KL 10K Road Race Report and Review

This report and review is a little overdue but with what had happened on 15.04.2013, I felt that I should defer posting this up by 1 week as a sign of respect to the victim of the Boston Marathon bombing.

REVIEW

Ok, first thing first. KL 10K Road Race is organized by Cadence Project Services and supported by DBKL. It's Co-Sponsored (quite last minute I would say) by Milo, Kinesio Garage, and Protex. Just so you guys know, I couldn't google up anything on Cadence Project at all and I've always been good at finding information of these sorts. The main reason for me to join this race was to have consistent "higher" (by my then current standard) mileage race to continue to motivate me onward in my training. Below is the review in point form:


The Good:
1. Dry Fit Round Neck T-shirt. I'm a sucker for them since I'm kind of shy. Vests are too sexy for my taste.
2. Smaller number of runners result in less traffic congestion for runners, making it easier for us to run.
3. Great volunteers. They direct clearly and cheer you and encourage you along the way.
4. Marshall and RELA members escorted vehicles through the runners safely. Good job on that.

The Bad:
1. Information seems to be slow in coming out. Race Kit Collection was announced about 1 1/2 Month before event, and Race Route was only out 2 weeks before the event. Is this due to lack of preparation or lack of experience or lack of personnel?
2. Race kit collection was poorly done. There was no direction provided to get to the room. Wisma OCM is multi-faceted. Where should we go?
3. Bib was made out of paper, which disintegrated before I finished the race and only realized it when I wanted to take it off.
4. You're required to write your own name and emergency contact number. Not a biggie but we WERE promised a personalized bib. Also, with the guaranteed disintegration of the bib, what's the point?
5. No medical personnel as far as I can tell. Not sure if they're at the water station or not since I BYOW anyway so I can't confirm on that.
6. Insufficient personnel at water station? I have a lot of feedback whereby runners have to stop to fill up their own cups.
7. No notification on REPC was sent to the runners. Coupled with the fact that REPC information was not given upon registration, quite a few runners actually forgot about it. It's not fully the organizer's fault but it would be nice to be reminded since no info was stated beforehand.

The Ugly:
1. Promises were not kept. e.g. Personalized Bib Number, Goodie Bag, Light Breakfast. There's also no XS T-Shirt available.
2. "Route will cover notable landmarks in Kuala Lumpur and opportunity to view a piece of Malaysian
history." The route goes through from Padang Merbok, to Mahameru, to Bukit Tunku and then back. Can someone please enlighten me on the historical aspect of this route please? I failed my History.
3. Bad runner mentality. At both water station, I see runners throwing cups on the floor when there's a rubbish bin 2 feet ahead of them. Throw it in the bin or carry it all the way back please.
4. Organizer seem to have reduced down the prize money as well as those entitled to the prize money. I'm not too sure on this matter since I don't run for the money, but if it's been promised and the organizer is to do that, it's extremely wrong.

As of now there's still a debate as to whether we should still give the organizer a chance for next year. What do you guys think?


REPORT

What have I to say about this race? Well for one, Ouch comes to mind at the moment. It took me a few days to get my "spring" back in my leg. Considering that it's the 4th race that I've ever joined, I would say I'm still kinda ignorant to some things like whether it's a good idea to have a race once a month and how long is the recovery period and etc. This race was actually set as a low priority race as I wanted to concentrate on my training the Half Marathon at SCKLM, that is until Eugene from Team 2ndSkin got wind of it.

I know Eugene from the KL Runners Group in Facebook. We've never actually met but we got along well and had fun chatting and sharing online. Anyway, Eugene kinda found out my timing for the 10K I ran in Brooks Half Marathon 2013 and volunteered to pace me to a new PB. I was a bit hesitant, seeing that it's only my 2nd 10K race and only 1 month after Brooks. Half of that 1 month I wasn't able to train much at all. We had a short chat and Eugene advised me to start incorporating faster kicks at the end of all my runs for at least 500m, so that was that and we kind of agreed to it. When the race course came out two weeks before the race, I plotted it into Garmin and found that it was quite hilly, oh well, it's just a few hills right? Which race in Malaysia doesn't have hills? I kind of thought nothing of it after that.

Race kit collection day roll around and since I don't know where the place is, I hitched a ride with a friend who knows the way. Locating the building was not too bad. Problem is locating where we're suppose to collect the Race kit. There was a lack of signage to point us in the right direction. When we asked the staff of the hotel, we only manage to get a general direction which did not help at all. Luckily a kind guy saw that we were still struggling to look for the place and walked us there. :)

Things looked to be pretty standard, with 1 team of people checking your Confirmation slip to get the Bib Number, while another team go about gathering  your Race Kit. First surprise came when the T-shirt size requested by my friend (XS) was not available. 2nd surprise came when there's no Race Program included. Instead, it was printed on a banner for you to see. That's it. When I got back to prepare the items, I found that the Bib was made out of paper. I accidentally tore it before the race day even came about. Not a good start of things.

