Best of the Best 2: Trail Running Shoe

**UPDATED 4/3/14 to shoe 2 new (clear) winners!  

See bottom of the page**

Here's entry number 2 of the Best of the Best series.

As I mentioned before, I'm doing this to try to highlight the very best in different categories after prolonged use.

Today's category is "Trail (specific) Running Shoe"

AND..... This is a tough one.

To be perfectly honest, I still haven't found The Perfect trail running shoe.  So what I'm going to do today is give you some honorable mentions for this category along with the +/- for each.  Additionally, there are trail shoes for "easy" trails, trail shoes for rocky trails, and trail shoes for highly technical trails that will eat your feet for breakfast.  I'll hit one of each.

#5:    New Balance MT00 Minimus

For "light/easy/soft" trails

At number 4 we have the NB minimus.  This is, in my opinion, the first time NB really got a minimalist shoe right.  They had an early entry into the market, but they made the shoes how execs wanted and never bothered asking the barefoot/minimalist community how to make it and, as such, they were awful.  This one was their first one that was right.  It wasn't perfect, but it was good (and their best yet).  

What it does right:

• Unbelievably light weight (4.4 oz)
• Good ground feel
• Awesome flexibility
• Wears well with socks or without (actually better without)

What it misses:

• Your feet will get completely soaked.  For me, this isn't a problem because I wear them without socks, but for some it might be.
• the pods on the bottom leave gaps:  
• 
  Now, this pod design goes a Long way in decreasing weight, but each of those gaps goes straight through to your foot.  So the problem is, you have the  mental 'comfort' of having shoes on and if you're (therefore) lax at all in your step you can have a stick or rock go right between those pods and hit your foot which is... Not comfortable.  
• And the big problem with them is all that cool green mesh material tears.  Quickly.  A lot.
  
  Which is why, I'm sure, they're clearing these out.  In fact, you can get them at runningwarehouse for $50 right now.

#4:  The Merrell Embark Glove (Gore-Tex)

For moderate-more technical (rocky) trails

Remember when Merrell came out with their first "Trail Glove" and everyone LOVED it!?  Yeah... not me.  I thought I did, but after a couple weeks I ended up shelving them.  There wasn't some huge glaring thing I Hated... I just didn't love them.  However, This shoe (which apparently no one else liked because Merrell discontinued them very quickly after release) I did love.  

What it does right:

• It's a light shoe
• Still has the fused rubber toe guard (like the Trail Glove)
• Wide toe box
• Vibram sole
• It's Gore-Tex.  I love that.  Really, really love that.  
• And it has a 1mm shock absorbing rock plate.  This was the biggie.  It has a rock plate, but still no cushioning, and the rock plate is VERY thin so it takes the edge of rocks but doesn't kill your ground feel (ironically, that's probably what killed the shoe - people were expecting to not feel anything).

What it misses:

• Can't be worn without socks comfortably
• Loses a little flexibility

• This is a trail shoe.  Specifically for trails.  And not just any trails, but more technical trails.  I would Not like this shoe for a road shoe... but that's not what we're talking about here.

#3:  Merrell Ascend Glove

For Technical trails (and all trails!)

This is the shoe that Merrell brought out to take the place of the Embark.

I haven't had this shoe very long (as it is a new summer release) but have managed to put quite a few miles on it already.  This is my go-to trail running shoe now and this is what I've learned:

What it does right:

• Zero drop still (of course)
• Much more comfortable for sockless wear (though still not the best)
• Light for what it is (~8.0 oz)
• Nice aggressive tread (not a cleat - but the best merrell has ever done in a 'glove')
• Vibram sole
• Now, for what really Makes this shoe:  It has a thin layer of padding full length and "Trail Protect Pads" (rock plates) in the forefoot and heel and Not full length - so you get the protection from all the hidden rocks that would otherwise wreck your world while not giving up any flexibility!

What it misses:

• Sockliner still isn't great
• What I didn't like, as compared to my Embarks, was that they didn't have a  Gore-Tex version - However, just as I'm writing this, I see they have now late-released a Gore-Tex version (of course... now that I have these).
• Now, for what really Hurts this shoe:  It has an arch.  Seriously Merrell?  What the heck?  No mention of an arch anywhere, Merrell's have not had arches before in the 'Gloves' to speak of, but this one Definitely has an arch.  And I hate it.  Now, I still run in them a lot, but it Does really bother me, that's the one thing that kills this shoe... I just don't understand... Why in the world would they do that?

