This past Saturday, I participated in a company-funded 20-miler that took me all around Philadelphia. A Nathan rep was present, and generous enough to supply everyone with some sort of hydration device. Brooks was also present, giving out free stuff and using cornstarch to show off their very cool DNA technology. Also present was Anne Mahlum, founder and president of Back on My Feet (the organization which puts on The Lone Ranger Ultra).

There was a time when I wouldn’t have thought twice about a 20-miler. It wouldn’t even have been the long run of my week. But that time was over half a year ago; concerning long distance, I am out of practice. I’ve been putting in relatively low mileage, running with my high-school racers and then doing extensions afterward.

I was therefore a little apprehensive. The longest run I’d done since the ultra was 10.5 miles. I knew that the jump to 20 was going to be… uncomfortable.

What I did not know was that I was actually jumping to 23 miles, or that I would do it with Maggie, a pleasant– but inconveniently skilled– marathoner. She was in much better shape than I, and running alongside her forced me to keep my pace up.

(Good luck in the Philly marathon, Maggie!)

Anyway, my body held up well under my recklessness. I used this run to test my HPL #020 pack, and I think that the steady hydration contributed to my success. Or at least, it contributed to the fact that I could walk around later that day.

I mentioned a little while ago that I was doing a wear test of the Brooks Green Silence for my work. I thought my readership might be interested in the results as well, so here is my writeup on the shoes.

1. Fit

a. Narrow in arch
b. Narrow toebox
c. Difficult to lace comfortably
i. I often tied these shoes uncomfortably tight because wearing them looser made the heel feel baggy. The tightness wasn’t very noticeable while running, but distracting while walking or standing.

2. Feel

a. Heel counter at comfortable height—didn’t notice it, which is a good thing
b. No irritation from eyelets
c. Platform narrow at midfoot; feels like it encourages supination

3. Function

a. Super light and bouncy
b. Performed very well in interval training and fartleks (especially on hills)
c. Flexibility and lightness encourages running on the ball of the foot—could work well as “transitional” footwear like the Nike Free
d. Little traction. I had to be more careful than usual running across sewer grates and metal bridges after rain
e. Upper breathes well and dries very quickly after a run

4. Finish

a. Colors make it stand out on the running shoe wall. There are very few black running shoes, so it draws the eye. The black coloration also makes the green “pop”
b. Received comments and compliments from other runners who likely would not have noticed more standard-looking running shoes.
c. I think they look cool

So there you go. I trained in these shoes, but I think that they’d really shine in shorter distance races– 5k and 10k’s. If you’re a green-minded runner (and there seem to be a lot of those these days) looking for a good performance shoe, I truly think the Green silence has something to offer.