Giveaway: OrthoLite Fusion Insole

This month’s giveaway is sponsored by OrthoLite, a maker of performance insoles found in many athletic shoes. According to the company’s website, each year, over 100 million pairs of athletic and outdoor shoes are built with OrthoLite as their insole technology. In March I was supplied with a free pair of OrthoLite’s performance insole, the Fusion, for a product review. You can read all about the OrthoLite Fusion here. In addition, the company agreed to help me out with this month’s giveaway by providing 3 pairs of these insoles. (more…)

Executing Your Smoothest Long Run…on a Track

Track Lanes - by Rachel M

Where do you do your long runs? The answer depends on where you live, environmental factors, or personal preference. For many, a typical long run is usually done on a road or a dirt trail. While the benefits of long training runs should be universal regardless of where they’re conducted, there exist characteristics unique to running on a track (more…)

Shoe Review: Skechers GOrun

Skechers GOrun Men's Red Package

Recently Skechers made a splash in the competitive running landscape with its sponsored Olympian – Meb Keflezighi. Meb not only finished first at the 2012 Olympic Trials in the marathon event, he also won it with a new personal record - wearing Skechers GOrun! Prior to Meb’s victory, I know many people, myself included, used to associate Skechers with casual, budget foodwear. Although one can still argue today that perhaps it wasn’t the shoes that resulted in Meb’s stellar performance – one inescapable implication here is that Skechers is getting aggressive and ready to take tackle the performance running shoe market. (more…)

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and Marathon

Tracks - by Vullioud Pierre-André

Have you heard of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT, HIT, or HIIE) and wondered if you should try it? Recently this term has been brought to my attention. I had a conversation with a stranger a few weeks ago when he saw me in my running gear at a Dunkin Donuts. The man asked about my mileage and training, then proceeded to talk about how he does HIIT in his gym – then mentioned he could go run 10 miles any time if he wanted to. Judging from his physique, I was skeptical about his claim and curious about the effectiveness of HIIT. (more…)

Review: SmartWool PhD Running Ultra Light Wool Socks

SmartWool PhD Running Ultra Light

Part of my running garb for winter running is a pair of toasty wool socks. But I don’t wear those regular wool socks knitted with the itching ragg wool. I use wool socks specially designed for running from SmartWool. In fact, I’ve been using the PhD Running Light Mini for the past 3 winters. These socks are warm, dry, and comfortable – I ended up buying them as holiday gifts for family members. Recently I’ve collaborated with SmartWool to review some products I haven’t tried in the past – the PhD Running Ultra Light. You can check out my in-dept review on iRunnerBlog. (more…)

March 2012 Training Summary

March 2012 has been yet another notable month for me in running for several reasons. For starters, the highlight of this month’s runs was, of course, the NYC Half ’12. But besides the race, what’s worth mentioning is my monthly mileage – 231.4 miles in March. Although this is just shy of 240 miles I planned to run monthly – I am still satisfied with what I’ve got thus far. (more…)

Winners: Wrightsock Anti-Blister Double Layer Socks

I am excited to announce the winners of my Giveaway: Wrightsock Anti-Blister Double Layer Socks as the following:

• Laurel C.
• Lisa G.
• Javier
• Harold D.
• purplelarkspur
• Holly C.

I will contact the winners above and provide further instructions on how to claim the prize. Please contact me via Twitter or my Contact Form if you have any questions at all.

I’d like to thank everyone who has participated, as well as Tom from WRIGHTSOCK, in this giveaway.

If you weren’t picked this time, there’s always hope in the near future. As always, stay tuned for my next monthly giveaway and enjoy your active lifestyle!

[UPDATE]A new winner has been selected on 4/01/2012 because one of the original winners did not respond to my notifications.

Shoe Review: 2012 Nike Free 4.0 V2

Men's 2012 Nike Free 4.0

A few weeks ago I briefly talked about the upcoming running shoes from Nike in Sneak Peek: Nike Free 2012 Collection. After a couple of weeks of running in a sample pair of the Nike Free 4.0 v2, I published its review on iRunnerBlog. In that article you will find mentioning of some new features on this shoe, as well as my general experience after logging 70 miles of various running workouts in it. (more…)

Giveaway: Wrightsock Anti-Blister Double Layer Socks

Have you ever been forced to stop running because of a painful blister on your foot? These distracting bubbles often come unannounced, ruin a perfect run, and leave you frustrated. To stay away from blisters, one of the easiest ways to prevent them from forming on you feet is to wear a pair of socks specifically designed for running or other athletic purposes. In this month’s giveaway, I am handing out 12 pairs of Wrightsock Anit-Blister socks to 6 lucky winners. Before we get started, (more…)

Race Recap: NYC Half 2012

The NYC Half 2012 was anything but what I expected. Nearly three months of my training all boiled down to this roller coaster ride that lasted 1 hour 39 minutes and 33 seconds. Despite the fact that it’s a new personal record, I find it difficult to celebrate this achievement. The reason is simple: I overshot my goal time by quite a bit just to crash and burn. (more…)