Table of contents for Issue 4 2020 in Runner's World

Inspiring RW+ Members My worst day on a run was the Bryce 100 [miles]. I was affected by altitude sickness and had to DNF. I love trail running in the mountains, but I learned that I should stick with hiking, not racing. I’ve climbed to the top of Mt. Fuji in Japan over 20 times. Running a race is not the only form of being in nature and challenging yourself. ALSO: The best prerun fuel is Tailwind. I like their Naked flavor the most. After a workout, I tend to pick a big salad with a fried egg.…

BETTE CANTER DEPUTY EDITOR ANY DAY YOU RUN IS A GOOD DAY PRODUCTS I’M USING RIGHT NOW 1 / Brooks Ghost 12 $130 After going steady with the Glycerins for years, the Ghosts have stolen my heart. 2 / Nathan Handheld Water Bottle $25 I have type 1 diabetes, so I never run without Gu chomps shoved into the zipper pouch. 3 / Athleta Contender Tights $89 The pockets are perfect for holding my insulin pump or extra dog treats. THE HARDEST RUN OF MY LIFE… An 18-miler up the New Jersey side of the Hudson River during a heat warning. It was so hot that I had to lie down in a tiny patch of shade in someone’s yard. My elapsed time was almost 4.5 hours. Its Strava title:…

When we strength-train, we tend to target and sometimes isolate the big guns in our legs (our glutes, hamstrings, and quads) and often neglect smaller muscle groups—like those tiny muscles in our feet that are equally important for powering our strides. But running is a high-impact exercise, and your feet are the first point of contact every time you hit the ground, says Corinne Fitzgerald, head coach of Mile High Run Club in New York City and a competitive runner. “Taking care of our feet is just as important as the big muscle groups that move us to run.” And research backs this up. According to a recent study published in BioMed Research International, strengthening “plantar short” foot muscles (the 10 little muscles that stretch from your heel to your…

If you’re lacing up to fight cabin fever, you’re not alone. It seems that with extra free time available and fewer places to work out, more and more people are turning to running, suggesting that ours is the perfect social-distancing sport. And there’s no question that running has health benefits—it keeps your heart strong, helps you drop pounds or maintain a healthy weight, and is a perfect way to de-stress, which frankly is important right now. But when it comes to supporting a healthy immune system, experts are still debating whether exercise can suppress the immune system, making an athlete more susceptible to infection after a workout. It’s important to understand that researchers look at the effect of exercise on the immune system in the short term (a single bout…

BIG RACES, VIRTUAL CONNECTION The Pittsburgh Marathon had a massive virtual turnout as more than 13,000 participants crossed the finish line in their own locations. LAST RUNNER STANDING In another backyard ultra-style event, Sally Van Nuland from Greensboro, North Carolina, ran at least 1 mile each hour—for 10 days—for a total of 245 miles. TREADMILL STRONG Swiss orienteer Matthias Kyburz broke the 50K treadmill record in April, taking 50 seconds off the record. He averaged a blistering 5:40-mile pace. WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS Elisha Nochomovitz, from Balma, France, ran more than 3,000 laps on his 23-foot-long balcony to complete a marathon in 6 hours, 48 minutes.…

I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve been taunted or verbally harassed on a run. I run before the sun comes up in New York City, which means I often pass groups of construction workers. And they always have something to say. Sometimes it’s a simple “Stop and stay a while.” Other times, I hear feedback on my body, outfit choice, general appearance. You name it, I’ve heard it. I consider myself lucky. While the harassment often compels me to cross to the opposite side of the street, it has never escalated into a dangerous or harmful situation. But I join the 84 percent of women who said in a 2019 Runner’s World survey that they’ve experienced some kind of harassment while running that left them feeling unsafe—a lot…

RW+ is a premium membership group 16,000 strong, a tight-knit community as passionate about running as you are. This is the place to level up your #runlife. You’ll receive training tips from RW editors and coaches; celebrate streaks and rest days with other RW+ members; and score exclusive access to cutting-edge tools, training plans, and inspirational stories. There’s also a members-only forum and newsletter, plus live chats and meetups. Across these 31 pages, you’ll find lots more about what it means to be part of our community. Join us! JOIN TODAY runnersworld.com/joinplus…

