Running Commentary

Disclaimer: The Reebok Floatride was provided to me by Reebok Singapore for the purposes of a review. Reebok isn't a brand one would associate with running shoes these days. That hasn't always been the case, but in the last couple of years, their focus seemed to be more on cross-fit and obstacle racing. That focus seems to have shifted this year with a host of new running shoes that have caused quite a stir among running circles. Earlier this year, Reebok gave us a taster of things to come when they released the Reebok Harmony Road, sporting their first foray into a TPU-based midsole - KooshRide (which seems to behave similarly to Adidas's Boost foam). And now, representing Reebok's first foray into the increasing popular knitted-upper retail space, we have the Reebok Floatride Run. Let's start with the basic specs. Heel stack: 26mm Forefoot stack: 18mm Drop: 8mm Weight: 9.17oz (260g) (US9.5) Note: advertised weight is 8.2oz (233g) for US9 ...

Over the past 2 weeks I've had the opportunity to try out the new ASICS Gel Quantum 360 Knit. This is arguably ASICS's first formal foray into the now fairly crowded knit-upper marketspace. First introduced by Nike in 2012 in the Flyknit racer, the knitted upper is now being used in various forms in the following brands in no particular order: Adidas, Altra, Hoka, Brooks, Reebok, Skechers, Under Armour, and now of course ASICS as well. The Gel Quantum 360 itself is not a new shoe, and came out (IIRC) around the end of 2015, utilizing a thin midsole of Solyte sitting on a large and heavily segmented wedge of Gel.  So what's new about this version? Of course that would be the knit upper. I must confess I never tried the original Gel Quantum 360, so i can't really provide any sort of comparison of the knit upper to its predecessor. What ASICS says: "With 360 degrees of GEL-Cushioning, the GEL-QUANTUM 360 KNIT is the ideal running shoe to meet the activ...

On 7th April 2017, I got the opportunity to try out the latest version of the ASICS Foot ID at their new concept store at Plaza Singapura.    The last time i tried out the Foot ID was way back in 2012 at the Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore race expo, and so i was keen to see what had changed. The analysis came in two parts. The first part was a static test where you put each foot into a camera box (fitted with 8, yes EIGHT!) different cameras. (That's the little box-like contraption on the right in the photo) These cameras took still shots of your foot from all angles and rendered a 3D reconstruction of your foot and ankle. This was really cool and you could see the subtle curves of the skin in the reconstructed images. The computer program was then able to use the image to make various measurements about the shape and width/length of different parts of your foot. The end result is a printout of different numbers which will hopefully serve to ...