The 1080V10 is New Balance’s premium daily trainer, a competitor to the likes of Saucony’s Triumph 18 and Hoka’s Bondi, though it’s actually a very different beast. Though it boasts 30mm of New Balance’s revised Fresh Foam, the shoe’s rocker profile and relatively light weight make it well-suited for longer tempo runs. At the same…
This was my second time running the Harvest Classic which, like last year, was staged at the Emmi Farm near Baldwinsville. Last year’s race traversed the grassy paths near the blueberries. This year’s edition followed a more circuitous route following farm trails and roads. In spite—or perhaps because—of the pandemic, this year’s field was considerably…
A potential true allrounder, with a caveat. Saucony’s Freedom 3 is a relatively difficult shoe to categorize. It’s well cushioned without being plush, durable without being a tank, and light but not a featherweight. If I were to hazard a guess, this would be the Triumph’s wilder sibling, incorporating much of that premium shoe’s technology…
The 880 is New Balance’s answer to the likes of the Brooks Ghost, Nike’s Pegasus, Hoka’s Clifton, and Saucony’s Ride, i.e. a workhorse daily trainer with a moderate price tag. It’s one of New Balance’s most popular shoes that, until this year, lagged a bit behind some of the company’s more sophisticated technology, particularly the…
Peak Hoka Hoka’s Bondi is the essence of maximalism in shoe design—a highly cushioned shoe with a prodigious 37mm stack height. When people think of Hoka, this is probably the shoe they envision. “Moon shoe” would not be an inaccurate adjective. Stepping into a Bondi for the first time can be disorienting; the shoe’s thick…
I registered for the Helderberg to Hudson half marathon a month before I ran the Syracuse Half Marathon last November, before I learned of two local races—the Earth Day half marathon and the Good Samaritan 5K—scheduled to run on the same weekend. As COVID would have it, I was able to run all three in…
We signed up for the Thousand Island races at the end of January, months before the events’ May 30 start date and weeks before COVID played havoc with the racing schedule. In April, during the worst of the pandemic, the organizers opted to shift the event to August 22. The three month delay allowed organizer…
Racing is back! The story is familiar to legions of runners: We welcomed a busier race schedule in March and shelled out race fees in anticipation of a full slate of spring races. We even squeezed a couple of races in as talk of coronavirus and a pandemic gradually consumed the news. Then everything shut…
New Balance’s popular 880 is a comfortable, durable daily trainer that could function as an all-around shoe for runners and walkers seeking to limit their shoe collection. Its waterproof incarnation is one of the comparatively few waterproof road shoes, and serves as an effective winter trainer on wet or sloppy days. This year’s model, the…
Mistakes Rookies Make July 19 marks the first anniversary of the beginning of my running odyssey, but as I related in my discussion, mine isn’t a couch-to-5K story, nor was I new to endurance sports in general, having been a cyclist for years. But cycling and running are very different sports, and my endurance base,…
The Clifton is one of the shoes that elevated Hoka’s popularity. It has undergone significant changes since its introduction as a cushioned-yet-light shoe in 2014, gradually evolving into a more mainstream daily trainer that gracing the shelves of running shops around the county. Last year, the Rincon embodied many of the qualities of the original…
The Saucony Type A8 is a lightly cushioned racing shoe. Running the A8 is as close to running barefoot as I dare; these are fast, flat shoes probably best reserved for shorter races and speed work. Technical Information At 12.3 ounces per pair in a men’s size 10, these puppies are light. Saucony accomplished this…