As the year comes to a close, a lot of registration fees go up at the end of the month, so it makes sense to take a look around and see where the bargains (as well as extortionate prices) are before the annus horribilis 2016 is a thing of the past.¹ (Prices quoted are as of 12/28/17).
Not surprisingly, the most expensive race right now is July 8th Great American Naughtical Beer Mile. What a ripoff -- $32 dollars per mile!² But it comes with 4 beers, so its almost like they are paying you to run when you subtract the cost of the tasty Bluejacket beer. (Plus you get a medal/bottle opener if you finish)
Talking about expensive... The March 11 DC Rock n' Roll Half Marathon is quite pricey. Yes, the series is often discounted if you keep an eye peeled to their social media, but the closer you get to the race, the more unlikely that is. Right now the half marathon is a grotesque $105.99, which comes out to $8.10 per mile. You do get a forgettable t-shirt and medal as well. To be fair, you also get a well-run race (at least last year) with some decent course support. But compare a similar race later in the year - The September 17th Navy-Air Force Half Marathon at $80 comes out to $6.10 per mile (based on last year's pricing) for a nicer shirt and a smaller less crowded race experience (they also have race coupons online later in spring/summer). In comparison, the DC Rock n' Roll full is a veritable bargain at $115.99 -- $4.42 per mile, and it comes with a finisher premium jacket in addition to the shirt and the medal.
A good spring half marathon bargain is the B&A Marathon and Half Marathon on March 26th put on by the Annapolis Striders running club. At $65, the half is a little pricier at $5.34 per mile, but it has some of the best looking race premiums and medals out there. Register for the full at $70 and you pay a mere $2.67 per mile.
A big half marathon bargain is the Parks Half Marathon thrown by the Montgomery County Road Runners on September 10th, run on tree-lined asphalt trails in Montgomery County, MD. When registration opens on New Years Day, the fee will be $59 -- a mere $4.50 per mile, also coming with a nice long sleeve shirt, race medal, and additional premium. Another bargain is the October 28th Potomac River Run Half or Full Marathon run on the C&O towpath, at $60 or $4.58 per mile for the half and $2.79 per mile for the full (math!). That race has substandard premiums, but its hard to find a faster half marathon course out there (the full gets a little tedious, I've heard).
If you are feeling extremely cheap or poor, definitely look at the longer distances. The Mid-Maryland 50K on February 11th (run by local running legend and all-around nice guy Coach Phil Lang) is $60/$1.93 per mile. The Farm Park Challenge on May 6 is priced at $44 for the 10 hour race (51.8 miles). That comes out to an outrageous 85 cents per mile! (There's also a 6 or 3 hour race, as well as a marathon)
Another ultra bargain is the Seneca Creek Greenway Trail Marathon and 50K on March 4, also in Montgomery County and put on by the Montgomery County Road Runners. The 50K is $35 for non-club members, $25 for club members. The undiscounted race comes out to $1.12 per mile for non-members, so join and get the cheapest ultra (or any kind of race) around at 80 cents per mile (you also get a free half marathon -- Riley's Rumble -- and tens of other no-cost timed races thrown in as part of Montgomery Road Runners Club membership).
¹ Of course, this doesn't count some of the free fatass races like Redeye 50K put on by the Virginia Happy Trails Running Club on January 1 or Eternal Winter 50K on January 28th, thrown by Annapolis Striders. And it goes without saying, the wonderful free weekly DC Parkrun 5Ks at College Park, Roosevelt Island, and Fletcher's Cove.
² JK
Perambulating mid-packer opining about running products and practices.
Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Tuesday, December 27, 2016
Because I'm a little OCD: Altra Torin 2.5 reviews
The Altra Torin 2.5 is looking like the most suitable shoe of 2016 for me. I like a Goldilocks kind of shoe - neutral, some upper support but not too much, some cushioning but not too much. The only feature I like too much of is a roomy toebox. The 2.5 fits my needs very well. Edit: here's my belated review.
According to Sam at Roadtrailrun.com, we are going to see the release of the Instinct 3.5 as well as the Escalante soon in 2017, two shoes which will occupy similar space to the Torin 2.5, but likely with a bit less cush and more road feel.
Until then, here are some of the most helpful reviews of the Altra Torin 2.5 I've seen.
Road Trail Run (convinced me to buy a pair)
Monday, December 26, 2016
My Year in Shoes 2016 - from Altra (Instinct 3.0) to Altra (Torin 2.5)
My Year in Shoes 2016
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| the uphill road to 1700+ miles and countless sneaker purchases |
January
I started the year ensconced in the Altra Instinct 3.0. They had been a great shoe for easy to run trail races like the Rosaryville 50K in November of 2015. And I was running 5Ks in them as well - starting the year with them on my feet at the Montgomery County Road Runners Club New Year's Day 5K. I upgraded to the Instinct 3.5, and was pretty dissatisfied with the update. The harder more structured upper was much less comfortable and even began to cause a bit of foot pain on the top of my foot. Plus, they were uglier than your average Altra, which is saying a lot.