“RUNNING TAUGHT ME TO FIND COMFORT IN MY DISCOMFORT.” FOR DECADES, RICHARD EDMONSON SWAM A MILE three days per week. “The problem,” he says, “was the view.” The retired attorney says by the time he was 70 years old, “I got tired of looking at the bottom of the pool.” Just like that, he took up running. At first, Edmonson ventured out into his neighborhood, working his way up from a few blocks at a time to two or three miles. At the encouragement of his oldest son, Richard, Jr.—“Richie”—an avid runner and cyclist, in 2008 he entered the Watermelon 5K, an annual Fourth of July race held in Jackson. He and Richie ran it together. “As you can imagine, July 4th, Mississippi—it was about 100 degrees,” says Edmonson. “I…

TED FINE’S FIRST CHILD, RIPLEY, DIED FROM SUDDEN INFANT DEATH Syndrome (SIDS) in 1997. She was just 10 weeks old. Fine says it was “the worst thing that could ever happen”—an incredible, awful shock. “A lot of families that lose a kid, especially their first kid, can be pulled apart if they’re not solid. There’s a lot of blame and grief.” Fine started running, “searching for just anything to do and keep busy.” It gave him a reason to leave the house and create space for him and his wife, Michelle, to grieve individually. He says it established a pattern that’s benefited both him and his wife through their 27 years of marriage: Their time apart makes their time together more meaningful. At the suggestion of a friend, Ted began…

1 BUILD LIFELONG MOTIVATION Goals, like finishing a marathon, and structure, like a workout plan, are essential for guiding runners through a season. But Movold says the key to maintaining a long-term relationship with running is finding what really drives you—whether it’s a new sense of confidence or getting off medication. “Identifying this unlocks everything that’s possible for a runner,” says Movold. That understanding of why you put on your running shoes can be used to hold yourself accountable when you’re distracted or discouraged by short-term goals. Whether or not you nail a speed session, those inner passions will persist to drive you. 2 FIND STRENGTH IN EVERY SETBACK Whether it’s injury, missing a PR, or having a race—or season—canceled, failure is an inevitable part of running. But falling short…

Runner’s World+ has everything you need to become a faster, healthier runner. In addition to all the perks detailed here, your annual membership includes every issue of the print magazine, unlimited access to exclusive digital content, and a weekly newsletter from Runner-in-Chief Jeff Dengate. CUSTOMIZED TRAINING PLANS Download any Runner’s World+ training plan for free. Four-time Olympic marathon trials qualifier Budd Coates will help you achieve all your running goals, from a first 5K to the Boston Marathon. A DIRECT LINE TO THE EXPERTS Chat with certified strength and running coach Jess Movold and the RW editors on the community page. They’ll answer your training, nutrition, and gear questions, and you’ll have special access to Coach Jess’s weekly office hours for live chats and immediate responses. We want to highlight…

A hat’s job is to comfortably protect us from the sun. We evaluate them accordingly, donning them before sweltering lunch runs and weekend adventures in the woods and comparing notes on comfort, sweat-wicking, and packability. The latter metric is especially important for ultrarunners like Heine who want sun protection on the fly and minimal clutter in their packs. That’s where the Buff Pack Run Cap excels. At a single ounce, it was so light that the polyester material didn’t trap heat or moisture, so it doesn’t get everything else wet when it’s time to stash it—just wring it out. It protected against harmful ultraviolet rays with a UPF 50 rating, and a slim, built-in headband soaked up beads of sweat.…

Probably not, according to Michigan-based biomechanist Geoff Burns. “Adding that mass to one arm requires a systemic rearrangement of the various momenta to conserve the overall system dynamics,” Burns wrote in an email. Adding the weight of the phone and armband will cause your other limbs to change their movement to compensate, and that may manifest differently in different runners. Those with weak upper bodies but strong legs, Burns says, might adjust for the added weight by moving their legs in a different way, and vice versa. Either way, switch the armband between your arms to avoid developing an imbalance.…

