Last week I approached by New Balance to be one of the first to review their newest running shoe, Fresh Foam 980. Now most of my reviews on GRIT by Brit are unsolicited – I just review places and products that generally intrigue me. However, since New Balance is a legit brand, I was quite flattered that they valued my opinion so I happily agreed to test these bad boys.
I know I should start off by providing feedback on the shoe’s comfort, foot support, design quality, etc., but in true GRIT by Brit fashion, I must first comment on the style. When my sneakers arrived in the mail, I was pumped to discover their boldness and brightness. I LOVE NEON and there’s lots of neon! Also, the soles are colored. I hate white soles on sneakers because they always get dirty which isn’t cute.
After receiving the sneakers, I co-hosting a #FreshFaom launch party and 5K Fun Run at Luke’s Locker sporting goods store in Dallas along with some local running coaches and representatives from New Balance corporate headquarters. Everyone was super nice, fun and had lots of GRIT!
So now let me shed some light on the running experience… While I am a self-proclaimed “group fitness junkie” I’m not really a “runner.” I mean, I enjoy 2-4 miles every now and then when the weather is nice but I don’t have excellent running form nor do I own real running shoes.
The run was AWESOME. First, I was personally proud to keep up with all of these hardcore runners. Second, I was shocked by the comfort of my running experience. I usually run in my Nike cross training shoes that I wear to teach kickboxing. Let me tell you, running in shoes specifically designed for running makes a HUGE difference. My run was bouncy and felt like it was minimizing the impact on the knees. After tearing my ACL in college and having reconstructive surgery, I’m really careful about putting to much impact on my knees. Overall, I’m not 100% sure if my pleasant running experience should be completely credited to New Balance Fresh Foam or to just having real running shoes. Either way, it was a good experience and definitely enticed me to run more frequently (in running shoes that is).
After our run, we celebrated with ice cold beers, yummy snacks and laughs. As icing on the cake, I met a fellow Dallas food/fitness Blogger! Be sure to follow Stephanie at Food and Fitness 4 Real.
Overall, I can’t honestly say whether or not the New Balance Fresh Foam sneakers are a superior running shoe. But I can say that they are, in fact, designed for running and if you aren’t use to wearing running shoes these are great first pair to purchase for yourself.
Happy Running! xoxo, Brit