Before heading back, my friend decided to go for a drive to Padang Merbok to see where we can park as well as to survey the route. Imagine to our surprised when we saw the amount of hills that we had to traverse. I wasn't too intimidated, but it certainly is daunting. What with the amount of hills as well as the incline, the first thought that came to mind was whether I would be able to finish strongly at all, let alone a PB. Oh well, one can only do one's best. As you can see, I've already started thinking negatively about the race.

Race day come about, I went over to fetch a running buddy that wanted to carpool and drove on to the race venue. We decided to go earlier to ensure that we can get a parking lot due to the lack of parking facilities there. There wasn't any guide on alternative parking area so we wanted to make sure we can get a space. Well, we were one of the first participant to arrive. The rest of the people, as far as I can tell are volunteers. Pretty soon, the parking was filled up and the Rela volunteers stopped anymore cars from coming in. Where to park leh then? Side of the road as far as I can tell. This proved to be correct as after we start the race, we could see cars parked along the side of the road. In fact, there are people who even parked on Jalan Parlimen itself!

Closer to race time, we decided to get out of the car and go in search of toilet. Imagine our surprise when we were informed that there's none. Apparently the Organizer have applied for permit for Porta-loo but was rejected by DBKL. We were informed that there's a public toilet at Padang Merbok itself but it'll only be opened after 7am. Guess what, the start time of the race was 7am. Some enterprising soul managed to talked the guards at the one of the academy nearby into letting them have access to the toilet there. It was briefly opened to the public but quickly closed after a while due to the huge number of runners. It's understandable since they are responsible for the security of the academy and they may be questioned if the toilet get messed up.

Be that as it may I saw the legendary Yim Heng Fatt holding a camera walking about and went up to him and introduced myself. We chatted for awhile when out of the blue, someone came up to us and ask whether he's the photographer ET Tey. Both of us had a good quiet laugh as he kindly and humbly corrected the guy. After that, he got busy taking photos so off I went to look for others that I've met and gotten to know. I managed to catch up with Joanne, and Lorna and her friends. While waiting for Lorna to warm up, I managed to catch sight of Eugene. We've never met before but the shirt he wore was just too bright to be ignored. :) I went up to him and introduced myself. We chatted a bit and then I introduced him to the rest of the KL Runners gang who were already there.

As we chatted, we went back to the topic of getting a PB here. I voiced my doubt that I could do it due to the huge number of hills, but Eugene was undeterred. He was pretty certain we can do it and convinced me to follow his pace until I pass out. I looked at him incredulously as I've never been paced before so I wasn't too sure on what to expect. Sure, I've paced others before mainly as an encouragement, but this time round, we're going on a mission to break a time record so I hope you guys understand why I'm a little nervous about things. At about 6.50am, we were all asked to report to the starting corral. So off we went, lining up like sardines in a can. As I looked around, I realized that we were slightly further in front than where I'm used to and prefer to line up. We're up at the 2nd quarter of the corral whereas I'm usually at the 3rd quarter. It's a clear indication on the expected pace Eugene will be setting.

As the gun went off and we started shuffling toward the timing mat like a bunch of zombie. Before we even reached the mat, you can see the fast runners setting off up the hill already. The moment we got out, we hit the first hill. As we're still shuffling for position, we didn't mind going at a relatively "slower" pace of 7:14min/km Pace. I'm starting to not get surprised to see walkers appearing within the 1st KM. Anyway, as we near the end of the hill, we stumbled onto a kid who's running with his dad. According to Eugene, this is the first time the kid is running in a race. His dad signed up for him as so that he can run with the bib.

Kid finishing the race in style. Dad in yellow shirt carrying his shoes. Photo Courtesy of Yim Heng Fatt.

Check out the guys behind the kid. Whoever you are kiddo, you're my hero! Photo Courtesy of Yim Heng Fatt.

We started to speed up as we get to the downhill section. We were going way faster than what I'm used to, mostly sub 7min/km pace to 6min/km pace. I'm a slow starter and usually need a few km to warm up before going faster. I mentioned it to Eugene and he assures me that we're on the right pacing for a PB. When we hit the Bukit Tunku hills, I know I'm in trouble as my heart rate has been elevated more than usual for quite some time already. I voiced out my thought that the hills are gonna be hell and Eugene patiently told me to get rid of such negative thoughts and concentrate on shortening my stride length to go up the hill instead.