PRICE: $120 WEIGHT: 8.9 oz (M) 7.4 oz (W) DROP: 8 mm (M), 8 mm (W) TYPE: Road IF WE DREW a Venn diagram of shoes we’d recommend for daily running and racing, the Asics Gel-DS Trainer would land squarely in the middle. The quasi-racer retains the Flytefoam midsole, but Asics tweaked the EVA blend to make it a little softer than the previous one. The midsole isn’t particularly plush, but surprisingly, most testers lauded the shoe’s apparent softness. The new upper uses an engineered knit with an internal cage to wrap and support the foot. Welded-on overlays covering the midfoot and heel cup add support. Asics widened the forefoot, but some testers felt the company didn’t go far enough, though the sock-like upper offers a secure fit. The shoe’s…

PRICE: $120 WEIGHT: 9.0 oz (M), 7.0 oz (W) DROP: 10 mm (M), 10 mm (W) TYPE: Road IF YOU LOOK across the new lineup of Adidas running shoes, you’ll see that Boost foam is disappearing from many of them. It’s always been a great, bouncy midsole foam, even if it’s heavier than most of the new compounds being used. Its disappearance bums us out a little, because it was also remarkably durable. Fortunately, the latest Boston still uses a thin slab of Boost, tucked beneath a layer of the company’s new Lightstrike foam. Even with the change, the shoe retains the characteristic that’s made it popular: It has a snappy turnover and works for everything from intervals to long runs and marathon races. Make no mistake, it’s not a…

PRICE: $135 WEIGHT: 10.2 oz (M), 7.9 oz (W) DROP: 12 mm (M), 12 mm (W) TYPE: Road LONGTIME MIZUNO WEARERS could step into the Inspire and identify it blindfolded. From its high drop and narrow forefoot, to its durable outsole and firm cushioning, the 16 has all the hallmarks of the brand’s flagship stability shoe. Like its predecessor, the Inspire 16 uses a top layer of shock-absorbing U4ic (pronounced “euphoric”) foam and a bottom piece of lighter and softer U4icX. In between, Mizuno adds a wavy Pebax plate—the filling in its stability sandwich. It works like a medial post, but feels both more flexible and natural. Similar to how an ocean wave builds then breaks, the plate’s peaks and troughs help roll some of that energy through your stride…

PRICE: $150 WEIGHT: 11.5 oz (M), 9.2 oz (W) DROP: 12.5 mm (M), 10 mm (W) TYPE: Road THE BEDLAM IS a great choice for runners who need a stable ride but want a springier stride. That rebound comes from DNA Amp, a polyurethane midsole coated with TPU. At the RW Shoe Lab, we found the sole returns 60 percent of the energy you put into it. It’s not as springy as Adidas’s Boost or Nike’s ZoomX foams, but it has better-than-average bounce for a daily trainer. The material is also durable, so you get long-lasting cushioning. When we tested this version on roads, we found that it feels more flexible than the original Bedlam—an assessment backed up by lab testing. Like the OG Bedlam, it has a guide rail…

Julie Spoke, 49, of Madison, WI, teamed up with her friends to run a virtual 100K when the Mad CityUltra 50K relay was canceled. Each 10K segment, the runner texted a picture of their finish, signaling for the next leg to start. Kristin Homsi, 37, of Houston, hopes her love of running stays with her 3-year-old and twin 2-year-olds, who recently joined their mother at the track. The twins ran about 40 feet as their big sister cheered them on. Daniel Steinkamp, 36, of New York City, sweats like crazy and as a result, has ruined roughly 50 pairs of headphones during runs. He hopes he finally has found an indestructible pair—the Plantronics BackBeat Fit 3200, which has survived pools of perspiration and a thunderstorm. Maddie Moran, 24, of Minneapolis,…

Inspiring RW+ Members I once had a coach tell me that the last 10K of a marathon was all mental, but really the whole process is about mental fortitude. Getting myself mentally in a good space to run will affect my performance in ways that are bigger than fuel or speed workouts. ALSO: Finding things that you love outside of a pace or goal is huge, whether it be good music, a beautiful locale, or seeing someone you care about out there. Don’t just focus on speed—running is so much more than that!…

