Review: New Balance FreshFoam 980 Trail

Note: First review ever,  so take it for what it is.

NB 980 Trail Fresh Foam:

Scheduled for release July 1, 2014

I'll start off with thanking New Balance for sending me these sweet shoes for using their hastag #SeeMyRun .

Out of the box you notice the light weight. (Didn't weigh them, let's be realistic, they are light)

Looks are good but that shouldn't last long. They're a trail shoe, they're going to get dirty! Style is there along with some good color options (not depicted sorry).  No doubt this shoe is a close cousin to its road version.  

Tread is nice. Lugs are somewhat aggressive. Traction is great all around.  Gravel, rocks, mud. The lugs didn't get clogged with mud running through always muddy/swampy areas.  That should give you a little more confidence in the corners and hills. 

Cushion is pretty awesome!  Somewhat firm when you put them on, but take your first step and the ball of your foot is met with a pillow of soft.  Don't worry about them being too soft though, these Fresh Foam 980Trails have plenty of support for a stable ride.  Up hill, down hill, through the rocks, you'll be comfortable.  I even took a couple decent rocks to the arch flying down hill, no issue there.  Did I mention I was flying?  Top speed down hill in a rocky trail was a 5:30 pace (I usually avg a 6:45-7:20 on the road, good thing I didn't roll an ankle).  

For my first pair of trail shoes, I'm glad they were the Fresh Foam 980Trail from New Balance.  Never run a trail before getting them, but guarantee I'll be running plenty this Summer/Fall!

Pros:

Cushion

Traction

Stability

Looks

Everything

Con: 

Wish they were made in the USA like some of my other NB's.

First Race

The clocked ticked off, 38:13; 47:24; 2:08:23, it was over, we finished.  Owen my 9 year old nephew, Meghan my sister-in-law (his mother), Chantelle and I, all finished our first race. 

There were 7 of us total that day, Meghan, Keith, Chad, Amanda, Chantelle, Owen and myself. 

Planning started over a year ago.  Keith had been asking to find a race the two of us could run.  We would always look for something in the Boston area  around the times he would be back in town for work meetings.  This never worked.  So we started looking for a destination race. Maybe it would be easier for us to meet at a location, and also use it as an excuse for a vacation?  Anyone who has tried this, quickly realizes this can become very costly.  

"Maybe we can find a race in KC?"  I was already on the computer looking up potential races before the question was completely asked, and more questions started coming.  When do we want to run? How long will the race be?  It took a couple days but I had found the race, "Rock The Parkway", in Kansas City, Missouri.

This race quickly morphed from Keith, Chantelle and I running together, to a much larger family affair.  Meghan had started running, and Owen too.  The two of them decided RTP would be a good goal race to aim for, they'd have plenty of time to train even if the Mid-West winter temps  (they ranked 10th coldest state this year) were on the cold side.  I set up a training schedule for Keith and Chantelle, we were set to go!

Training December through March can get very difficult living in New England or the Mid-West.  Short days coupled with low temps made for very difficult running.  There might have been a couple days we were met with frozen water bottles mid-run.  Add in work and family obligations, and you're right on the edge.

Chantelle and I were able to incorporate some races into our schedule from January to late March ranging from 5k to 5 Miles. The Mid-West family wasn't so fortunate, they were left with treadmill training.  Through our winter races Amanda was able to complete her first 5k (ended up being 3.5 miles). With the positive outcome she decided she would also register and run RTP.  Chad, hearing the rest of the family was going, also registered. 

Flights were booked, bags were packed, April 12th the 7 of us were Rocking The Parkway!

It was a staggered start, Chantelle and I started a half hour before everyone else.  We were in Wave C in a field of 4,932 runners.  The other 5 were able to start together in their field of 1,554 runners. Neither Chantelle or I had been able to run in the last 3.5 weeks and never made it over 8 miles in our training runs ( not recommended ).  

The course was amazing!  Some mild hills in the middle and a down hill finish.  There were 4 or 5 bands playing throughout the course.  Support staff was great. This was the most organized race I have been to yet.  A few of the cities 47 fountains were flowing to make an amazing backdrop to the race including the Meyer Circle Sea Horse Fountain.  

Chantelle and I came through the finish line, the rest of the family cheering us from the sideline. Everyone was there had smiles on their faces, I knew we had all finished.  It was a great feeling.  We met up with the family, first thing from Owens mouth, "We need to do more of these!"  There were stories, videos and pictures of everyone's accomplishments.  Chad and Amanda PR'd their 5k. Meghan and Owen, ran their first 5k, this was Keith's first race with his son.  Chantelle and I finished our first Half.  It was a day of firsts, but definitely not a day of lasts.  And we all Rocked The Parkway!

