Countdown to Boston 2015: My Annual New Balance Post

Note: With the 119th Boston Marathon only days away (20 to be precise), I'm going to be doing  a countdown to Boston series as I did last year. In the final days of the taper, it's hard to get my brain to focus on much other than the upcoming race, but with plenty of Boston-related topics, hopefully I can at least keep the blog interesting.


If you've been following this blog for any length of time, you know to expect certain things as April draws near. First, you know my blogging is likely to pick up--last year 50% of my posts, or 3 out of 6, were done in April. Second, you know I will ramble incessantly about the Boston Marathon. Third, you know there will be a post about whatever special shoe New Balance decides to release for the marathon.

My usual trainer is the New Balance 890 and my marathon and long speedwork shoe is the New Balance 1400. For the past three years, New Balance, a Boston-based company, has released a special version of the 890 to coincide with the marathon. While I didn't buy the 2013 kicks (glow in the dark cool; purple shoes, not so much), in 2012 and 2014 I made a beeline to Marathon Sports to pick up a pair.

Well, this year New Balance has another pair of limited edition shoes, but the 890 is out and the Fresh Foam Zante is in. Now I haven't run in the Zante or any of NB's Fresh Foam line but most of the reviews I've seen have been generally positive.

For their Boston edition of this shoe, NB followed the approach they took with their NYC Marathon release--the shoe has the Boston skyline printed on the insole and it has "Boston" printed on the reflective "N" logo on the shoe's upper. One noticeable and cool difference? These shoes have "FASTAH" printed on the sole.

I really like the look of these shoes and since I've already decided I'm not buying this year's jacket, they seem like a tempting expo purchase. That said, I've been running in the 890 for the past 5 years and my motto is generally, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I guess I'll wait and see how impulsive I'm feeling in a few weeks.