Saucony Spring 2010

Just took a look at the Spring collection from Saucony. No major suprises which is always a good thing. Saucony is like a silent assassin, not really noticed but does a great job. Their shoes may not be flashy or make anyone real excited but man they always work well. Great fit, great ride and almost never a defect. What more does one need.

The Grid Sinister will be replaced by the Grid Getgo. Nice shoe for a small niche group of runners. It is now softer but still with great transition and power transfer.

No changes to the Progrid Ride 2 other then more color options. The Ride 2 just came out and so far this thing is a home run. Softer then the last version while still fitting great.

There will be a new ProGrid Guide 3 in February 2010. This is a real important update for Saucony as the Guide has been slowly chipping into the lead of the Asics GT series. With Asics having major availability issues right now more people are trying different brands and the Guide is a winner. The Guide 3 will be a little softer and just slightly more stable. The current Guide 2 is working great so these minor changes shouldn't hurt anything.

Hurricane and Omni just get color updates, not real exciting there.

Kids will get a super cool Grid Xodus trail shoe. Now they can play in the dirt with some sweet trail shoes. With Saucony being owned by Stride Rite, they know how to make some great kids running shoes.

The fun stuff.

Grid Fastwitch 4 (pictured on a messy desk). Just a new upper on the same midsole/outsole. The current version fits and feels great so this minor update is a good thing. This is one fast road flat and the new colors and graphics are awesome.

For spikes the Crescent and Velocity just get new very nice color updates while the Endorphin MD and LD get reworked. According to Saucony the plate on the Endorphins is the same as this year but it looks like some of the toe spring is taken out of the plate which I think is a good thing. The 2009 plate has a very abrupt toe spring that looks to be placed just a little too far back.

The Endorphin MD should be a winner next spring. Great upper update and the women's has a very nice yet subtle hot pink plaid detail.

There were no updates to any of the trail shoes. I was hoping for a new color in the Xodus as that shoe rocks but really color doesn't matter. The Razor will remain the same and I can't wait for this thing to come out in a few months. This is a monster, take no prisoners trail shoe. 3/4 upper height, built in gaiter, eVent bootie and tons of traction.

That's it. Nothing major for any of the most important shoes and that is a good thing. Consistent good shoes is how you build a brand and that is what Saucony is delivering for 2010.

I must be getting old

This weekend nearly killed me. I swear when I was younger this would have been a breeze but now, man it hurts.

We had 5 races to work over three days and this morning I woke up sore.

Friday 6/05/2009 9:30 am - 9:00 pm

Busy day in the store with packet pick up for two races and the East End mile at night. Had to work out on the floor most of the day as we were hopping with customers. Greg worked the race as I headed out to Mendon Ponds Park to run our trail course and lay out the markers for the race in the morning.

Saturday 6/06/2009 5:30 am - 1:00 pm and 3:30 pm - 9:00 pm

PowerBar Trail Race in the am. Help set up the finish area and then run the course to make sure the markers are still there. Ran the 4.5 mile race as it is the 11th year of this race I started and I had yet gotten to run it. Post race take it all down and head home at 1:00.

Back at the store at 3:30 to head out to Pittsford to set up the transition area and finish line area for the Pittsford triathlon. Nearly 360 registered so that's a lot of equipment to move and set up.

Greg spent the entire day timing the Empire State Cycling Championships at Powder Mills Park. He'll time day two all day Sunday at Seneca Park.

Sunday 6/07/2009 4:30 am - 3:00 pm

Pittsford Triathlon. Long day but a very well done race. This was our first year working with the town on their race and they did a great job. Timing went smooth, Ellen kept the athletes pumped announcing all day and a few of the Buffalo Bills raced. Long tough day but hey it's what we do.

Monday morning - Sore as hell. My shoulders hurt from carrying all the cones to mark the trail course. My back is tight from loading and unloading all the bike racks. My knee has been acting up on me and after these three days it is really screaming. On top of that my head has been pounding for 2 straight days.

As my grandmother always said, "It's hell getting old". Overall I've gotta be pleased though. We provided services to 4 races (1 run, 2 bike and 1 tri) and produced a 5th (run) all over three days. Everybody appears to have had a great time and was pleased with the job we did. At least we haven't received any pissed off emails yet today and those usually come pretty quick when someone isn't happy.

Both our store staff and race crews worked really hard this weekend. They should be proud of the job they did under a lot of pressure. Now we just all have to get some sleep.

Brooks 2010

I just took a look at the spring 2010 line of footwear from Brooks. Some very cool stuff.

Brooks has been a leader in being a "green" company. From recycled boxes to their BioMoGo midsoles to now the Green Silence. This is one cool racing flat.

75% post consumer recycled shoe materials.
100% recycled packaging
100% pc recycled shoe laces
Water based glues
Soy based dyes
50% less parts to the shoe

Oh and it is one fast and light racing shoe. 6.9 ounces of red and yellow fury. Now you can run fast and help save the planet. Very cool

Saw the new Defyance 3 and Adrenaline GTS 10. Both very nice updates. Nothing major needed to be fixed since these are already great shoes. Many other models got color updates but that's boring to write about

For the Track geeks they will have a new distance spike, The Wire. Nice new Pebax plate, mesh upper and 4.8 ounces. Neon yellow doesn't hurt either. Their old Z series of spikes always fit and performed great but sales never matched how good of spike they were. Hopefully with The Wire that will change as this is a very nice spike and deserves to win some races.

The Cascadia 5 gets a few minor updates but this shoe will continue to rock the trails as it always works well and it looks great with some aggressive coloring.

The big launch will be on 1/01/2010 with the Glycerin 8. This shoe will feature a new technology called Brooks DNA. Very cool stuff.

The cushioning in the shoe will react to the amount of force placed on the foot. Are you a lightweight, the shoe will be super soft underfoot. Maybe have a few extra pounds on you, no problem, the Brooks DNA will react to the increased forces and adjust to keep you protected. Like I said very cool stuff.

Brooks has been leading the pack for running companies for a bit now and Spring 2010 should help them stay out front.

I'll see Saucony tomorrow and Pearl Izumi is sending me some prototypes to test out. Should be fun stuff.