ANDREW DANIELS SENIOR EDITOR GOT A DRAWER FULL OF SALTED CARAMEL GU. WANNA PARTY? PRODUCTS I’M USING RIGHT NOW 1 / Apple AirPods Pro $249 Toggling between noise-canceling and transparency modes helps me seamlessly adjust to my surroundings. 2 / Asics EvoRide $120 I’ve shaved 30 seconds off my half PR this year and have had these on my feet since the calendar flipped. Coincidence? 3 / Moji Curve Pro Massager $30 The rolling steel spheres gently relieve tight muscles—and they feel even better if you freeze ’em first. Bucket List Run The Dramathon, which winds through the rolling foothills of the Speyside Way, a stretch of northeast Scotland that’s home to the world’s best whiskies. When you finish at the Balvenie and Glenfiddich distilleries, fresh single-malt samples await. This…

Everyone remembers their first marathon. It’s an extraordinary sense of accomplishment that lies somewhere between incredulous joy and “wow, I’m never doing that again.” But then, when the soreness begins to fade, we realize we haven’t yet come close to our full potential. I conquered my first marathon in 2008 in just over four hours. Once the pain wore off and I had the celebratory beers, I couldn’t help but daydream about where I could improve and what was truly possible. I was determined to further develop my capabilities as a runner, and I realized that getting faster in the marathon wasn’t going to just happen. I had to work for it. I followed a running plan for my second and third marathons in 2009, which brought me under four…

While running itself may not suppress the immune system like we once thought, other factors certainly can, including increased levels of stress, poor sleep and eating habits, and of course, exposure. “Everyone has a high level of anxiety at this point, and baseline cortisol levels are higher than normal,” Jouhourian says. “Just the sheer state of stress can increase your risk of infection.” Jouhourian emphasizes the importance of avoiding crowded roads, tracks, and trails: “The problem with COVID-19 is that you might feel fine but have it, and then you’re infecting other people if you go out running.” Turner recommends avoiding outdoor exercise if you have any symptoms: “The best advice is just rest and stay home.” That said, experts emphasize the importance of exercising for long-term health but remind…

Here’s the thing about running: If you never run fast, you’ll never get faster. So if you’re trying to improve your running performance, smash a new personal best, or spice up your usual training, then it’s time to incorporate speedwork into your routine. “Speedwork” is a catch-all term for several different types of running workouts. “Running at goal race pace, track repeats, tempo runs, striders, fartleks—they all fit into the ‘speed’ category of training,” says Elizabeth Corkum, a USATF-certified run coach at Precision Run in New York City. But to keep it simple: “Any running that’s faster than your current tempo (steady-state) can be classified as speedwork,” adds John Honerkamp, running coach and former head coach at New York Road Runners. However you do it, speedwork is important because it…

We sent RW+ members a massive questionnaire about every facet of the running experience. Here’s exclusive insight into what makes the community tick, plus gear recommendations, best training (and snacking!) tips, top motivation secrets, and more. PEOPLE Who are the runners you admire the most? DES LINDEN. She’s a badass. Her grit and work ethic stand out. Ann Griffith, Orinda, CA SHALANE FLANAGAN. She is an inspiring and accomplished American runner who continues to make a career out of supporting the running community even after retirement. Julie Shelton-Grimshaw, Astoria, NY NIKE COACH CHRIS BENNETT. When I “graduated” from the Couch to 5K app, I wanted something else to keep me focused and training the right way. I found the Nike Run Club app, and it was exactly what I needed.…

TRAINING PLAN BREAK 30 MINUTES IN THE 5K This eight-week plan is designed for runners who want to finish a 5K in under 30 minutes—that’s a 9:39-per-mile pace. It features four days of running per week, including easy runs, tempo runs, and long runs of four to seven miles. The mileage starts at 13 miles per week and peaks at 20 miles per week two weeks before the race. Looking for a different plan to crush your running goals? Whether it’s qualifying for the Boston Marathon or running for the very first time, Runner’s World+ has you covered. As a member, you’ll receive unlimited access to all our expert-designed training plans tailored to every level of training. PRO TIPS Don’t avoid the hills, run for them. Running hills develops efficiency,…

FOR GPS NAVIGATION, SIMPLER IS BETTER Being stuck at home for months on end is challenging for a runner who loves to explore the world by foot. So when I set out to test GPS watches this past spring, I shook up my routine by trying to run every street in Jersey City during quarantine, totaling 244 miles. It’s a large, diverse city, bordered by two rivers; I was going to have to carefully map out each run to ensure I didn’t get lost or waste mileage repeating stretches of road. My challenge set the stage for an epic GPS navigation test, one that would suss out the strengths and weaknesses of two leading watches: the Garmin Fenix 6 and the Polar Grit X. Both give turn-by-turn directions, and I…