As we're going up the hills at Bukit Tunku, we heard a motorbike coming from the back with whistle blowing. After a while, the motorbike came around and behind it, the Kenyans are passing us by. There goes the locals dream of getting the prize money lol. Things were starting to get tough for me at this point of time. I'm feeling out of breathe, my heart rate is more elevated than I would like it to be, and we're going faster than I'm accustomed to. As we near the top of the killer hill at Bukit Tunku, Eugene noticed I kept glancing at my Garmin, so he told me not to look at it and to trust him instead. I told him I was checking my heart rate, of which, it was at 178 bpm.

Well, with my heart rate like that, Eugene decided not to speed up during the downhill, instead, we used it as a recovery phase for me but even then that was not enough. I have started off too fast too soon and my body is starting to deplete it's store of glycogen, not surprising since I've gone anaerobic quite early on. I took half a packet of Hammer Nutrition Gel at about KM5 and the other half about KM 6. By this time I'm at the stage where, I am reserving my breathe to talk already. I know I slowed down alot from KM6 to KM7 as it was an uphill section and I really needed to slow down to catch my breathe and recover.

I can't really recall much information except that Lorna came up from behind us and got a drink from my bottle before speeding off as usual. :) Eugene egg me on and continue to give encouragement throughout the race. Even when I felt like stopping to take a walk, which I know is a bad idea, he throw out little challenges to make me dig deeper in myself to just go that extra distance further. Thinking back, I'm really glad I didn't stop to walk because I'm pretty sure I won't be able to start back up again. By the time we reached KM 8, Eugene let me know we have the PB in the bag as long as we don't stop running now. Come to think of it... Duhhhhh. Kena conned. -_-

After passing the KTM station, we saw Yim taking photo in front of us. Eugene went hyper on me. I'm still surprised he's still got so much energy. For me, all I could do was to try and catch my breath and continue running, and of course, look smart on photo.

Eugene going Hyper when he saw Yim. Photo Courtesy of Yim Heng Fatt.

Truth be told this antic made me laugh. Cheered me up but I almost couldn't run due to the lack of breath. Photo Courtesy of Yim Heng Fatt.

With less than 2KM to go, I did what I could to speed up which I doubt I did. I'm just glad it's sub 7min pace all the way back to the finishing line. Crossing the line was a huge relieve. I totally forgot about the timing. Eugene congrats me on a new PB and all I could do was smile stupidly. I'm sure he must be wondering what's going through my brain at the moment. Truth is, brain is on "collect" mode. Processing mode kind of switched off a few KM back. :)

Once again, I just want to thank Eugene for pacing me on this race. Your encouragement and belief in me made a huge difference to me. I've learned a lot on this race with you.

After a job well done. I'm completely drenched and couldn't even stand straight. lol. Picture courtesy of Xydra Lau

Things I've learned in this race: 

1. Shorten your stride length while maintaining effort when going uphill. Overall, you don't tax your muscle as much as when you take your normal stride length.
2. When you think you're running on empty, dig deeper. You'll be surprised to find that there's more there.
3. When you think you can't, you can't. Mental strength plays a very crucial role in your run. If there's a huge challenge or obstacle, turn it into a motivation or cut it into manageable bits. When you take it head on positively, you will be able to overcome it. (Thanks Eugene for showing me. :))

Brooks Half Marathon 2013 Review.

Ok, ok. I know I’m late posting this up but I’ve been catching up with my sleep and hoarding food into my tummy as it’s been complaining about the lack off food. I myself am surprised by my large appetite after this run.

As some of you may have known, I’ve been preparing for this run for about 3 months already. Just a little bit off info, I was actually contemplating on going for the Half Marathon before this. I’m glad I signed up for the 10K instead because I’m pretty sure that I will never be able to finish the 21K at this period of time. Not because of lack of trying but rather, I want to enjoy the journey to completing a marathon. As it was, it wasn’t smooth sailing while preparing for this run what with numerous down time due to my calves complaining…. Sissy.

Going into this run, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to run the course the whole way. Instead I opted to set myself a challenging goal of finishing in 1.20min and not mind about the walking part at all. Reason being, in these 3 months of training, I’ve never been able to, not even once, completely run 10K without taking at least 4-5 walking breaks. Even then, each time I go for anything above 8K my legs will start protesting and giving me problems. So since it’s now crunch time, I might as well go out and enjoy myself.

I’ve arranged with some friends to meet up at the Baggage Drop off area on race day, however we have differing arrival time. After the experience from the Park City run last year, I decided to get to the venue as early as possible. Reaching the Stadium at 4.30am. I proceed to SMS my friends to inform them on the developing traffic and of course, eat my breakfast. Once that's done, it's time for a little R&R. Played a little game on the iPhone and check some statuses on FB. Come 5am, I went to catch up with the gang at the baggage area. Mana tau, they haven’t arrive yet….