**NEW WINNER**

Since the writing of this post, where I wasn't really happy with any of the trail shoes, I've tried two new ones that are, in fact, clear winners:

#2:  Altra Superior

#1:  Altra Lone Peak 1.5

See New blog for these winners:
http://secondwindbook.blogspot.com/2014/04/altra-trail-shoes-undisputed-king-of.html

Best of the Best 1: Road Running Shoe

Alright guys, here's entry number 1 of the Best of the Best series!

As I mentioned before, I'm doing this to try to highlight the very best in different categories after prolonged use - we all know that we (on occasion...) try a product, Love it, rave about how it's the greatest thing ever, and then 6 months, or even 2 weeks later, you shelve them for a problem you didn't see right away.

Well, this "Best of the Best" series aims to fix some of that - the products I put in these categories are products that I've tested extensively (most for about 2 years).

Today's category is "Road (specific) Running Shoe"

Winner:  Nada!  

(no really... 'Nada')

The Nada Sports (previously under the 'Somnio' brand) "Nada"
I first brought this shoe to you back in October of 2011 and then spoke about the companies move into ladies only here  

That said, this shoe is still so unbelievably impressive, it's still worth it to buy for everyone.  The shoes (available in lots of colors) are made in a completely unisex design and platform.  They are sized in men's sizes but then labeled in women's sizes and then they tell you they run a full size large... Is that confusing enough?
Let me translate:  If you are a man, you order your size (so if you wear a men's 9.5, order a women's 9.5 and it will be right for you), if you are a woman, you order 1 size smaller than usual (so if you wear a women's size 9.5, order a women's size 8.5)

The shoes are amazing.  Still, hands down, the very best minimalist shoe I've ever worn for road running.

The shoes are completely seamless, no rubbing, no irritation, no hot spots; you can easily wear them with socks or without.

They are made of a sort-of stretch mesh that is very thin and unbelievably breathable. 

The mesh is so thin and stretchy that the shoe is “held together” by these strips of overlays (what a lot of people refer to affectionately as the Somnio duct-tape) that are made of Thermo Polyurethane – these strips keep your foot from sliding but that’s about it – they don’t restrict and they are Not stiff at all.

The sole is listed at 6mm but due to the material (very very soft) it honestly feels even thinner than that and provides excellent ground feel. 

One thing that will be interesting to see on this shoe is how well the sole holds up in the long run just because it is so thin and soft.

The toe box is wide and, again, the mesh is so stretchy that I would wager almost any foot width could be accommodated. 

This leads me to my only complaint… sort of.  Though it doesn’t bother me while running (I only visually notice it while I’m stretching), the toebox is wide, and the mesh stretches very well, but the actual Sole of the shoe (the actual white sole) is very narrow.  What this does is when I’m doing a wide hamstring stretch or a standing groin stretch (for instance), my foot actually slides over the edge of the sole.  Just an interesting point… not a hindrance that I can tell, but feels odd when not running – I wish the actual sole of the shoe were wider (I feel like the sole of my foot is wider than the white sole of the shoe… but not wider than the internal compartment of the shoe itself)

There is, of course, NO heel to toe drop - in fact, though never mentioned by Somnio that I can tell, people rumor that NADA stands for No Anterior Drop Applied.   Though possible, to me “NADA” simply means what it means in its truest form… nothing.  Nothing extra, nothing superfluous. 

That pretty much sums it up… this shoe has everything you would want (zero drop, complete flexibility, zero break in, seamless, sockliner, flat bottom, ultra lite), and nothing you don’t (no support, no arch, no drop, no… nothing) all in THE single lightest shoe I have ever seen…. That’s one of the greatest features:  these shoes weigh 3.6 ounces.  Yeah, that’s right, 100 grams – almost HALF the weight of a pair of Fivefingers!

Also, as a nice bonus, the shoes are $85 – which, in comparison, is Quite reasonable.