While working from home, I decided to shave my head for the first time. Why not? I figured I could just wear a hat to a Zoom meeting if it turned out badly. An unintended consequence is that I was left with pasty white flesh that hadn’t seen unobstructed sun in decades and needed protection when I headed out on any run. I tried out some of my favorite sunscreens—Skinnies, Coola, Kinesys, Supergoop—but also a good ol’ zinc-based cream. I still liked Skinnies because it’s kinda waxy, and you don’t need much. The Coola and Supergoop are runny lotions that rub in really easily; they both felt a little greasy, but not bad. And the Coola smelled tasty (piña colada, tropical coconut). Overall, Kinesys was the easiest to use, because…

PRICE: $130 WEIGHT: 9.8 oz (M), 8.0 oz (W) DROP: 10.5 mm (M), 7 mm (W) TYPE: Road THIS STABILITY SHOE uses a novel design to prop up a pronating foot. Instead of a traditional medial post or the popular guide rails other brands use, Hoka goes with a J-shaped piece of EVA foam that runs around the heel and along the medial side of the shoe. It creates a “bucket seat” to cradle your foot, but also gives the heel firmer cushioning. Firm isn’t necessarily bad, however, as testers—especially bigger runners—praised how the Arahi 4 absorbs shock. “The cushioning in this shoe allows a runner of my size to not have any joint pain, while not adding too much weight,” said a 6'3", 200-pound tester, who also recently ran…

Inspiring RW+ Members Not every run is great, spectacular, or idyllic, as some beginning runners might be led to believe. Some runs just stink: The weather is bad, aches and pains crop up, rhythm is off, etc. This happens sometimes and you just accept it, think about the run and what you can do to make it better, and plan for the next outing. ALSO: My favorite workout is the Manitou Incline. It’s grueling on legs and lungs, rewards you with a false summit halfway up, and has a nice trail run down.…

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The spring racing season, crushed by race cancellations and postponements because of the COVID-19 pandemic, came with a certain sting. On the professional side, the likes of Eliud Kipchoge and Kenenisa Bekele could not race for a marathon world record in London. Everyday runners felt their winter training was wasted as everything from a weekend 5K to the Boston Marathon was put on hold. You couldn’t blame a runner if their motivation plummeted with nothing on the horizon. I, too, had my marathon canceled a few weeks out from race day. To salvage weeks of training, I ended up completing a marathon on a local track at the beginning of April—more than 100 grueling laps by myself, fueled by doughnut holes and chocolate pretzels. There were no crowds or postrace…

Running coaches Elizabeth Corkum and John Honerkamp share their favorite workouts below. To do them, find a local track, straight road, or open path where you can perform each interval. One lap on a standard track is 400 meters or about 0.25 mile. If you don’t know your paces, go off of rate of perceived exertion (RPE): On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 is walking and 10 is an all-out sprint effort you can only hold for about 30 seconds. BEGINNER STRIDERS “I usually start runners new to speedwork with striders,” or short bursts of speed,” Corkum says. “Speedwork is high stress, so striders are a short taste of that stress. Like anything new to the body, diving into the deep end too often increases injury risk.” WARM…

Running may seem like a simple exercise, but for black runners, it comes with hazards. “While white runners may not think about their safety in terms of racial harassment and discrimination from police, black runners often have to think about that as they travel through spaces inside or outside their neighborhoods or in particularly white spaces,” says L’Heureux Lewis-McCoy, PhD, associate professor of sociology of education at New York University. These basic steps support black runners and help dismantle structural racism, but there’s far more you can learn and do. Please visit runnersworld.com/be-an-ally for more resources. Understand The act of running for black people inherently contains a great deal of transgenerational trauma, says Aeva Gaymon-Doomes, MD, a psychiatrist based in Washington, D.C. There’s a historical, ingrained stereotype that the image…

We all experience disappointments—the days nothing goes right—but the PRs and BQs come from all the days after, when we put our shoes back on and head out again. That’s the definition of endurance. But as these Runner’s World+ members demonstrate, endurance applies to much more than running, and it’s fueled by passion, dedication, and will. These members’ running “whys” don’t just keep them on pace during a workout, they keep them focused and dedicated in all they do.…

