Things to Come

My name is Mike, and I'm a shoe junkie. I've had the opportunity to run in TONS of shoes over the past year. My great friend and running comrade-coach combo, Jason Ballard, told me the other day that I should share all my geeky observations with the world in the form of shoe reviews. Makes sense! Can't believe I didn't think of it first. Okay, it had crossed my mind, but I hadn't really considered it.

But I want these reviews to be good. I want them to really help you think through the options out there, so I'll be thorough (I am a grad student by trade). Sometimes I'll include a video review; other times it will be text only; but everytime it will be detailed and particularly geared toward the utility of these shoes for ultra distances.

So there you have it. I run like crazy in a bunch of shoes. Write up some stuff about them that will be really helpful. And then you read it. Got it? Good.

Here are some reviews you can look forward to (in no particular order):

Shoes

• New Balance 
• MT110
• RC1400 
• MT00 Minimus Trail Zero
• Brooks PureGrit (put well over 400 miles on these!)
• Saucony 
• Peregrine 2
• Xodus 3.0
• Merrell 
• Trail Glove
• Mix Master 2
• La Sportiva Vertical K
• Montrail 
• Mountain Masochist 2
• Bajada
• Bajada (modified to zero drop)
• Rogue Fly
• Scarpa Spark
• Altra Instinct
• Hoka One One Stinson B Evo

Gear

• Mountain Hardware Way2Cool Running Shirt (preview: BEST. SHIRT. EVER.)
• Race Ready Shorts
• UltrAspire Spry Race Vest
• UltrAspire Surge Hydration Vest

 
Whew! Feel free to let me know in the comments (if anybody is reading this yet) which of these you'd like to see first. I'll see what I can do. :)

Now that's a lot of shoes, so this will take a while, but that's okay, right? There's a lot here that I like and lot of places where I see room for growth. I'll try to have my first review up after I get back from Colorado.