Shoe Talk

Meet the Brooks Glycerin 10s.

She’s a beauty isn’t she? I like the black and pink combo. Sorta bad ass.

I’ve been a Brooks runner for a couple of years now, more specifically I’ve been a Brooks Glycerin 8 runner. I fell in love with the shoe back in early 2010 and began hoarding the 8s when they stopped making them sometime last year. I’m a superstitious runner and I was afraid switching to the 9s would be like running a whole different shoe. I was wrong.

This is Kira.

Kira is the go-to shoe girl at Brooks. She knows everything there is to know their shoes, and spent 20 minutes tonight explaining the key difference between the Glycerin 8s and 10s and why she felt the Glycerin line had finally hit their stride with the 10s.

She first explained there were key differences in what they consider “revolutionary” changes and “evolutionary” changes. It is true that sometimes they will turn a shoe upside down and release something that is complete different from its formal model. That would be a “revolutionary” change. But the majority of the time the changes are slight and only meant to enhance the shoe that is already in place. Those are “evolutionary” changes.

The Glycerin line did go through a revolutionary change for the 8, but the 9 and 10 are just minor, evolutionary changes. The great cushiony, springy shoe base and grip that I love about the shoe are still there, but now the shoe has an omega patterned bottom and rubber that continues around the whole bottom, instead of breaking in the middle.

Kira is good. She sold me on the 10. I was sent a pair last week to try and now that I’ve been educated on the shoe, I’m even more excited to try it.

Kira also talked me into the new Brooks PureCadence line. It’s a lighter weight shoe that allows your to connect to the ground a little more. I think they would be great for triathlon season. Has anyone tested these shoes out before? Thoughts?

You know you’re a running nerd when… you spend 30 minutes talking running shoes to a complete stranger and never get bored.

At least I was in good company, I mean running shoes are kind of a big deal around here.

Hello, running shoe heaven!

Tonight was Brooks open house for introducing their latest line to the media and giving a sneak peek into the technology that goes into them.

Have you ever mixed cornstarch and water? Apparently when you combine the two if gives the same cushiony reaction as you would feel in your shoe. If you punch it, it’s hard, but if you play with it gently it will ooze from your brings. It was pretty cool actually.

And, not only did we learn a thing or two about Brooks latest line of shoes, we got to act a fool in the process.

Jess, Jenn, Janae, Theodora, and Ashley = RunHappy!

hehe

There were passed appetizers

Red Wine

And shoes galore.

The puredrift line doesn’t go public until January. I’m intrigued. Very intrigued.

All in all, it was a fun event. I think I shall dream of running shoes and finish lines tonight.

Our group left the event with plans of eating at our hotel’s gastropub, but the 45 minute wait at 8:00pm turned us away. The amazing Theodora did a bit of Yelpin’ and found us a barbecue joint a couple of blocks away with no wait. Sold.

The place (Hill Country) was interesting. You were seated and handed a meal ticket to order your food with. When you were ready you would bring the meal ticket to the food counter and they would give you your food and mark it off on the ticket.   

It was barbecue, so it was meat heavy. You could order the meat by the pound or whatever increment was listed. They also had a separate side counter.

I ordered 1/2 a chicken (but somehow got two?) with a side of corn pudding and cucumber salad.

The chicken was really moist, but needed some extra BBQ sauce to give it any flavor. I ended up polishing off all off the cucumber salad and about 1/4 of the corn pudding.

I also brought a chocolate chunk cookie home with me.

The chocolate chunks were huge and basically made up the whole center of the cookie. I ate about half and plan on saving the rest for tomorrow.

I’m taking my first ever SoulCycle class in the morning. I wanted to try one fun workout class while I was in the city and that was my pick. I’ve heard a lot of good things – I can’t wait!

Good night!