I did some trail running in the Altra Lone Peak 2.5, a nice shoe but which I found a little too sloppy over rocks and roots. I now use them as a walking around shoe, and haven’t tried out the 3.0 yet.
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| Instinct 3.0 |
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| Instinct 3.5 fugly |
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| Challenger ATR 2 |
I ran some trial mileage in the Hoka Challenger ATR 2, wearing them for an uncomfortable soggy 24K at St. Mary’s Frozen Heart and for the relay at the Mid Maryland 50K. The ATR 2s were nearly perfect except for being a bit too tight in the toebox. I have read that the ATR 3s remedied this issue, but haven’t had the chance to try them on yet either.
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| Breakthru 2, Breakthru 1 |
As I didn’t have a good road shoe after tossing the Instinct 3.5 asides, I experimented with the Saucony Breakthru 1 and 2. Neither was wide enough for my foot, but I enjoyed running in both shoes on shorter and faster race courses. It is at the bottom of the line for Saucony, but they did well on that model.
I ran in the Breakthru 2s mostly during the March-April-May timeframe.
July
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| Clifton 3 |
By July, the tightness of the Breakthru’s were starting to wreak havoc on my feet, so I went back to Hoka to give the Clifton 3s a try. They seemed to get the shoe into a good place the third time around - a better tongue and upper material solved a bunch of problems from the first two models. I used the Clifton exclusively through July and most of August, squishing the Strava miles in them through the most unpleasantly hot and humid days of the summer when the material couldn't hold up to what I dished out.
August
At the expo for the Annapolis 10 miler race, I made an impulse buy of the Saucony Triumph ISO 2. It was a cushier and better fitting version of the Breakthru 2 for me, and I do love the ISO sockliner quite a bit. I ran with them for the A10, Larry Noel half, Parks Half, and the National Capital 20 miler. By the end of the run in them, I started to get some pretty severe heel pain which wasn’t going away from alternating some runs in the Clifton 3.
October
I went back to the Adidas Supernova Glide, 8th edition, in October. I put a couple of hundred enjoyable miles in them with no discomfort, successfully running the Howard County Metric Marathon and the NCR Marathon.
November
Once again, I was undone by an update, this time from the Supernova Glide 8 to the next version, simply called the Supernova. The update had a lot of great pluses - more TPU cush in the forefoot, better cushion around the ankle, a more padded tongue. But damn if the shoe wasn’t tighter in the forefoot than its predecessor. After 50 miles, it was clear it was causing pain in my right foot.
December
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| Altra Torin 2.5 penguin shoes |
What goes around comes around. I started the year happy and comfortable in the Altra Instinct 3.0. And so I decided to come home to Altra, relying on roadtrailrun.com ‘s review of the Torin 2.5. And I swallowed my pride, putting function above style.
25 miles in, and I’m pain free and putting in comfortable daily runs. I think if I know what’s good for me, I’ll stay put. As a sneaker geek, I always want to upgrade to the next model in the line, but as my experience with the Instinct 3.0-3.5, the Breakthru 1-2, and the Supernova Glide 8-Supernova shows, newer is not always better. In fact, it's usually a step down.
Thursday, September 15, 2016
Hey Knuckleheads, get some Knucklelights
It's 7:21 pm right now as I look out my office window in DC. I see folks running up and down Connecticut Avenue, none of them wearing any lighting of any sort. I think there's some delusional idea many of us running in the city have that since the city is so well lit, we can be seen. Unfortunately, the people behind the wheel don't always see it that way.
All the specs are available here: https://www.knucklelights.com/product/knuckle-lights-rechargable/
60 pedestrians died last year in the DC region alone. I'd hazard to say a number of them were walkers or runners out in low visibility times.
I found a great product that is pretty easy to use - and not as dorky as running with a Petzl through the city or suburban streets in the dark hours of fall and winter. The Knucklelight is a rechargeable pair of handheld torches that are comfortable to use, hold a long-lasting charge, and make you very visible to cars, even when you only use one. I have also used them on trails at night, and find it more comfortable then head torches. You can also more easily point them away from oncoming runners or walkers, and also point them at particular hazards instead of having to look down to direct the beam.
I bought mine on Amazon for $59 - a bargain compared to the cost of being hit by a car.