“IT’S AN ACTIVE ZEN. BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO DO ONLY ONE THING: JUST KEEP MOVING.” YOSHIKO JO KNOWS SHE’S OBSESSIVE, BUT FOR HER, RUNNING IS NO different from eating, sleeping, or breathing: It’s just something you do. Jo teaches Japanese language at Swarthmore, a small liberal arts college west of Philadelphia. And before the pandemic, she would run about 50 miles per week around her class schedule. Once or twice a month, she’d run a marathon (last year, she ran 18, and BQ’d at 17). When Pennsylvania shut down due to COVID-19, she upped her distance to about 100 miles per week, sometimes running private marathons around the deserted Swarthmore campus and its neighborhood. “To be honest, it’s a mental thing,” she says. “I just feel more comfortable in my…

“RUNNING’S TAUGHT ME HOW TO MOVE FORWARD, EVEN WHEN THINGS GET REALLY DIFFICULT.” CHRISTINA TORRES CAN STILL FEEL, IN HER BODY, HOW much she hated her first 5K. It was 2010. She’d reluctantly agreed to run the race with new Teach For America friends and students as part of a program to train middle and high school kids to run the L.A. Marathon. She’d never run more than a mile. “It’s funny to think about now, after doing so many marathons, but I distinctly remember at mile two [of the 5K] thinking, I can’t do this anymore,” she says. “But then I finished, and I started crying.” For the first time in her life, Torres realized she could accomplish challenging physical feats. “When you run, you might hit a wall,”…

“GETTING CONFIDENT IN MY RUNNING ALSO CREATED THIS NEW PROFESSIONAL CONFIDENCE TO STAND UP FOR MYSELF.” JESS MOVOLD SPRINGS off her living room floor like a superhero taking flight. With a soft landing, she bounces back up 11 more times to complete the set of jump squats. She’s already led her Instagram Live audience through a series of dead bugs, jumping lunges, and froggers, but cheers her followers on as if she has an extra set of lungs. “Don’t stop, don’t cheat yourself,” Movold implores. “If I can do it, you can do it! We can do it together!” Through the 38-minute broadcast, seen by more than 75,000, she also thanks commenters for shout-outs—“Glad you enjoy the coaching! Five seconds to go…” She drops in training tips, like how to…

WARMUPS Before you run, perform dynamic stretches, moving your legs through their range of motion to loosen your muscles (visit runnersworld.com/warm-up-stretches for our favorites). It shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes. CROSS-TRAINING Incorporate nonrunning activities into your training to enjoy a long, happy running life. Add 10 minutes of strength exercises or a core session after every run to keep your muscles in balance. Flexibility routines or a yoga practice will also keep muscles supple and maintain your range of motion.…

When a global pandemic isn’t forcing many of us to work from home, commuting by run is a great way to improve your weekly mileage and your commute itself. But our pack tester and resident ultrarunner Pat Heine has found that many purpose-built running backpacks aren’t good for more than a brief jaunt. They bounce too much, causing fatigue, and many trap a lot of heat against his back. Others have straps that are too narrow and chafe over time. Cavernous main compartments may be convenient for quick trots, but he wouldn’t want to log a significant number of miles in many models. Still, for the sake of testing packs for their advertised purpose, we commute with them. And for Heine specifically, that means running eight miles to work with…

In our experience, the best thing an armband that holds your phone can do is not be annoying on the run. After all, adding half a pound to a swinging extremity means that chafing and irritation are likely if the armband isn’t particularly well designed. Our Austin-based tester Cait Giddings has put 10 of them through the paces and enjoyed standout features such as quick mounts that facilitate fast phone access and added storage space. But the model she’s still using is the one that remains comfortable and unobtrusive after months and many miles running with it: the Armpocket Racer Plus. The $35 band uses a wide strap, distributing the cinching force across the upper arm, thereby enabling a comfortably snug fit. “Not to overstate the situation, but I would…