They also come (now) in lots of colors:  white, red, black, carolina blue, green, orange, pink, and more - check them out here:

Lifefactory glass water bottles

Lifefactory is a new company to me and a relatively new family in general (launching in 2007).  Pretty cool story actually, with founders being a pediatric physical therapist and feeding specialist and an architect designer -

check it out here:

Anyway, probably the first thing you noticed was "Glass" and wondering why in the world I'm reviewing a glass water bottle.  Well, I like glass a lot as it is basically an endless natural resource, it's easy to clean, and it doesn't leach flavors (from other drinks or soap...) but, glass is... well breakable.  

Enter one of the big reasons for this review:

Now, the bottle is awesome, the caps are really cool (more on that in a minute), the company has a neat story, but what makes this all work is the sleeve!  These bottles have "carbon hex" silicone sleeves on them that "helps prevent breakage and provides a nonslip grip".  

Now, I'm quite sure it's possible to break these things, but I did Try to break it under normal use, ie I rolled it off my bar on the hardwood floor, dropped it straight down like a pencil on my linoleum covered concrete slab, even pushed it off the tailgate of my truck onto the asphalt sidewalk, and (best torture test ever) handed it to my 5 year old and told her "it's not breakable - go nuts" and it survived.  

The thick silicone sleeve is awesome.  Also helps that this is not a drinking glass - it's quite thick (my 22oz model with the straw cap weighs in at 1.2#).

This particular model is from the brand new Straw Cap Collection

There a couple of things that I Love about their particular straw cap design.  First off, it's got a nice handle that pivots out of the way when you're wanting to drink, you can open and close it with one hand (so if you're on a stationary bike you can maintain stride and grip with one hand the entire time - this same thing holds true for being on a treadmill but... why would you be on a treadmill, go outside!) the glass itself has a nice wide mouth (under the cap) that allows for ice cubes, protein powder, etc. and the Best thing about their straw cap design is the straw.  I know, sounds simple, how can you mess up a straw, right? But people do.  

Lifefactory uses a soft medical grade silicone flexible straw - not the pencil stiff plastic ones that I've always found in normal straw lids.  Why it took someone so long to figure out that was a good idea is beyond me, but awesome job Lifefactory.  Another big bonus?  I'm not a fan of using reusable straws forever, while these are great, flexible, easy to clean, and dishwasher safe, I still like to replace mine and you can buy a 3 pack of replacement flexible silicone straws straight from Lifefactory for $1.99.

The people over at Lifefactory have this awesome concept that they call Cradle to Table.  What this means is that they actually offer this exact design (nice, thick glass bottles with silicone sleeves) for babies to adults.  Seriously, they have nipple bottles in 4 and 9oz sizes, then they have toddler versions in 9oz with sippy-cup lids, and then they have "kid" ones in 9oz with screw on flat caps.  And (best idea yet) all the baby/toddler/kid lids are interchangeable on all 4 and 9oz bottles.  

Then for the adults they come in 16oz and 22oz and they have flip top lids (which are pretty cool - it's a small opening to drink out of with the ability to take it off and have the large glass top opening for putting in ice, powder, mix-ins, etc.), screw-on flattop lids, and these new straw lids (like the one I have):

"The NEW Straw Cap is designed for upright, spillproof sipping (no tipping required). The Straw Cap is perfect for the treadmill and yoga class. The pivoting handle provides a great way to carry the bottle and stows out of the way while drinking." 

So you have 

• Stage 1 bottle nipple
• State 2 bottle nipple
• Sippy-cup lid
• Screw-on flat lid
• Flip top lid
• Silicone straw cap

I honestly got to test this bottle for about 48 hours before my wife saw it and stole it (I knew I should have snagged 2...).  She has carried it around in her purse and diaper bag, which are about as organized as a filing cabinet that rode 3 counties in a tornado, and it never leaked a drop (her most important test criteria) and now she's decided she wants to get some for our daughters (one bottle age and one lunch box age).  

Verdict:  I really do like it.  It's well made, responsibly made, American made (sleeve and cap are made in America, glass is made in France, and assembly takes place in America), stylishly made, cool story (which you know I'm a sucker for), and neat concept (the Cradle to Table design).

