling down the last decline the traction was great, but my confidence to really let go wasn't there for two reasons. One the inch of shoe between the trail and me makes me nervous that I might turn an ankle. Two without a really secured heel the shoe felt sorta sloppy. In closing for the Brooks Cascadia 7 I must be fair and say, I think these are a great shoe and would probably be the perfect choice for a wide swath of runners. It is my own preference to have less shoe and feel the trail that gave the Brooks a slightly lower grade. After mile 22 of the HAT 50k I may change my opinion on how much I want to feel and curse myself for not picking the Brooks.

For the second loop, I ran in the Inov-8 ROCLITE 285. The conditions could not have been better for these shoes. The trails were muddy with standing water, rocks, roots, sand, and gravel. This shoe with a super aggressive cleat tore up the trails. I had total confidence in every foot fall. I was clawing my way up hills and flying down the descents in control. This was fun. I was hoping that the shoes would have a more flexible feel to them as we ran. In the beginning they felt a bit on the rigid side, I didn't seem to notice as much towards the end of the loop. Although the ROCLITE 285 has a 6mm differential from heel to toe, they felt like a zero drop shoe. I had to make a conscience effort to make sure I dropped my heel while running. The toe box fit was a little on the narrow side, for me that is ok. Some my feel it is too narrow. After the loop I thought it would be hard to beat these as my choice for HAT.

On the final loop I wore the Inov-8 f-LITE 195. The toe box was roomier than in the ROCLITE 285 and off the bat the shoe felt more flexible. They weigh in at a scant 6 oz. The heel to toe differential is 3mm but felt similar to the ROCLITE 285. These shoes felt great out on the trails but lacked the traction of the ROCLITE sole. In these muddy conditions the f-LITE were dead last compared to the other two shoes. The problem is, most of the time the trails are not this muddy. Would I find the aggressive cleats on the ROCLITE irritating on a dry hard pack trail? I am half tempted to bring both to HAT and see what would be the best for race day conditions.

I am going with the ROCLITE 285. They felt fast and gripped the trail like no other shoe I have ever worn. I am glad I revisited the Cascadia style shoe and maybe making a mistake if I let the f-LITE go, but switching out the shoes every loop sure made the 13.5 mile run fun and go by fast. 

Last fall I got to review the Newton MV² and I am a big fan of the shoe. When I found out Newton was sending me the new 2012 Distance trainer to review I was super stoked. I run well in Newton running shoes and they are great for tuning my running form. When I run in other shoes I try to remember the foot strike that the Newtons encourage. Since I rotate my shoes often, I use the Newtons to reset my form back to a conscience state of proper foot strike. I have only had the Newton Distance Trainers for three weeks and I have already put 135+ miles on them. They are slightly heavier at 7.8 oz. than the MV² at 5.8 oz. but make for a better general miles trainer than the MV². I would use the MV² for up to a half marathon but switch to the Distance for any greater distances. While I had to move up to a 10.5 size shoe in the MV², the Distance fits perfect at a size 10 and has a generous toe box. I can't explain why, but I just run faster in Newtons. This past weekend I PR'd a 10 mile race in Brooklyn's Prospect Park wearing the Distance. So what's new in the 2012 Newton Distance Trainer? 

• The midsole side profile is streamlined to reduce weight and highlight 2mm heel to toe drop
• They filled in the midsole to make the mid-foot more stable
• The new mesh used for the upper has a better weave to keep out debris but is still highly breathable
• Removed all metal parts from the shoe to lighten the shoe – eyelets are now stitched instead of metal
• Wider throat to the shoe accommodates more ranges in feet
• Removed the Newton heel wrap to lighten the shoe
• The shoe is about 5% lighter for men's and a whopping 11% lighter for women's
• New contoured sock liner for better fit.

The Newton Gravity was updated too. If the updates are as good as the updates to the Distance then Newton is headed in the right direction. The shoe feels and rides like the previous model, it's just a better fit and a bit lighter. If you like Newton trainers you will love the 2012 Distance Trainer. For another review check out GingerRunner.com