While waiting for the gangs, I realised that there is a HUUUUGGGEEEEE number of runners milling about. At first I thought that they’re just a mixture of all the runners from the different categories. Imagine my surprise when after the gun off, we were left with only a handful of people around. WOW! Well, I thought nothing of it since the flag off area seems kind of small anyway. Back to the wait, Once the guys are in, and the time for flag off for the 10K got near, we proceed to the flag off area too.

Upon countdown, we all mill and slowly shuffle our way toward the start line with people jumping in from the side as the flag off area is insufficient to accommodate the number of runners. Me and a regular running kaki decided to run together since our pacing is similar. We both agree that when he start lagging, I’ll just go on ahead. We both know that there’s a possibility whereby he’ll have to walk partially as he wasn’t able to get ready in time. As an experiment, we decided to load him up with some Gu Gel 30 minutes before flag off to see if it’ll help to sustain his run.

In any case, our game plan was to maintain our pace, slow down on hills, hammer the descent and possibly walk up that crazy incline at Technology park. Well, that was our initial plan. We didn’t factor in the crowd that we’ll be facing.

Upon exiting the Stadium Parking, both me and my buddy went OMG! Instead of taking up one lane, the runners are taking up 2 lanes and it’s stretching ahead of us by quite a distance. Well, we thought, ok, let’s chill a while and the crowd will disperse in about 1-2km. Boy were we wrong. Not even 1K in, we have people starting to walk or slow down already, ON THE RIGHT SIDE! My thought was, here we go again. The problem was compounded by the huge crowd. There isn’t any space whatsoever to maneuver at all. We saw a lot of runners running onto sidewalks or even the side of the drain just to have some space to overtake people.

Not too far from the start, near by to IMU, the road started to get dark. A lot of people ran into the safety cones and some runners start bumping into each other as we try to avoid it and other runners. Shortly thereafter, there was some commotion ahead. We were wondering what’s happening when we saw that a runner was down and some runners were performing first aid. We thought that the runner may have fainted as there was a clear space around him/her and some runners have taken off their vest and am fanning the downed runner with it. I was therefore surprised when I heard the cue of CPR being administered after passing him/her.

I’m not sure who it is that was helping the downed runner as I do not have a clear view, and the crowd requires that I pay attention to what’s happening around me, thus I’m not sure if it’s a medical personnel or a runner who assisted. I DO note that I did not see any medical personnel personally throughout the 10K I was running. It COULD be that they are at the water station but I could not confirm as I didn’t stop for any water.

Talk about water station, What is it with Malaysian runners and Water Station? Seriously, everything went to hell the moment a water station came up. At the first water station, I had a guy on the left cut right in front of me to go to the right side and all of a sudden decided to cut back left to get water. He tried to squeeze into some space along the crowd and stop right in front of me, causing me to collide into him. Seriously?!?! No apologies or anything… The scene is worse than any mamak I’ve ever seen. I asked my partner if he wants a drink. He looked at the station and goes, no way. He’d rather get water from the 2nd station what with the crowd. I told him ok, I’ll leave him behind there then.

We proceed to skip over the runners stopping to water themselves and proceed to try and get some space for us to run at a comfortable pace. Unfortunately that’s not to be what with the runners weaving into our lane all of sudden and the sudden stops as well as us weaving to overtake slow runners on the outside. People, Please learn to walk or slow down on the LEFT! If you do this in your car on the right lane in Malaysia, you’ll get into an accident. Same thing with running….. Things were so bad that my partner almost end up falling into the drain when another runner bumped into him trying to run at the side of the drain. At least this guy is courteous enough to apologize. Kudos to him.

Since things were pretty bad, we decided to forgo any walk plans on the hills, including the big one at Technology Park. We hammered the descent to try to make as much time as we could and overtake as many people as we could, and we slow down to a manageable pace for the incline and flats. We thought we were getting clearer then we found out the 5K groups have joined up with us.

Things just got from bad to worse. Now  you have kids zooming in front only to putter out right in front of you. Jeez. Kid, this is an Endurance run. Not a sprint. Take it easy and you can go further.

2nd Water Station is no better than the first Water Station. It’s completely crowded and the volunteer have to scream their head off to let the runners know that there’s more water in front. I decided to speed up and finish the run as soon as possible at this point coz of the water cup war going on there. From here on it was solo run all the way back. It got difficult at some point and there are times I just want to stop and walk. But I reminded myself that I’ve come this far and it’s only 3km, 2km, 1km to go.
Reaching the finish line, I am surprised on 2 matters:

1. I finished the 10K without stopping once for a walk break.
2. I finished it in 1 hr 12 min. 8 minute ahead of my goal time.
3. Apparently my friend found that the Gel does help him sustain his run throughout. He finished just 2 minutes behind me, without any stop as well. :)

The result made me very happy and have indeed brighten my day by a lot. I’m a little bit more confident that I can get ready in time for the Standard Chartered Half Marathon. Just a bit
Now to the Pros and Cons of this race.

