Puma Faas 300 V3

My very first pair of Puma running shoes was the Mobium. I didn't really like it initially but it kinda grew on me and I am still wearing it for daily runs and it has clocked more than 600 km and still look none the worst for wear. So when Puma wanted to pass me a pair to try on, I was hoping to get the Mobium Elite V2 but instead I was given the Faas 300 V3. I had a shock when I realised that the shoe comes with an 8 mm heel to toe drop. The past few shoes I had was either 0 or at most 4mm drop so this was going to be something new to try on. 

Anyway, since I don't know anything about the shoe, I had to quickly find out more about it from the Puma website. So here are the usual mumbo jumbo.

The first impression I had when I got it was wow. It looks rather nice. And it was in red to add to my collection of red shoes.

Design: I like the speckles of grey that is scattered all over the shoes. Apparently, they are luminous and reflect light making it a good shoe to wear for night running.

I also like that the length of the tongue was not too long and not too short. Some shoes come with super long  tongue which brushes against the ankle or too short that the top shoe laces lies on top of the foot instead of the tongue. This one is just about right. And it has some nice codes on it. I am sure those words there mean something but what I am not exactly sure:)

The heel counter was also just right and this is one of the few rare pair of shoes when I did not get any hot spot at the heel even though I wear mainly low ankle socks. The heel  counter grip well and give fairly adequate support.

Weight: Coming in at about 230 gm for my size 12, I must say this is super light considering that it has a very thick looking sole.

Cushioning: Cushioning is more than adequate with Puma FaasFoam+ midsole and EverRide+ forefoot blown rubber. However, not being used to too much cushioning nowadays, I feel that it hinders more than enhance my run. 

Traction: So far I did about 35 km in this shoe covering a fairly wide range of surfaces except for trails. I even worn it for the Puma Night Run 2014 where the route surfaces included tarmac, pavement and some uneven slate ground. I also ran in it during a heavy downpour over extremely wet ground with a lot of puddles and the grip was terrific. Probably because Puma uses what it calls EverTrack high abrasion resistant rubber. On top of that, I believe the design of the sole helps as well.

Flexibility: The shoe is pretty flexible. Again the design of the sole helps a lot allowing for smooth toe off and transition. I didn't get any arch pain or discomfort unlike what I first felt when I worn the Puma Mobium Elite.

Water Proofing: The upper is made up of a air mesh which means that water can get in easily. As it was, I was caught in a heavy downpour during one of the run and water got in almost immediately. But it also drained out pretty fast. 

Overall, I quite like the shoe despite the 8mm drop. It didn't really affects the running as much as I feared maybe because I am still wearing the Mobium which also has an 8mm drop. The only thing I didn't like was the rather narrow toe box which could potential give problem over longer distance. So far the longest distance I ran in them was 15 km but it has yet to give me problem so I could be wrong about it. Nevertheless, I feel that this will be a good everyday shoe for training, short fast run rather than long runs or marathons. And at S$130.00 I think it is a good buy compared to the much more expensive more well established shoes available.

Puma Night Run 2014

The last time I did a road race in Singapore was March this year. And that is despite a running calendar that averages 2 races a week. And the last time I did a 10 km road race in Singapore was way back in 2012. So it was quite like a new experience to me to find myself at the starting line, well almost the starting line, of a 10 km road race on Saturday.

I have no intention of doing a 10 km road run in Singapore especially when more often than not, it is either at the Marina Bay or East Coast Park which is kinda boring. But this time round it was slightly different. Firstly it was to be at Sentosa, a place that I don't get to run on very often and more importantly I don't have to pay any registration fee as I was given a complimentary slot by the people from Puma Singapore.

So on Saturday night I found myself about 30 metres behind the Start Line.

Which remind me of another reason why I no longer want to do road races in Singapore. You see, more often than not, to maximise profits, the organiser tends to allow for too many participants but our narrow roads simply cannot cater for these huge numbers. Just like here where the runners are crammed into a 2 cars width road adjacent to the beach. 

After the flag off where I had to weave and pushed myself through the horde of walking couples, strolling and jogging groupies, I remember another reason why I don't want to do local races. The participants simply lack race etiquettes and do not bother to place themselves appropriately in the correct start pen. Of course, organiser would have help by encouraging runners to sort themselves out but I suppose that will be like asking for the moon.

Walkers barely 1 km away from the start line

Fortunately for the Puma Night Run people, the organiser was sensible enough to start the 3000 runners in 2 waves alleviating the problem a little bit. After about 2 km, the path was finally clear enough to start running properly.

