New Shoes

In the mail today: a new pair of the Brooks Launch.   These will be replacing the blue and silver ones that I have been wearing for all of my long runs since the 50k.

I love how smooth and comfortable these feel straight out of the box.  When a shoe is right, its right.

For comparison's sake, I put one of my old ones on one foot, and a new one on the other.  It was striking how worn down the old pair felt, especially as I have only put 300 miles on them.  That's not a lot of miles for a pair of shoes.  But given that I paid only $63 for my new pair (thanks, Running Warehouse!), I can't complain.

I do prefer the blue and silver color scheme, but these black ones were $20 cheaper.  The different colors do share a lot of the same components, such as the silver overlays and the neon green rubber in the soles.  I'm thinking of switching the green laces from my old pair over to the new ones, to pep them up a bit.

 

UPDATE (2/18): I took the shoes out for their first run today, a 10-miler.  I promptly beat my previous record by a full three minutes, or in other words, by a pace of 18 seconds per mile.  Could it have been due to all the training I've done during the winter?  Or perhaps the beautiful 50 degree weather, or that I was returning the C&O canal towpath, which was just slightly damp today and perfectly packed?  Nah.  It must have been the shoes.

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Review: Brooks Launch

Review: Brooks Launch

Since y'all asked about those flashy shoes I was wearing at the 50K:  those are the Brooks Launch.

The Brooks Launch first came on the market late in the summer of 2009, immediately winning "Best Debut" from Runners' World.  This was right about the time I started running, and even though I was hearing lot of buzz about these shoes, I was worried that they might be too minimal starting out, so I began running in the Brooks Glycerin.

Happily, Brooks has not updated an already great thing: there is no "Brooks Launch 2."  They've simply changed the colors.  I bought my first pair of Brooks Launch in the summer of this year, and despite a variety of other shoes under my bed they quickly became my go-to shoe.  Shortly before the 50K, I retired my old black pair for a new pair in blue and silver (the best color scheme yet, in my opinion.)  Other than the laces, they are not quite as bright as they appear on some stores' web sites, and once you get them a little dirty, the color tones down even more.

The Launch is a lightweight, neutral shoe.  It isn't a minimal shoe by absolute standards, but it is relative to my old Glycerins.  It's weight comes in at just a feather over 9 oz.  According to the Brooks website, the shoe has a 9.5 mm heel-to-toe offset, while Running Warehouse measures it 12 mm.  Perhaps the difference is because the measurements were based on a different size of shoe?  In any case, that's less heel than the Glycerin, but more than the Green Silence.  For me, it was just the right amount of padding for a 50K on a soft surface -- I never thought about my feet at all during the run. 

I also appreciate the lightweight upper.  My feet don't even get damp when I run, which is a complaint I've had with many other shoes.  That, together with the roomy toe box, means I don't get any of the blisters that typically develop with other shoes.  (In fact, they only blister I got at all during the 50K was a on the middle toe of my left foot, and I don't blame that on the shoes.)  I once got caught in a rainstorm while running, and was pleased to find that the shoes drained easily, and that my feet were again dry soon after the rain ended.

The soles of the Brooks Launch have certainly proved to be more durable than the Kinvara 2s I ran in for a while.  As for the cushioning, though, they started to feel somewhat flat after 200 miles, which is the reason I bought the new pair.  I do weigh 190 lbs., but I wish I could get  more miles out of them.

My only other complaint is that I tend to get a good number of pebbles in my shoes when running off road; during the 50K I had to stop once to shake it out.  I'm not quite sure why this should be so -- perhaps it is being picked up in the soles of shoe (which contain a lot of narrow grooves) and then dropped in?

Other than that, though, they are super comfortable--soft on the inside, good laces, no pressure points, very flexible.  They're great for an easy trail ultra, and just as great for a 5K.

Finally, a shout-out for the fact that these shoes are relatively environmentally friendly, as far as running shoes go.  Kudos to Brooks for its use of recycled elements and for its work on developing biodegradable materials.

Any questions?