Pros:

1. Race kit collection is done in a large area. Yeah it’s not computerized and it’s a little slow, but things get done.
2. Lovely product exhibition at the Race Kit Collection and Race venue.
3. Ample parking (although I heard that they ran out of parking for the late comers).
4. Lots of open space for runners after the run. We know how we smell like and open air is much preferred.

Cons:

1. No medical Personnel that I saw. Please let me know so that I can correct this if anyone saw otherwise.
2. Running through dark streets. I was lucky not to get into any potholes but some runners aren't so lucky.
3. Safety cones became hazard cones, this is mainly due to the following 2 points.
4. Lack of Traffic Marshall on the road. Runners are running on 2 lanes instead of one.
5. Too many participants for the route. Seriously, we had to slow down at one point to get through a corner at one point.
6. Water station is overly crowded. This is partially the runners fault for crowding, but I’m sure if the organizer is to have a longer water station, this could help out.
7. No photographers. Come on, runners are all cam whore. How can there be no photographers till the last 400 meter?

Recommendations:

1. Looking at the number of participants, I would have recommended the organizer to corral the runners with estimated finishing time and stagger their departure.
2. As mentioned above, longer water station or double deck them into 2 lanes.
3. Huge number of waste paper cup on the road. As I don’t use the water station due to this issue I don’t know what’s the cause. I however suspect that the organizer can help by having more trash bin along the way for people to throw the waste paper cup into.
4. Be firm on the number of runners instead of trying to rake in more profit and allow more runners to sign up after the initial number has been reached.
5. More Road Marshalls, Volunteers, Medical Personnel.
6. Come out with a brochure to educate the Malaysian runners on running etiquette.

Pet Peeves:

1. Slow runners on right side of the lane. With the number of runners on this run, I can’t even tell where there’s a fast lane or not. We had to weave through the crowd just to maintain our pace. Please runners, if you need to slow down or stop, check behind you and go to the left before you stop or slow down.
2. Water Station Crowd. Looks like Zebra in the Sahara Watering hole. Seriously.
3. Come on, throw the paper cups into the rubbish bin. Or squash them and bring them along till you can throw them away. Put them in the pouch or your pocket. Please don’t litter all over the road. It could be dangerous for the volunteers to clean up after you. Please be considerate.
4. 10 second Jim. Sprint ahead of you then stop and walk then sprint again. Make up your mind dude. Or train up your aerobic base. RESPECT THE DISTANCE!!!
5. Kiasu Runners. They try to block you or speed up when you try to overtake them. Dafuq?!?
6. Impatient drivers. Nuff Said.

With all the above, I’m wondering whether it’s legal for me to bring an Air Horn or a Taser to clear the path ahead. Lol. Here’s looking at Stan Chart Half Marathon training starting next week.
Post script. We have the unfortunate news that the runner who collapsed during the run was not resuscitated successfully even though during the run we saw an ambulance leaving the area. Our condolences to the family.

Edit:
Just to show you how massive the crowd is, do check out Mr. Tey's video. Note the cam whoring and the chaos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLBaAtvACuA&list=UUewiMGqQJ31P0DzEY0vxK6g&index=1

Puma Mobium Elite in KL

Guess what? The Puma Mobium Elite is now available in Malaysia! I stumbled across it after collecting the race kit for the Brooks Half Marathon 10K run on Saturday. I know, I know, today is Tuesday and my news travel slow.

I'll tell you what though. I've tried it in store so I'll give you a quick update on what I think about it. I am not able to give a thorough input on this shoe as I only have it on for a while and was concentrating on an important question going through my head; to buy or not to buy.

Built and Look:
The Puma Mobium Elite looks phenomenal (personal opinion of course). I mean come on, how many shoes have that killer arch and black outsole pods that looks to be anatomically replicating our foot sole? Coupled with the bright color, I was sold to a 70% level already.

I'm unable to comment on the upper much as I didn't get to try it on long enough to check on breathability and heat. If I remember correctly, some part of it are cushioned whereas, other area are kind of thin. The Tongue is a thin piece of synthetic that's mainly there to prevent any chafing from the shoe laces. Feels good though.

Fit:
Fit wise, the shoe is kind of difficult to get into unless you've loosen the shoe lace by quite a bit. This is good, because it mean that your feet is gonna be secured pretty well. Once in, I was pretty surprised at the width of the forefoot area. In the picture above, the shoe looks kind of tight in that area and that was one of my reservation on whether to buy the shoe before putting it on. The mid foot area is solidly locked in place by the lace.

