Durability Update on Skechers Go Run2

There has been a bit of discussion on the Interwebs about Skechers as a brand.  As I have said in previous posts here and here, I love my Skechers.  Once I get myself past the fact that Skechers were the shoes that my sainted Grandmother wore to go "Mall Walking" with her cadre of octogenarian walking buddies, I'm good to go in them.  Makes me feel a bit nostalgic even, wearing the same shoes that... wait a minute.  No it doesn't.  Let's just change the subject, shall we?

The other hang-up that I have with buying Skechers is the nagging feeing that I am cheating on my really, really wonderful locally owned running store by buying my running shoes at the mall (sorry Gear Running...).

Apart from those things, I'll just say that I love me some Skechers shoes.  I've put 400+ miles on one pair of the Go Run2s, and loved them.  Like loved, loved them.  I did four half marathons in them last year, including one trail half.  Now that the Go Run3s are out, and a pair has made its way to my house, I thought I post about the durability of the 2s - with Skechers being a pretty new entry into the performance shoe market, I can vouch for not only the general awesomeness and comfortability (yeah, I said it) of the shoes, but their durability as well.

Although I've been doing nearly all of my running lately in the GR3s, I have done two runs this week in these GR2s, and they are still awesome.  (My new puppy, cute as he is, chewed the laces on the new kicks, and I haven't replaced them yet.)  I'd probably still be happily running in these 2s if I hadn't gotten the 3s.  The cushioning still felt fine, even compared to a new pair of the 3s.


The physical part of the shoe is really, really great.  I'm a pretty solid midfoot striker, and I'm on the bigger side of running folk (about 190 pounds, and 6'1" [6'4" with the afro]*).  The tread on the bottom, which Skechers has made out of what they call Resalyte**, has held up very well.  Even 400+ miles in, they are still very grippy, and surprisingly good looking, with only a few spots that are beginning to be worn down:

New Go Run2s (left), older ones at 125 miles (right)

425 miles in (these are the same ones as
the left above).  Not too shabby, eh?

The uppers have also been very sturdy.  I have had no rips, tears, or other malfunctions, I'm happy to report.  Structurally, they have been fantastic.  The only knock on the uppers, durability-wise, is that the colors have massively faded.  One of the things that I initially got me interested in the GR2s was the color schemes - several of them were loud and obnoxious, which I liked.  The pair that I have put the most miles on is the yellow/green color way, and really not that bright anymore, and not just from the dirt and crud that accumulates on my runs.  The color didn't come off on my socks or anything, like some other shoes are wont to do, but they are faded:

compared to:

All told, though, the Go Run2 is solid, solid shoe that I have really enjoyed.  I just got the Go Run 3 (initial thoughts here), and I'm anxious to give them a try, and see if I like them as much as I have liked the 2s.

* If you get that movie reference, please leave a comment.
** Skechers says that Resalyte is a "proprietary, lightweight injection-molded compound with memory retention."  So yeah, there's that.

Skechers Go Run3 Initial Review

I’ve had my eye on the new update of my beloved Go Run2s from Skechers.  It was a serendipitous combination of gift money from Christmas, a nice coupon code for Skechers.com, and 400+ miles on the ol’ GR2s that gave me the go-ahead to get a new pair of shoes.  Okay, I’ll be honest.  I didn’t really need a go-ahead.  I’d get a new pair of running shoes if the sun comes up.  Or it sets.  Or if the water goes down the drain clockwise (counter-clockwise if I’m traveling south of the Equator).  You get the picture.  At any rate, it seems like the universe aligned for me to get myself a new pair of kicks.

But I digress… I ordered myself a pair of the new Go Run3s (GR3s).  Here are some initial thoughts, before I put some miles on these bad boys.

To be honest, I wasn’t crazy about the colorways for the new models.  There are five, and they are pretty dark.  I’m not really one for black shoes – the only black things in my wardrobe are my wedding/funeral suit, my running pants (from Sporthill – review coming soon) and my old lacrosse uniform from college (still fits – AWWW YEAH!).   Long story longer, the colors really didn’t do it for me.  I liked the colors of the GR2s – bright and obnoxious.  These are not them. 

I initially ordered the black and reds, thinking that they were the most badass of the bunch.  I ordered up a size 13, thinking that the 12.5s that work so well in the GR2s could use a bit of an upsize.  When I got them, they were definitely too big.  I returned them to the Skechers store near my house (I’m lucky to have one about 10 minutes from chez moi).  I traded them for a size 12 in the blue/green style, which I still wasn’t thrilled with, but was an upgrade from the red/black.  I think that they are growing on me – the neon laces help.

One thing that I really like in a running shoe is a lack of a stiff heel counter.  The GR2 has basically no heel counter – it more of a integrated ‘strap’ that functions like a sandal strap on the back, if that makes any sense.  

The GR3 has a bit more structure to it, but not so much that it’s by any means rigid.  The Skechers logo gives it more form, but it’s still pretty flexible and giving.  Jury is still out whether this is an upgrade.  Stay tuned.

