Tuesday, April 28, 2009

New Balance 992s

A while back, I was fortunate enough to be chosen to be sponsored by New Balance of Harrisburg. The deal was, a free pair of shoes, provided I post a review of the shoes (and a link to them, of course).

Today's that day!



I wound up picking out the 992 shoes.

So, what do I think?

The first thing that hit me was the styling. The first thing that came to mind was the early to mid 80s and the Kangaroo sneaks I used to have. You know, the shoes with pockets? (I think mine were even velcro. Oh yeah!)

It's the whole suede thing, really. But, I'm not the go-to guy on being up to date on fashion matters, anyway. Plus, I knew they had suede on them when I ordered them.

(One last side note.. Did you know that KangaROOS are still going strong? I had absolutely no idea.)


So, the shoe. I picked this shoe because I believe I have a pronation issue, and I'm looking to find something to help out with that. In general, the outside of my heel and the inside of the toebox are worn out first. I have a moderate to high arch, and wide ass ugly feet. Anything that can help my running, I'm willing to give it a shot.

I haven't been able to take these on a run longer than 3 or 4 miles, due to my ITBS issues, so I can't really go into detail on how these perform on a long run.

The first thing I noticed after putting the shoes on is that they have a lot of cushion. I'm all about the cushion. Even while running, you can feel cushioned.

The shoes are sturdy. They look like they'll hold up longer than some. No 300 miles and they're done. They really look solid and well built (and feel it too).

So, after doing runs in them, what do I think? The cushioning is still there. Lovin' that. I think they've helped somewhat with my pronation. The heel area is worn down, but definitely not as much as with other shoes. To that end, when I run in these shoes, the insides of my ankles feel somewhat strained. I'm guessing that has to do with my pronation being slightly different, and I'm just not used to it. That's purely a guess though.

Practically speaking, these shoes have ultra wide laces, and, as a result, don't seem to become untied magically mid-run. I like that. (I always double knot, but still..)

End result, I like the shoes. I'll probably hold off picking up another pair, until I've tried a bunch of other types of shoes. (This is my "playing the field" time with my shoes.) But, if someone was thinking about the shoes, I certainly would give them positive press.

Thanks to NB of Harrisburg for this opportunity!

5 comments:

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

I just switched brands of shoes too and I found, for the first run or two, that the new shoes, which fit fine, were wreaking havoc on both my FU toes (the second, longer toes, because, on the feet, the FU toe is the SECOND toe, not the middle one, as it is with the fingers; trust me on this).

So now both toenails are black and Teh 'Bride is like even more grossed out by my feet than before. (It's nothing gainst my feet in particular - Teh 'B. just doesn't care for feet - no foot-fetishist, she.)

But now my feet are used to these new shoes and they don't hurt me at all.

The brand? you ask.

I forget.

That why I'll NEVAH GETZ PAID!1!

Denise said...

Nice review. Very fancy over there reviewing shoes, scotch, beers... :-)

Julianne said...

You got free shoes?!?! I am so jealous!! I like the retro-look of the shoes. I totally know what you mean about the 80s look. Nice review!

Unknown said...

Thanks for the review!

joyRuN said...

I wanna sponsorship deal!!

I'm a coward when it comes to trying new shoes though. My asics 2130's have served me well, & I dread the day when my stockpile is gone & I'll have to get new shoes.