The Ankle area however is a different story. It felt very loose and insecure. I keep having the feeling that the shoe may fly off even though the mid is pretty secured. It could be due to the lack of a heel counter or too much padding in the upper, I wasn't too sure. I wanted to go 1 size down to reconfirm but unfortunately, they do not have that size. :(

Flexibility:
The shoe in itself is pretty flexible lengthwise. This is especially true where the shoe arch upward but reduce by quite a bit as it moves forward toward the forefoot area. It is still flexible enough for you to bend it easily with 1 hand. Sideway, this shoe ain't gonna win any twister competition like the GoBionic. It is however, flexible enough to allow your feet to twist in any direction upon landing to a degree greater than that of a traditional stability shoe.

Feel:
Without a run to confirm anything, this is going to be pretty vague. Initial observation is that the shoe is very cushioned. This may be due to the insole which, by the way, is removable. I'm not sure what the material is, but it's kind of "foamy". The last of the shoe seems to fit my feet pretty well, what with the ample forefoot space, and a secure mid area. The shoe seems to be built fit around your fit snugly, although the cast must have ham for ankle.

A few jumping test confirms that the feel of the foot upon landing is so-so, cushioned, firm, and not as flexible as the Skechers. Meaning, if you land on a gravel, you may not feel it as much, and the shoe may pretty well cause your feet to roll. I don't like the insole as it feels foamy/airy and not firm. The stack height is also quite high. What this mean is that I don't get feel the road as much as I'd like.

Now to the claim of the expanding sole. From what I can see of the sole area, the only part that expands is the arch area but not the rest of the pod. This is because the sole and pod area does not appear to have any mechanism to allow it to expand upon landing. As for the arch area, upon landing the arch will flatten out and contract upward again upon kick off, compliment of the X-Band located there. I can feel this working even while walking, but unfortunately I won't be able to tell you how it feels like while running. It feels kind of weak though. For me, I think I would prefer it to be tighter/stronger so that the arch don't collapse so easily.

Grip wise, this shoe is pretty grippy for something with not much grooves cut into it. This could be due to the outsole material or something which I may not have noticed.

To wrap up below are the pros and cons of the shoe in this
Pros:
1. Roomy toebox.
2. Secure Midfoot area.
3. Some springiness from the X-band (although I would prefer it to be on the tighter side for added firmness).

Cons:
1. Ankle area does not feel secure. I'm very aware of it but heck, I'm only walking and jumping so can't really comment on it unless I run in it and it feels the same..
2. Stack height too high.
3. Foamy insole. I would prefer something firmer like that of the GoRun2.
4. Don't have a smaller size. You know what they say about guys with small feet. They wear smaller shoes. :P
5. A tad heavy but not too extreme. Just heavier than what I'm used to I would say.

Conclusion:
Given the above, would I still go for this shoe? There is a high chance I may go for it if the smaller size fits better on my feet. I just need to confirm on the fitting around the ankle is all.

This shoe seems to be built for speed. Why do I say that? I don't know. It just feel that way what with the snug fit, the heel-drop ratio (which I don't know of), and how it feels like wearing it for a short time.

Truth be told, I've never been blown away by Puma's offering of running shoes. This however have changed my view on this matter. Puma seems to be moving slowly into the minimalist stream while still keeping half a feet in the mainstream shoe. They got some things right in this shoe, there's also lots of area for improvement on it. One thing for sure, I'll keep my eyes open for more Puma shoes next time.

For those interested in the shoe, you can get the Mobium Elite at the Puma store at The Curve Shopping Mall. Sorry but I forgot to check the price. If anyone of you happens to be there, do check it out and let me know.

p.s. They do not have any ladies size or offering of the Mobium Elite at the moment it seems. Wonder what the ladies will make of it. Hopefully the ladies version will come out soon since I know a friend who's interested in this shoe.

Edited: 4th March, 2013
p.p.s. Thanks to Wei Aun for checking out the price. Retail price is at RM 389, which puts it in the price range of Skechers GoRun2 and the GoBionic. I think I'm gonna have to go hunt for someone who has tried the shoes to give a proper review on this shoe.

Edited: 16th May, 2013
Additional information from Offshewent. Thank you so much for providing this information :)

Hi hi from Singapore. I chanced upon your blog when i was googling puma mobium to see who else was using it. I have a pair of the womens version, so far, after using it for 3 weeks, i feel that its built more for people who have neutral to normal arches. Flat footed people like me have to take a longer time to get used to it due its more slim fit design. Also, the shoe encourages the use of mid foot strike so those starting out to use the shoe might want to increase mileage slowly. I liked the fact that it really is quite light and conforms, not so good for trails though as gravel might get stuck in the grooves underneath where the band is. happy running! :)

Merrell Barefoot Road Glove Review

Shoes. I wonder how many passionate runners out in this world that will have only 1 pair of shoes. I know one and even that person is starting to get bitten by the running bug lol.