The thing about Sentosa is that it is a very small island and so there were many u-turns along the route. But kudos to the organiser, there was proper segregation of the 2 directions and the path was fully cordoned off so that no other people would wander into it. There were security officers at junctions and marshals at  every turn. Water points with isotonic drink and water were located approximately 3 km apart and I could see 2 ambulances on standby along the route. The route itself was fairly interesting. Starting from the Siloso Beach, we ran to the end at Tanjong Beach, made an u-turn and went up Allanbrook Road. This was where many people started to walk. Then we went up to the Satellite station! I was like wow! The last time I ran up here was in the Real Run in 2005 and since then I understand the road has been closed to public. What a surprise! We also ran into an area that was unknown to me. It was quite dark though and rather narrow and only 2 runners could run on the pavement at a time. Nevertheless, I quite like the route as it is definitely more challenging than the usual flat ground of Marina Bay or East Coast Park. The slight blemish was that on certain sections, we had to run on the pavement and that is simply too narrow to accommodate more runners. Nevertheless  I feel that is was one of the best managed route in all the races that I have done so far.

Unfortunately the ending point wasn't as well organised. After crossing the finish line, each participant gets a medal, a bottle of mineral water and banana. No isotonic drinks. And then the runners have to walk to the Wave House which is where the Event Village was to participate in the free activities. However, there were not many signs to indicate what is where and I had to ask around before finding out that the collection of the free towel was on the 3rd level of some building.

On the bright side, participate gets to enjoy "surfing" at the Wave House plus entertainment by local bands.

Overall despite some shortcoming like the lack of directional signs at the main event ground and the narrow pavement, this has been one of the best organised race I taken part in. Crowd numbers were kept to a manageable size, adequate security and marshals, a fairly value for money race pack comprising of an event top, a sling bag, a waist belt and the towel and some value for money discount voucher for Puma products. Runners looking for something different should try this race next year.

Hello Kitty Run Singapore

So the claws are out - for the poor organiser of the 1st ever Hello Kitty Run in Singapore. Social media and rather surprisingly, even the main stream media has exploded on the so called "chaos" that erupted during the race.

The unhappiness stems from 2 main areas - the rain and the medal distribution.

First the rain. The organiser, Pink Apple (PA) is being blamed for the rain, the lack of wet weather plan, the lack of shelters, the lack of poncho and generally everything that is associated with the rain. But are they being fair?

How can anyone blame the organiser for the rain? That is something that is beyond even the PAP government control so how do people possibly expect  PA to ensure good weather? No wet weather plan? Actually all good event organiser will have one and in this case, PA do have. It is very simple. If heavy rain falls before flag off, postpone the start of the run. If  after postponing for a reasonable period of time and the rain does not stop, cancel the run. This has happened in several races previously but I can imagine if PA has really cancel the run and the rain stopped after say 30 minutes. I am sure the will be braying for the blood of everyone in PA.

Next some people went on to suggest PA should have provide poncho for the participant. And how do these people expect PA to do that? Put a poncho inside each race pack? Let be honest to ourselves. If they do that, how many will actually bring the poncho to the event? I dare say very few will do so. And distribute poncho on the ground? Do these people really expect PA to have 17000 to 18000 ponchos available at the site? And then if it rain after flag off like what happened on Saturday, how do they expect the PA to get the ponchos to the people that is already out on the route? And if they are under shelter, they don't need poncho do they?

Some people even suggested PA put up shelters along the route. How many shelters do they expect PA to put up? And enough to shelter 17000 just in case it rains? That must be the most ridiculous self centred suggestions ever. If anything, Sentosa is probably the best place to run in the event of rain because there are buildings practically everywhere and especially along the beach with the many pubs, restaurants, rest rooms and other attractions. The people could have easily seek shelter at any one of these. Do they seriously expect PA to put up tents along the narrow roads of Sentosa!

So I think there is nothing that PA can do when it started to rain. After the first 2 waves were flagged off and it rained, they held back the next 3 waves and that was the best they could do. What else do the participants want?

Now on to the medals. According to the complaints, the distribution was chaotic. There was not enough medals for everyone and people collected multiple medals. And this to me was a big surprise. PA is a very experienced event organiser having organised many races with many on a bigger scale than this Hello Kitty. Usually, after the participants crossed the finish line, they will be directed to a chute where they collect the drinks, medal and finisher tees from volunteers. To ensure that people do not collect the medal more than once, it is usual for the volunteer to put a tick on the race bib. So exactly what happened?

I believe the rain was the main problem. Because of the rain, everybody squeezed into the Pavilion which was where the medals were being distributed. The number of people overwhelmed the volunteers and likely, just helped themselves to the medals on the table with the poor student volunteers being unable to stop them. Staff who raised their voices at the participants were labelled as being rude but how do you control an unruly crowd without being loud and firm?  The same thing happened a few years ago at the Shape Run where the people just grabbed the medals that were placed neatly on the table. Some people went behind the table and took medals from the boxes that were lying on the floor!