PRICE: $150 WEIGHT: 10.4 oz (M), 8.3 oz (W) DROP: 14.5 mm (M), 13.5 mm (W) TYPE: Trail INOV-8 WAS BORN in 2003 when fell runners sought grippier shoes for racing the wet and craggy moorland of northern England’s Lake District. Those same hills supply a key ingredient to the brand’s light and tough outsole: graphite. In 2004, scientists at the University of Manchester studying the curiously soft and metallic mineral isolated graphene, a stronger-than-steel carbon compound. It was just the thing Inov-8 needed to make its soles even grippier and long-lasting, though it wasn’t until 2018 that a shoe featuring the material made it to store shelves. Soft rubber has a sticky, elastic feel that provides exceptional traction on wet ground, but it wears down quickly. On the flip…

PRICE: $160 WEIGHT: 11.7 oz (M), 9.9 oz (W) DROP: 13 mm (M), 13 mm (W) TYPE: Road IF WE RANKED this Hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale, it would be an easy CAT 5; this shoe takes support, cushioning, and energy return to the highest level. “I run in the Saucony Guide normally for training, and the Hurricane is a step above,” one tester said. “The stability is top-notch; I can run 18-mile long runs without the IT band pain I experience in neutral shoes, and the cushioning stays soft from the first mile to the last.” Credit that to the solid medial post, which supports the most extremely overpronated gaits but sits nestled deep inside a hunk of bouncy foam. Because it’s all stacked atop a slightly curved…

PRICE: $90 WEIGHT: 10.8 oz (M), 9.0 oz (W) DROP: 16 mm (M), 14 mm (W) TYPE: Road BUDGET SHOES TYPICALLY are built cheaply—they’re heavy, the foam is hard, the forefoot doesn’t bend easily. In short, you sacrifice performance to save some coin. The Renew Run won’t be confused for the pricier React Infinity, which it sort of resembles aesthetically, but it performs well enough for the price, because it uses some proven technologies. Unlike the Infinity, which uses the bouncy React foam, the Renew uses two different, familiar foams. Directly under your heel is a soft slab of Lunarlon. Remember the old LunarGlide? Yep, the Renew uses the same soft foam. That stuff isn’t durable enough to be used for the entire midsole, though, so it’s encased in Phylon,…

PRICE: $140 WEIGHT: 9.8 oz (M), 8.5 oz (W) DROP: 8 mm (M), 5 mm (W) TYPE: Trail THIS IS TECHNICALLY the third iteration of the Timp, despite the 2 in the model name—Altra uses a point-5 designation every other year, signifying just small tweaks. But this do-itall trail shoe saw major changes. Notably, Altra replaced the standard EVA midsole with Quantic, a lightweight, more flexible foam. In the RW Shoe Lab, we found this new cushioning is actually firmer, a change welcomed by even diehard Timp fans, who described the Quantic midsole as that missing component from previous models. Forefoot strikers, especially those with aching knees, found the Timp 2 extremely supportive on rugged terrain. Those trails also allowed the outsole to shine. The Timp formerly used a more…

PRICE: $140 WEIGHT: 9.9 oz (M), 8.2 oz (W) DROP: 12 mm (M), 10 mm (W) TYPE: Trail SAVE FOR A rock plate in the midsole, the Caldera 4 has almost everything you want in a trail shoe: a protective mudguard and TPU toe cap, sticky outsole rubber, gaiter traps, and a lace keeper. Its thick midsole—especially under the heel—buffers any trail debris, and wear-testers remarked how well it propelled them forward. Not as burly as Brooks Cascadia, or as light as the brand’s PureGrit, the Caldera is a part of Brooks’s Energize line of shoes that are designed to return tons of energy with every stride. To do so, this shoe relies on BioMoGo DNA, an EVA-based, biodegradable foam. Already acquainted with the foam’s high rebound after covering the…

I RUN FOR MY FAMILY. Everything I do, every check I bring home, goes to them, whether that’s back home in Kenya to build my family a better home, or here in Auburn, California, with my daughter, Belvia. Running was a talent I knew I had after high school. My father didn’t have money to send me to college, and I didn’t want to ask for more help anyway. I thought maybe I could chip in through running. After starting on the tracks in Kenya, I moved to California to train. It hasn’t been easy going back and forth, especially as a single mom for Belvia. She’s 7, and I want to set her up for success in life. I teach her reading comprehension, something I didn’t learn until I…