The main pair of shoes I usually run in is my Skechers GoRun. I've put in over 200 km over the pass 3 months in that shoes and I am still loving it. I'm however curious as to how much of an impact 200 km has made to the feel of the shoes, so Skechers, if you're reading this how bout it? Send me a new pair and let us see how much difference 200 km does to the GoRun? I'm sure there's lots to learn from this exercise.

Anyway, this post is mainly a review about the Merrell Barefoot Road Glove. I'm not too sure as to the popularity of Merrell in Malaysia but Vibram Five Fingers seems to be the rave around here.

A little info on the Merrell Barefoot line: Sometime in 2010, Merrell and Vibram teamed up to release a new line of minimalist/barefoot style shoes. Their first release was not until February 2011, the Merrell Barefoot Trail Glove which turns out to be a great hit. They subsequently released the Road version of their shoes and you guessed it, it's called Road Glove.

I was looking for a barefoot-style shoes to incorporate into my run as a way to build up my muscle and work on my form and like all Kiasu Malaysians, first thought that came to my mind was of course the VFF (Vibram Five Fingers). I gave them a try at Running Lab but unfortunately, my feet is too small and I have to go for the Women's size which I find a bit narrow. So after searching high and low for an alternative, I found out that Merrell was being sold by Running Lab and Royal Sporting House. Needless to say, I went shopping :D

The Shopping
I had a bit of difficulty in this department I went to my favorite running store, Running Lab, in Tropicana City Mall, but unfortunately they do only had the Flux Glove in Blue. The Flux Glove is a CT (Cross Training) shoes which has the upper of the Trail Glove and the out sole of the Road Glove. I wasn't too keen on the Blue and Orange color mix so off I went.

I next went to Stadiume in KLCC. Found the Road Glove, but unfortunately don't have my size. So I hopped over to Stadium at Pavillion and lo and behold they had my size. They however only have one color and it's Lime Green.

Anyone Green with Envy? Guess not :P

I was a little put off at first due to the following:

1. Green has never been my favorite color. I happen to be wearing jeans on that day but somehow or another, the color seems to fit nicely with jeans. And the best part is, it seems to grow on you. - Strike One!
2. For a barefoot style shoes, it's actually heavier than my Skechers GoRun, by a few ounce. The shoes also fit very snug and tight across the midsection. (Pardon me but I was a noob then) I was a little uncomfortable in it at first but I liked the roominess of the toe area a lot. I reasoned that since you have a roomy toe box, you have to secure your foot somewhere. - Strike 2!
3. I've done some research and was aware that there is a very pronounced bump at the arch area of one's foot. This got me very worried as I have been having my Plantar Fasciitis problem during that time. The bump actually pushes in toward my arch and I could feel it while standing in it. I tried running in place a bit to see how it felt. I could still feel the bump a bit. I was pretty hesitant bout buying the shoes even though Pete Larson has reassured in his Road Glove review that it's not an arch support per se. I studied the bottom of the shoes and confirmed that it's actually the curve of the out sole inward that causes the bump.  - Strike 3!

What sealed the deal was that there was a 30% discount on the shoes, bringing the price of the shoes down to the RM 250 range, nearly half the price of VFF!!! Being a Gung-ho at that time, I bought it and off I went being the happy owner of a pair of Barefoot Style Shoes.

The Construction

The Merrell Barefoot Road Glove is a 0 mm drop shoes with a stack height of 11 mm at both the heel and forefoot area. I'm actually quite surprised about this as the Skechers GoRun has a listed stack height of 14 mm at heel and 10 mm at forefoot and a whopping 19 mm at mid foot area!!! At first glance, you would think that there isn't much difference between these 2 shoes, but you would be wrong.

You see, the Skechers do not have an out sole/mid sole as most shoes have as they're using Resalyte. From what I understand, they've actually combined both out sole and mid sole into one component, you actually have quite a lot of cushioning from the Skechers. The Merrell however only have 4 mm of EVA cushioning for their mid sole, the rest of the stack heights, 7 mm of it, goes to the out sole as well as the insole. This mean, you'll definitely feel that pebble on the road, albeit not as painfully as truly running barefoot.

Very thin sole actually.

The construction of the out sole for Merrell also gives the illusion that this shoes come with a lot more cushioning. However, the fact is that the out sole curves over and onto the upper to facilitate the bonding of the out sole to the upper of the shoes. The heel counter/overlay is nicely placed to provide maximum grip on the back of your foot.