Another interesting addition is the pleather that is all around the toe box.  Not sure how I feel about it – the stiff, ribbon-y kind of edging in the GR2 was good, I thought.  Maybe the pleather is supposed to dress the GR3 up a bit, but for me it seems a bit unnecessary.  I wonder if it will be to stiff in the cold, cold temps here in Minnesota.  I guess I’ll have about 4 months to find out…

The toe box has been changed as well – the GR2 has a simple stretchy mesh that I really liked – it gave my toes plenty of rom to play out and move around, without feeling sloppy.  The new toe box is a mesh with an overlay, that kind of makes me think of the Altra Instinct.  Again, not sure what purpose it serves, other than to spiff up the aesthetics of the shoe.

A couple of other thoughts – there are an additional pair of liners in the box, but it’s not super clear why there are two sets.  After poking around on the Internets, I discovered that the insole makes the shoe an 8mm drop.  Not sure why Skechers would want to make their shoes into an 8mm drop – maybe they are courting the non-minimalish crowd, or maybe trying to make th3 GR3 more attractive to higher distance runners, who might like a little higher drop for a marathon maybe?

The tongue is also a change from the GR2s - the tongue in the 2s was a more padded, traditional looking and feeling tongue.  The tongue in the 3 is more of an thin ultra-suede fabric tongue, without much padding.  It, like the tongue on the 2s, is attached on both sides, under the eyelets, which I really like.  No tongue slippage. (Ooh - that sounded a bit dirty somehow.  Who knew that a review of the Go Run3 would get a bit racy?)

Finally, I really like the fact that Skechers kept this iteration of the Go Run shoe vegetarian (not that any shoes eat meat – although some do shred feet, which is kinda the same thing…).  I try, as much as possible, to use as few animal-based products as I can, and I appreciate that Skechers has continued this in their Performance line.

Now I’ve got to go out and get some miles on these babies.  I’ll post a more in-depth review after I’ve had a chance to put some miles on them.

Back in the Saddle

After what I see to be a sizeable hiatus, I’m getting back to the blog.  It was a heck of a summer, in many ways.  As a teacher, I obviously have my summers off, and free to spend with my family.  My wife works in the schools as well, so all four of us (the two of us and the kidlings) were home all together.  We got in a nice trip to Colorado, and some other fun family time. 

The downer of the summer, and mainly the reason why the blog went silent is that my dad got sick and passed away at the end of the summer and early fall.  That event, obviously, took a toll on me, and occupied much of my time and energy – physically, emotionally, spiritually, and otherwise.

That said, I’m getting back in the game.  Since my last post, I have run four half marathons!  Not too shabby for a runner who, a year and a half ago, ran his first 5K and had to take a walk break.  (And look at me, referring to myself in the third person.  Who am I – Bo Jackson?  Jimmy from Seinfeld?  Elmo?) 

In the past months, I have done the Minneapolis HalfMarathon, the Urban Wildland Half Marathon in Richfield, MN, the Surly TrailLoppet Half, and the Monster Dash Half.  I also did a funky little race in Minneapolis called the Tri-Loppet (it’s a triathlon, but with paddling, running, and biking – perfect for those of us who HATE swimming).

I’ve written race reports for some of those races – I’ve tried to write over the past several months, but they pretty much came off half-assed and, to be honest, not very well written.  I’m going to try to pencil-whip them back into some semblance of shape/coherence and get them on the blog.  

I also am working on some shoe reviews, gear reviews, and book reviews.  I just ordered a pair of the new Skechers Go Run3s, which I’m super excited about, and I just picked up a pair of Merrell Bare Access 2s from 6pm.com for $40.  Not sure if I’ll write up a review on those – pretty late to the party, since the BA3s are already out. 

Finally, immediate goal for the blog will be to chronicle my road to my first marathon.  I’m on the verge of signing up for the Med City Marathon in Rochester, MN.  It’s on May 25^th (Memorial Day Weekend) and from all the reviews I’ve read, it sounds like a really nice race.  I’m hoping to use this space to keep myself honest and accountable as I train, fret, get excited, get tired, get sore, and get excited again about the training process (at least as accountable as a blog with zero current readership is – at the bare minimum I feel like I’m putting it out there in front of God and everybody, for some sort of scrutiny).

I’ll be posting on a hopefully regular basis from here on out, and especially starting on Monday, as I officially start the marathon training.  

The Power of a High Five

Here is one of the reasons that I often like running without headphones on.  (I sometimes do bring the trusty ol' iPod, but that's a topic for another post).

So I was out for a short run this afternoon - just an easy four miles around the lake.  I was about 2/3 of the way done, and up ahead of me, just past the beach, I saw a young family walking on the path - Mom, Dad, and a little blond, curly haired, sundressed daughter who must have been about 2 and a half years old.  Super cute family, all walking, holding hands, chatting amiably.  Norman Rockwell at Lake Nokomis, if you see what I'm sayin'.

Anyhow, as I ran by them, the little girl started to get upset, kind of crying/whining (if you have ever had a 2 year old girl live at your house, you know exactly the sound I'm describing).  I was about 10 steps past them when I heard the Mom say, "Sweetie, it's okay.  Not every stranger has to give you a high five.  I'll give you one."  Dad chimes in, "Oh yeah - here's one from me too."