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Find Yours

Growing up, I was carted around with my mother to watch my brothers plays sports. In the fall it was soccer during the week, and football on Saturdays.  The winter was wrestling. Week nights were individual matches and every Saturday was a tournament.  Keith played football and Chad, soccer, both wrestled.  It seemed like one of the two was in the paper at least once a week from Sept. to Jan.,(I'm sure there were a couple weeks they weren't... I'd like to see you try to remember everything from 21 years ago when you were seven).  You'd walk in their rooms and all you'd see were medals, plaques, and tournament brackets, covering the walls.

At five-ish I was signed up for soccer, I remember not really being in to it.  I was excited to play a sport, but soccer just wasn't my thing. Maybe it was because I couldn't run, look up and keep the ball with me... maybe.  Next came baseball, I want to say I played from 3rd grade to 6th.  Three of those four were spent behind the plate.  I didn't do too bad, sure I had a lot of pass balls, but that mask was off before you could blink and I was chasing it! I think my entire "career" in baseball I hit the ball ... 5 times... max! (OK, maybe a couple more than five... maybe 10).

So 7th grade came and now I could play football and I could wrestle.  I was never good in school, hated doing homework.  I never had a problem finding something better to do.  That caused its own problems though.  For two years I failed off the football team and because of that couldn't wrestle.  So freshman year of high school I didn't play football, and was able to keep my grades high enough so I could wrestle.  Not playing football didn't bother me too much.  Not being able to wrestle was a lot worse.  There was a feeling wrestling was expected.  So to have to tell people I couldn't because of grades was always a problem.  I was never really able to succeed though, my three years of wrestling was the ebbing of the program.  Because of that I was  never able to challenge myself in practice, (I had to practice with our 103lb. and i was 140lb. not a big challenge to treat him like a ragdoll) and that made it very hard to succeed.  Out of three years I won 4 or 5... total.  Nowhere near as good as I had hoped to be.

As the youngest of a family of all boys you always feel you have to meet or exceed what your older brothers have done.  I continued to fail in that department.  It wasn't until I started running that I felt I had moved up to their level.  I was competing and finishing with respectable times.  Maybe I'm not in the newspaper, but I have plenty of pictures, race bibs and finish times! 

Running was never a thought as a kid.  You follow the path that you know, the path the people before you have gone down, even if your not that successful.  That following continued for me into adulthood, when I followed my brother in his 5k.  The only difference is this time, I found something I could succeed in.  Running is an individual sport, you never have to compete with anyone but yourself unless you want to.  This was my way to compete with my brothers, something to bring me to their level.  I was finally able to find my sport. It only took me 28 years to find it! 

Maybe running isn't your gig.  Maybe sports in general aren't your style.  Keep looking, look in places would wouldn't think to look. Go outside your comfort zone, and Find Yours.

Cause she told me to

Oct 9th my sister in-law tells me shes going to do a c25k program, "That's Awesome!", I tell her.  Hers is going to be the, "Treadmill Edition".  She feels she has to justify this to me because my running club shirts (I started a running club lol) say, "Treadmills get you nowhere".  I tell her it doesn't matter how you do it, "Whatever works for you!"

I'll touch on treadmills some other time.

Some background:

August of 2012, I see that my brother completed a 5k, (at the time I didn't even know how long a 5k was, why would I need to...)  I say to myself, "If he can do a 5k, I can do a 5k!".  So I Google it, like everything else, it's 3.1 miles. "3.1 miles?!? It can't be that tough."

So I look up running programs, find a c25k program and kinda wing it. Why would I follow a program designed for beginning runners??? I don't know, cause that would be too easy. Fast forward three months to the Mike Donohoe Memorial 5k, I PR'd with a 24:25 (hint: you always PR your first race). That was the beginning of my running career. Career, that's funny.

We'll talk about the Running Club later.


Back to the sister in-law, I check in with her from time to time, to see how far the treadmill is getting her.  I try to give some pointers on diet, breathing, and other running stuff, (cause I know everything there is to know about running after a year of doing it... right). She appreciates it though, I think.

She told me today that her first goal was to run, now her goal is to run outside.

We all have our reasons for doing things the way we do them. I modified my c25k, she started on the treadmill, going nowhere...


She tells me I'm the reason,(at least one of them) that she started running.

I'll tell you I started this blog, cause she told me to.