One of the criticism that were levelled was that PA should have marked off the bib. PA has informed that they had choose not to do so to avoid defacing the bib as most people would likely want to keep the bib as a souvenir. So a kind thought and gesture misfired. On hindsight, PA should have put a small box on the bib to check off or added a tear off tab at the bottom of the bib to exchange for the medal. 

So people took more medals than they were entitled to resulting in medals running out for those who came late. So whose fault it is? PA or the cheapskate participants who took more than they are entitled to?

Some other  criticism that were levelled at PA - the route was not 5 km. There was congestion at the bus station at the Siloso Beach end and people had to wait long period before they can get out of the island. Well, I don't think any serious runners actually signed up for this to run 5 km. It is a fun run and most people I am very sure signed up more for the limited edition Hello Kitty plush and other memorabilia rather than for the run. And on their website, there is a statement that the distance was actually 4.2 km and not 5 km. For marketing purposes, obviously it is nicer to call it a 5 km run rather than 4.2 km run. 

About the congestion - Sentosa is always congested on weekends and long wait for the limited number of buses is expected as Sentosa do not allow private hire buses to ply on the island. So people should just have continue to enjoy the sights on Sentosa instead of leaving straight after the run. Isn't that the purpose of travelling all the way to Sentosa for?

Of course, there are something that PA could have done better like being aware that Sentosa with its narrow roads cannot accommodate 17000 people at one good and kept the number to a more manageable size. Communicate with the volunteers could have been better so that the volunteers can inform the participants of updates instead of just relying on social media.

Ultimately, I think PA do not deserve all the flaks they are getting in the local media and social media. If anything, it is the ugly participants, the greedy one who took more medals than they should, the self centred one who think only of their own comfort and not think of how their ludicrous suggestion can not possibly be implemented and the spoilt brats who are asking for refunds for the "bad" experience but who have conveniently forgotten that their $65 or $75 already gave them an exclusive t-shirt, an exclusive plush toy and an unique personalised race bib which collectively is, I am very sure worth more than $75.00!

New Balance 980 Fresh Foam Trail Review

Some time ago, I was given a pair of New Balance 980 Fresh Foam trail shoe to try. When I first got it, my first impression was "Wow" its beautiful and then immediately after that, oh my goodness, how am I going to wear that!

Design: You see, the NB 980 is what the market calls a Maximal shoe as opposed to "minimal. And I have been wearing minimal shoes for the past few years that I wasn't sure whether I can still run in such thick shoe. 

But surprisingly despite the thick sole, it is still just a 4mm heel to toe drop. Basically what NB has done is to put in a thick layer of what it calls Fresh Foam, which is still EVA but redesigned to allow for better movement and cushioning.

The 989 has a rather high heel counter and because I wear mainly ankle socks, I can feel a hot spot developing on my left heel after a while. But I suppose this can be easily resolve by an application of blister shield or higher cut socks. The high heel counter provides a snug fit and provides better support and protection something that is essential for the twists and turns on the trails.

Weight: despite the thickness of the sole, it is still rather light at about 300 gm which is great when you need all the weight advantage as the legs grow heavier and heavier over long distance.

Cushioning: There is more than adequate sufficient cushioning even without any rock plate in the sole. In fact, I personally feels that there is too much cushioning and on the trails, I can hardly feel the ground. On the plus side, there is simply no need for rock plate because the cushioning is so good that it takes all the rocks and roots in its stride. There is also no toe plate which may be a bit of an issue over more technical terrains.

Traction:  To ensure that I do an objective review, I worn the shoe on 3 different occasions covering a total of 38 km over trails and roads. First time was a short 8 km easy run at MacRitchie covering the northern route and second time, a longer 15 km run, also at MacRitchie and covering the additional trail to Rifle Range road and the Rifle Range Link where the trails are more technical. The last run was a 15 km road run between the Upper Peirce and Lower Peirce Road. In all cases, the shoes gripped well even during the 2nd run when the  ground was wet and slippery from the rain the day before. This is possibly due to design of the multi directional lugs on the sole.

Flexibility: Unfortunately as expected due to the thickness of the sole, it wasn't as flexible as I could like it to be.

Water Proofing: The upper is made up of a breathable mesh and it will appears that water can get in easily. However, on my runs despite the rain the previous day, there wasn't sufficient ponding for me to splash through so at this point I am unable to conclude how effective the water proofing if any will be.

Overall, I like the shoe for its cushioning and snug fit. But it is a it too much cushioning and reduces the ground feel something that I am not comfortable with. I think this shoe is most suitable for those starting out on trail running and looking for a lightweight, comfortable and good cushioning shoe to transit from traditional trail shoes to minimalist shoes. Also because of the ample cushioning, it will be good for longer trail runs when it can delay the on set of sole pain from the protruding rocks.

This shoe review is made possible courtesy of New Balance Singapore and Trail Running Singapore