Thursday, August 18, 2016
170 Mile revisit of the Clifton 3 - not as good
I think I might have spoken too soon at my 100 mile review about the Clifton 3s. At that point, I was seeing some premature heel wear. Over the next 70 or so miles (granted, this took place during scorching, drippingly humid Washington DC August running), the shoes visibly deteriorated.
First, the foam on the outsole started to degrade a bit in the places where there is no rubber. It's not a wholesale failing of the material, but it definitely is starting to show its age earlier than I'd expect.
Second, the uppers really stretched out on me. I thought this was happening, and put in an order for a new pair since I thought I was getting to the useful end of the shoes. You can see in these photos how stretched out the 170 mile grey pair is compared to the new blue pair. The toe box looks more cylindrical than oval in the new unused pair - hope its visible in this pics.
Running in the new pair feels like a completely different shoe than in the 170 mile pair - the old ones are now sloppy and loose, and are getting moved to elliptical duty. We will see how the second pair does in the cooler weather as we get closer to September and some relief from the excess moisture from my feet and from the air. But the first round experience with the Clifton 3s shows that Hoka hits a home run on fit and ride but grounds into a double play on wear issues.
Update at 200 miles:
After washing and air drying the grey/green shoes, they did firm up a bit and become less sloppy. However, the midsole at this point has really lost its pop and is quite dead, ready for retirement/slash/gym use only.
But its clear with the summer sweat and heat, the new blue/yellow pair is following the same course - starting to loosen up and develop a sloppy feel. Hopefully the Clifton 4s will make an adjustment to the mesh to perhaps be a tighter upper fit that lasts through the wear cycle, and a midsole that holds up past the 200 mile point.
Review of the next update - the Clifton 4
First, the foam on the outsole started to degrade a bit in the places where there is no rubber. It's not a wholesale failing of the material, but it definitely is starting to show its age earlier than I'd expect.
Second, the uppers really stretched out on me. I thought this was happening, and put in an order for a new pair since I thought I was getting to the useful end of the shoes. You can see in these photos how stretched out the 170 mile grey pair is compared to the new blue pair. The toe box looks more cylindrical than oval in the new unused pair - hope its visible in this pics.
Running in the new pair feels like a completely different shoe than in the 170 mile pair - the old ones are now sloppy and loose, and are getting moved to elliptical duty. We will see how the second pair does in the cooler weather as we get closer to September and some relief from the excess moisture from my feet and from the air. But the first round experience with the Clifton 3s shows that Hoka hits a home run on fit and ride but grounds into a double play on wear issues.
Update at 200 miles:
After washing and air drying the grey/green shoes, they did firm up a bit and become less sloppy. However, the midsole at this point has really lost its pop and is quite dead, ready for retirement/slash/gym use only.
But its clear with the summer sweat and heat, the new blue/yellow pair is following the same course - starting to loosen up and develop a sloppy feel. Hopefully the Clifton 4s will make an adjustment to the mesh to perhaps be a tighter upper fit that lasts through the wear cycle, and a midsole that holds up past the 200 mile point.
Review of the next update - the Clifton 4
Monday, August 8, 2016
100+ mile revisit - review of Hoka OneOne Clifton 3
I fall out of love with shoes as easy as I can fall in love with them. After 100 miles, the basic limitations or defects of a shoe make themselves clear in a way you don't see after 2 or 3 runs in them.
I just hit 135 on the Strava odometer for my Clifton 3s. This includes average runs of about 5 miles, long runs 10-12, and weekly mileage of about 35. And happily, nothing much has changed from the point I first reviewed them here.
The fit has continued to be excellent. I did have a bout of black and blistered middle toes on both feet (I'll spare the pics because feet should be heard and not seen on the Internet), but that happened during a very sweaty half marathon where the rubbing was due to the sloshing in the shoe. I can't blame the mesh - the sweat was oozing out - it just was one of those 70+ dew point race days.
The upper is not wearing out at all.
And as you can probably see, the midsole seems to be holding up well also. It does feel like a little bit of the cushioning is shot, but in line with what I would expect 135 miles in - almost at the halfway point for these kind of cushioned shoes for me.
The only spot where there are some wear issues are on the rubber part of the outsole on the outer heel of my left shoe (the bottom right of the next photo), a spot where I do get some excessive wear normally. While the Clifton 3 has some rubber on that spot, it's clearly not enough to handle my heel strike on that spot. This became noticeable at least 40 miles ago; I would expect that the heel will hold up until 300+ miles at this rate.
You can see how the rubber held up on the right shoe:
Finally, one important post publish add: I have noticed that the foot pain (dull ache in the midfoot/ball of foot area xray negative) that has plagued me for the past two years - despite rest (or lack of it) - has finally disappeared while running with these shoes over the last month or so.
I just hit 135 on the Strava odometer for my Clifton 3s. This includes average runs of about 5 miles, long runs 10-12, and weekly mileage of about 35. And happily, nothing much has changed from the point I first reviewed them here.