Be on TV! (Spartan Race on NBC)

Alright guys, so about a couple of months ago I brought you word about Spartan Race and their insane obstacle courses (see blog Here)

Well, now they're really outdone themselves with a new deal and awesome new promotion:  Spartan Race is being aired on national television, on NBC, bringing adventure/obstacle racing to the forefront for the first time.  Many times in the past (paintball, Crossfit, BMX, X games, etc) an NBC/ESPN airing has brought a fringe sport into the mainstream

Check out this interview with Spartan Race CEO Joe DeSena on CNBC:

Now, here's the even Cooler part!
YOU can be on TV with them.  Spartan Race is running a campaign to get a couple of professionals and a few average Joes to have their story shared on NBC
Check out this page for details:  Your Spartan Story..... On TV!

NBC will be filming 8 professional athletes and 4 everday Spartans (that'd be most of you guys!) at the Spartan Race World Championships in Killington, Vermont next month on September 21st for a 90 minute TV special.

And Anyone can register for this event and go run the televised race in Killington (in Beast and Sprint distances).

Now for the final part of this little piece, you can use

This Code to get 15% off Any Spartan Race!

OR you can reply here, send me an email, or message me on Facebook why you want to run a Spartan Race and you could
win a FREE ENTRY code to ANY Spartan Race
(including the televised race or the race I'll be running in November!)

Superlatives:

Over the past few years I've reviewed dozens of products on this blog (more new ones coming in all the time - in fact I'm working on reviews for a new water bottle and a new line of truly minimalist dress shoes right now).

I'm currently working on a piece that I'm pretty excited about - I'll be laying out the "Best of the Best" in several categories from all the products that I've tried over the last 2-3 years.  Many of the ones I would have felt sure would have been winners when I first got them in didn't even make the list 2 years later.

That's what I like about this:  all of us have had products that we LOVED when we first got them, and then 3 months, 6 months, 2 years, heck, 2 Weeks later they were completely disposable again.  So this takes the quick reviews (I wait 2 months to post reviews so I have enough time to fully test to try to cut this down as much as possible) and shows where the products Really stack up 2 years later.

The categories:

Best road specific shoe

Best trail specific shoe

Best Crossfit/gym specific shoe

Best boot

and the "If I could only buy ONE pair of shoes to do EVERYTHING in" shoe

Best compression company

Best non-compression apparel company

(am I leaving anything out?)

Coming soon:

Hey guys - busy summer as always, and my wife gave birth to our second baby girl and that has kept us Quite busy!  I now have a newborn and one about to start Kindergarten in a couple of weeks!

I still get in an occasional road run but am in one of those seasons where the road has grown more monotonous than joyful so we're taking a break from each other for a while.  I'm still pushing Crossfit and really enjoying programming my own workouts.  My running is being done on mountain bike trails

Getting back to trails has been so good for me!  It's my meditation in motion.  It kills the 'runner's trance I find myself in 5 minutes on the road.  Forces me to pay attention, look around, to forget perfect pacing, ignore breath cadence, and screw exact stride length - it gets me back to Just... Running (and the Joy of it all)

I'm planning on running the Virginia Creeper in September and The Spartan Beast 15 mile obstacle course in November 

In the next week or so I'll have a few new reviews coming up plus I'm Very excited about finishing up my 2 years in the making Superlatives!  

I'll be writing up my picks of the best if the best, after 2 years of use:  best road shoe, trail shoe, compression gear, clothing, and more!

Vote for an inspirational athlete!

hey guys, EVERYONE TAKE A SECOND, 

Really, just a sec, and click this link, and vote for Kyle Jeffrey Kranz:  

https://www.facebook.com/SuuntoMovescount/app_387772117996057

Very cool story:  my man has lost 80 Pounds and transformed his entire body (life, soul,) into a lean mean Ultramarathoner. He got on a mission, lost all that weight, AND finished a 100 mile ultra marathon and an iron man! 

Take just a sec and Show him some love!

Regular link (for if you're on a PC/laptop):  https://www.facebook.com/SuuntoMovescount/app_387772117996057

Mobile link (for phone/tablet/etc):

http://bit.ly/12rzP7h

You can vote from both (different IP addresses), 3G/4G, wifi, etc.
(and can also vote every 24 hours) - let's get this guy the win!