Of course, what am I going to do?  I turn around and trot (oh yeah, I can trot - don't snicker) back to the little girl, crouch down, and give her a high five that provoked a smile that I thought was going to crack her cheeks.  She smiled, I smiled, and the parents both said, "Oh my gosh, thank you.  That just made the rest of our walk back home so much easier, you have no idea."

To which I had to reply, "Oh, I do.  My daughter was just like that when she was small."

One little girl happy, and, let's be honest, is there a runner out there who doesn't appreciate a high five from a spectator as they are running?

The decade - first 10 miler!

Well, I woke up yesterday and decided that I was going to run 10 miles, which is further than I have yet run.  As you may recall form a previous post, I'm training to run my first half marathon in June at the Minneapolis Marathon.  The training plan that I am <<loosely>> following says that I should be getting up to 10 miles for the weekend long run, so I thought, "Today's the day."  I decided to 'Cowboy Up' and get it done.

Remarkably, it wasn't that big of a deal.  I ended up averaging a 10:15 pace, which I'm pretty okay with, as this is my first run of this distance.  More important than the time at this point, I guess, is that I ran it all without stopping, except for one stoplight on 50th Street (twice).  So I suppose that technically I did stop twice, but I figure that's about the equivalent of walking through a water stop.  At least that's what I was telling myself when the lights changed...

I'm really lucky to live in the city of Minneapolis - it's an urban area for sure, but it's got an amazing system of parks and running/biking paths that are incredibly well-maintained and extensive.  You can see my route here - takes me along a nice quiet creek, past the school where I teach, and then around a lake.  Can't beat that for scenery.  The best part of the whole deal is that the creek is only 3 blocks form chez nous, so it's like 3 minutes and on on it.

Since I live in the neighborhood where I teach (I'm a first grade teacher), I saw several of my kids as I was running.  Six-year-olds (some of them) are still at the stage where they are a bit non-plussed to see their teacher outside of school, like I live at school or something.  It's pretty cute to see the looks on their faces when I run by and wave to them.

All in all, a good day running, and an even better day after - I wasn't really sore at all when I got up this morning to go to church.  I thought that I was going to be pretty creaky, but not the case.  I'm taking the day off today, and then getting back after it tomorrow before work.

Mantras, or "Cowboy up!"

I’ve been reading on several blogs lately about the importance of mantras.  A really good read at Rock Creek Runner [and the free ebook is worth a read fo’ shizzle – more on that later], and also a nice entry over at Miss Zippy’s place.  As I’m training for my first half marathon, I’m thinking that maybe I ought to get me one of them things, these mantras.

I downloaded the ebook from Rock Creek Runner, which is a collection of short essays by runners about their mantras.  Really, really interesting stuff, and very divergent.  My favorite was from Susan Lacke:  “Man the F&*$ up.”  It made me think about an old club soccer coach of mine, who, among other memorable lines, would often cajole us with, “Aw, c’mon, ladies.  Cowboy up and get it done!”  Not the most P.C. man who ever picked up a clipboard, but effective.  He’s also the one who regularly trotted out this gem: “If you ladies” (do you see a theme emerging here?) “are done playing grab ass over there, come back and join us.”

I digress.  I think that I was typing about mantras.  Although “Cowboy up!” seems solid, I do live in Minnesota, and there just ain’t that many cowboys here, pardner.   Of course, being the mediocre but enthusiastic runner that I am, maybe I should just stick with “Cripes!  How much farther is this path, anyway?”  That’s a good one – seems to pop up on a semi-regular basis.

On a run last week, through, I was thinking about the ubiquitous book Born to Run by Christopher McDougall.  Let me just go out on a cyber-limb here and give it a thumbs-up - along with pretty much every other running blogger on the face of the earth.  Try this – go to a random running blog, type “Born to Run” in the search box, and see if you don’t get a hit.  Go on – try it. I’ll be here when you get back.

Anyhoo – one of the sections from Born to Run kept coming into my mind as I was running.  It’s found on page 111, and it’s from “Caballo Blanco” – the main “character” (and I use that term literally) in the book:

 “Think Easy, Light, Smooth and Fast. You start with easy, because if that’s all you get that’s not so bad. Then work on light. Make it effortless, like you don’t give a shit how high the hill is or how far you’ve got to go. When you’ve practiced that for so long that you forget you’re practicing, you work on making it smooooooth. You won’t have to worry about the last one — you get those three, and you’ll be fast.”

Love that – “Easy, Light, Smooth, and Fast.”  It works, I think , on several levels, and for pretty much any type, style, ability, and pace.  I’ve been working on the “light” aspect as of late – which for me right now means trying to make my footfalls as close to silent as I can.  Full-on ninja mode (or as close as a 40-year-old 195½ pound white guy can get to ninja mode).

I’ll keep you posted as to whether I make it to “Smooth” and “Fast.” 

Any great mantras out there that you’d care to share?