The Upper of the Road Glove is of excellent quality and well ventilated. I've never felt the inside of the shoes getting hot even when wearing them on hot days walking around for the whole day (while working in Sandakan). The toe box has plenty of room for your toes to splay out and my toe has never felt constricted once. The one complain I have is that the tongue has a tendency to slip out of place. I'm not sure whether it's my lacing or a problem with the shoe construction (maybe I'm too used to the Skechers sewn tongue) but the lace lock makes sure it doesn't stray too far. 

I MUST mention the liner of the Road Glove is unique. It's kinda furry to the feel (as can be seen in the first pic). It feels marvelous when you go sock less but when wearing socks, it tends to grip your socks, to the extend sometimes you can curl your toe up inside your socks without the socks moving in the shoes. It however doesn't interfere with the running and is something that you'll get used to. The integrated insole has no visible seam is of the same furry material. I've tried wearing the Road Glove sock less once and did not notice any hot spot at all so the Road Glove is definitely good news for those who loves to run sock less.

Check out the light green arch area

The out sole of the Road Glove is provided by Vibram. As you can see, it's a pretty unique design. The medial and later part of the sole is actually curved upward and inward toward your feet (see pic below to get a clearer picture of it). This is the cause of the bump that I felt while I was trying it out. Coupled with the lacing, it provides a solid grip of your feet from the mid area toward the back, ensuring that your feet don't go stumbling about in the shoes.

Inward curve of the arch area

In regards to the sole's traction, I'm a little disappointed in it at current time. On certain surfaces, it gets slippery when it's wet. Example, fungal grown rocks/ concrete area, synthetic running path. I'm not too sure if the traction will improve as I break in the shoes (it's only been like 30 km) but here's hoping it will. This situation has however proven to be a good thing as well. It doesn't allow me to over stride  and it forces me to push off properly so as not to waste any energy. See, there's always a positive side to things if you look for it.

Performance wise
As a casual wear shoes, the Road Glove is extremely comfortable IF, and this is a big if, you're comfortable with 0 drop or minimalist shoes. Reason being, even when walking, it activates different sets of muscles than traditional shoes. If you're used to walking barefoot for 2-3 hrs a day, then I'm sure you'll be fine. If you're not, don't be surprised if you do have some slight muscle ache the next day. Your feet WILL get tired in this shoes.

The Road Glove is a very good training shoes for running form. In runs, the first thing you will notice is the lack of cushioning in the Road Glove. If you don't land properly, you're gonna feel it in your ankle, your knees, your hip, and your back. You'll learn to get off your heels and land on your forefoot to mid foot  keeping your knees bent to absorb the shock of landing as well as to land close to your center line.

The next thing you'll realize is that you'll forget you're wearing a pair of shoes. Your body and your feet will automatically adjust to the surface you're running on. If the surface is slick, your stride shortens, you land lower with your toes more splayed. If it's harder and firmer, you get into a cycle fast. If it's grassy with roots, you get onto your toes and hop along, and when you step onto a pebble, you'll quickly notice and your foot will automatically lessen the pressure placed on that foot to continue on to the next step.

Remember the tight mid foot and the bump under the arch? In my run, it completely disappeared. I had no Plantar Fasciitis episode with the Road Glove at all. In fact, I hope that Royal Sporting House will continue to bring in Merrell shoes so I will always be able to get a pair to run in.

In fact, Royal Sporting House is currently having a 40% discount on the Merrell Barefoot line. This discount has brought the pricing of the Road Glove down to approximately RM 212. So, for those of  you who would like to improve  your running form, but does not care to run barefoot or find the VFF too expensive or unsuitable, go give the Road Glove a try.

A word of caution though. If you've never ran in a barefoot style shoes, please take your time making the transition to the Road Glove. You need to give your body some time to adapt and build up the musculature required for these shoes. I've had a lot of muscle soreness from just using this shoes for walk when I first got them. Running in them when you're not ready can lead to some pretty severe muscle pain if you're not careful. Below are some links to resources on how to transition to a barefoot style shoes so feel free to look through them.

http://www.vibramfivefingers.it/education_why_barefoot.aspx
http://www.merrell.com/US/en/BarefootConnection
Principles of Natural Running with Dr. Mark Cucuzzella - YouTube
Are you ready to go Minimal?



Happy running folks. I hope the review would be of some use to some people.

May your run be swifts and graceful.

Summary
Pros:

1. Lightweight barefoot style shoes. Excellent for form and gait training.
2. Disappear from your feet once you start running.
3. Excellent upper and lining.
4. Don't receive weird look like VFF.

Cons:

1. Out sole does not have a good grip. Not too sure if it's coz it's not broken in yet or what. I'll update if there's a change to it.
2. Shoe Lace is a little on the short side. I can't tie it the way I showed in my Tying the Knots post.