The fit has continued to be excellent. I did have a bout of black and blistered middle toes on both feet (I'll spare the pics because feet should be heard and not seen on the Internet), but that happened during a very sweaty half marathon where the rubbing was due to the sloshing in the shoe. I can't blame the mesh - the sweat was oozing out - it just was one of those 70+ dew point race days.
The upper is not wearing out at all.
And as you can probably see, the midsole seems to be holding up well also. It does feel like a little bit of the cushioning is shot, but in line with what I would expect 135 miles in - almost at the halfway point for these kind of cushioned shoes for me.
The only spot where there are some wear issues are on the rubber part of the outsole on the outer heel of my left shoe (the bottom right of the next photo), a spot where I do get some excessive wear normally. While the Clifton 3 has some rubber on that spot, it's clearly not enough to handle my heel strike on that spot. This became noticeable at least 40 miles ago; I would expect that the heel will hold up until 300+ miles at this rate.
You can see how the rubber held up on the right shoe:
Finally, one important post publish add: I have noticed that the foot pain (dull ache in the midfoot/ball of foot area xray negative) that has plagued me for the past two years - despite rest (or lack of it) - has finally disappeared while running with these shoes over the last month or so.
Thursday, July 7, 2016
Hoka One One Clifton 3 review highlights
I've had a mixed experience with the Clifton line from Hoka One One. The first edition was exciting and promising - I loved the super light cushioned feel of the shoe apart from the flimsy tongue which made it hard for me to get a proper locked down upper.
The second edition was better on the tongue - they padded it properly - but the combination of the shoddy build quality (the overlays started peeling away within weeks) and the slightly cramped toebox compared to the similar but more comfy Challenger ATR 2s made it a no go for me.
The Clifton 3 just hit the streets, and the third time is the proverbial charm here. The biggest change is the substitution of the upper material - it went from a tighter nylon weave to a stretchy mesh. Look here - how when I flex my toe you can actually see it through the mesh.
This material is very similar to what Skechers used for their excellent GOrun Ride 3 shoe - which was quite comfortable but a little too loose for faster running. The Clifton 3 does a better job of holding your foot in place but still allowing enough give in the upper to prevent rubbing/hotspots. Much more give than the upper material on the Challenger ATR 2, a good thing for non-trail running imo.
The lacing system is Goldilocks perfect for me. Easy to get a good fit without having to over- or under-cinch.
The toebox is great - even more roomy and comfortable than the Challenger ATR 2s that I love.
The midsole is a little more squishy and has more rebound at the same time than the 2. The 2 felt more like an inert foam - the three combines a bit of a rubber ball feel with some sponginess. I'd still give it a 7.5 (with 10 being the softest).
The outer seems unchanged to me - it remains great. A big footprint, nice traction, rubber reinforcement on the right spots.
I'll report back if anything changes, but this is a super update. I've done two runs on them with no issues. Hopefully the overlays will stay in place and I won't experience the iffy quality I've seen in past Hokas. As of now: If you are a fan, go for it.
100+ mile update
Review of the next model update - the Clifton 4
The second edition was better on the tongue - they padded it properly - but the combination of the shoddy build quality (the overlays started peeling away within weeks) and the slightly cramped toebox compared to the similar but more comfy Challenger ATR 2s made it a no go for me.
The Clifton 3 just hit the streets, and the third time is the proverbial charm here. The biggest change is the substitution of the upper material - it went from a tighter nylon weave to a stretchy mesh. Look here - how when I flex my toe you can actually see it through the mesh.
This material is very similar to what Skechers used for their excellent GOrun Ride 3 shoe - which was quite comfortable but a little too loose for faster running. The Clifton 3 does a better job of holding your foot in place but still allowing enough give in the upper to prevent rubbing/hotspots. Much more give than the upper material on the Challenger ATR 2, a good thing for non-trail running imo.
The lacing system is Goldilocks perfect for me. Easy to get a good fit without having to over- or under-cinch.
The toebox is great - even more roomy and comfortable than the Challenger ATR 2s that I love.
The midsole is a little more squishy and has more rebound at the same time than the 2. The 2 felt more like an inert foam - the three combines a bit of a rubber ball feel with some sponginess. I'd still give it a 7.5 (with 10 being the softest).
The outer seems unchanged to me - it remains great. A big footprint, nice traction, rubber reinforcement on the right spots.
I'll report back if anything changes, but this is a super update. I've done two runs on them with no issues. Hopefully the overlays will stay in place and I won't experience the iffy quality I've seen in past Hokas. As of now: If you are a fan, go for it.
100+ mile update
Review of the next model update - the Clifton 4
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