THE BROOKS BLOG

Recently added to the Brooks neutral shoe lineup: the Defyance 2. The shoe is an update to 2008’s Defyance, which (despite a love-it-or-hate-it lime-green men’s color scheme) won the Runner’s World Editor’s Choice Award in 2008.

Now some inside scoop for the shoe geeks:

The Defyance can be thought of as the the “neutral cousin” to our Adrenaline GTS.  Our most popular shoe series, the Adrenaline is widely praised for its brilliant fit and ride for runners in the Support category. So the Defyance (and now the Defyance 2) takes this same fit and ride and translates it to a different foot type. The result is a flexible, cushioned, “go-to” neutral shoe with the instant fit, mid-foot wrap and famed ride of the Adrenaline.

How’d we do it? By removing the Progressive Diagonal Roll Bar (PDRB), and combination board last (used for additional support in the Adrenaline), the Adrenaline GTS series was “neutralized”. The Adrenaline GTS series and Defyance series live together in harmony, with the Defyance inheriting the previous year’s Adrenaline GTS, purposefully devoid of the stability features.

So what’s new with the Defyance 2 vs. the original Defyance?

- Uses the Adrenaline GTS 8 tooling and upper construction.
- Bulit with the environmentally-friendly BioMoGo midsole.
- New shoe laces are comprised from 100% recycled materials.
- Increase in the amount of flex grooves on the outside of the heel encourages a smoother transition and decreases the forces rotating inward at impact.
- A slight expansion in the opening of the heel geometry allows for better cushioning scores and flexibility.
- The metatarsal window openings on the upper have been reduced in size, improving forefoot capture and complimenting the secure midfoot wrap.
- Last but not least: new colors for men and women!

Seattle is finally recovering from a bout of winter weather, the likes we haven’t seen in years. Snow and ice wreaked havoc all last week — closing roads, schools, and offices (including ours!). With just 27 snow plows and a no-salt policy, the city pretty much grinds to a halt when the snow hits.

The upside of all this? Plenty of time to lounge around the house (and slip-slide around the neighborhood!) in my comfiest Brooks cold-weather gear. My staples over the last week have been my HVAC Seamless Longsleeve Shirts, my Energy Flare Pants, and my brand-new Equilibrium Longsleeve Top. All three are soft, stretchy, and easily accommodate my rather large and growing belly. (Holiday eating + newborn incubation = big belly!)

Now that the snow is almost gone, I guess it’s time to change my clothes…

Brooks HVAC technical cold-weather top

Brooks Energy Flare Pants

Brooks Equilibrium Technical Top

Brooks heads to the Big Easy in 2009 as the official footwear and apparel sponsor of the New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathon. The 45th annual race takes place on February 1. Both marathon and half marathon runners will dash through the historic French Quarter, famous Bourbon Street and St. Charles Avenue, and the beautiful Garden District. Marathoners continue along picturesque Bayou St. John and loop through City Park. So if you are heading to the city with southern charm to run down Bourbon St., be sure to flash us your Brooks!

Men's Open Field

Some estimates had the temperature hitting negative 12 degrees during the Men’s Open race last weekend in Spokane, WA. I’m not sure if weather records exist for the USATF Club Cross-Country National Championships, but this would be difficult to surpass!

Literally hundreds of club teams from across the nation toed-the-line at the annual cross-country championships, but no one stayed long after his or her respective race had ended. Brooks had an amazing showing with half of the teams wearing Brooks racing uniforms, the Hansons distance project had returned, and Brooks bought drinks for its athletes following the race (USATF negated that benefit this year).

My personal experience running with 358 other men in the Men’s Open race was pure torture. The winds were easily approaching 30mph, the ground was nearly frozen, and I couldn’t muster the energy to spit far enough to avoid my chin! However, there were no major catastrophes and everyone enjoyed themselves in the post race festivities.

Even if the run wasn’t happy for everyone, we found a way to making running a happy experience in the end! Is this 30 degrees in Seattle balmy or what???

Hansons-Brooks (powered by Saturn) athletes Desiree Davila and Ryan Sheehan will race in the Dallas White Rock Half Marathon this Sunday.

Davila will be racing for first time since her fifth place and top-American performance at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, where she ran a six-minute personal best of 2:31:33.  Her half marathon best is 1:12:10 from her runner-up finish at the USA Half Marathon Championships in Houston last January.  The time from Houston is currently the third fastest time by an American this year.

Sheehan returns after running to a fourth place finish and a personal best 1:03:36 at the Dallas White Rock Half Marathon last year.  It will be his first race back after a debut marathon at the USA Marathon Championships in the Twin Cities last October.

The race will begin at 8:00 a.m. CST on Sunday.  Track Desiree and Ryan during the race at the Dallas White Rock results page on Active.com.

The Hansons-Brooks (powered by Saturn) team will be chasing their fifth team title in six attempts, at the USATF Club Cross Country Championships this Saturday in Spokane.

Olympian Brian Sell, who raced in all four team titles, will lead the Hansons-Brooks squad.  Sell will be accompanied by teammates Chad Johnson, Kyle O’Brien, Patrick Rizzo, Mike Kilburg, David Jankowski, and Paul Jellema.  The Project has tallied team victories in 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2005.  They were runners-up to the now defunct Farm Team in 2004—the only other year they sent a scoring team.

Chad Johnson en route to an eighth place finish at the 2005 Club XC Championships.

Among the forty-three teams that will be competing, the Hansons can expect a formidable challenge from the Oregon TC Elite (Portland, Oreg.), McMillan Elite (Flagstaff, Ariz.), and Bowerman Athletic Club (Beaverton, Oreg.) squads.  The North Carolina based and reigning two-time champion ZAP Fitness team is not expected to field a scoring team.

The race will take place at Plantes Ferry Recreation Park in Spokane Washington.  It is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m. PST on Saturday.  For a complete list of team and individual entries, visit the USATF Club Cross Country web page.

Congratulations to Canada’s Newmarket Huskies, the age 15 and under Ontario Cross-Country Champions! The team also went on to come in second at the Canadian Junior Cross-Country Championshiops last weekend. Way to go!

One of the team parents sent us the photo, and reported that “It made it real easy for parents to pick them out with the NightLife shirts and we got a lot of positive feedback from other clubs…Seven of the eight girls are also wearing Mach 9 or 10 spikes. ”

For information on ordering Brooks gear for your team, check out our Team Sales page.

Hansons-Brooks (powered by Saturn) athlete David Jankowski will compete in Chiba, Japan as an alternate for Team USA in the 2008 Chiba International Ekiden on Monday.

Jankowksi earned an invite to the Chiba team with his strong showing at the USA 5km Championships, where he placed fourth with a 14:08.4 in his professional debut.

The Chiba International Ekiden will again feature the mixed team format, with six athletes (3 men, 3 women) alternating relay legs for the marathon distance. Team USA is comprised of Dan Browne (Portland, Oreg.), Ed Moran (Williamsburg, Va.), Sean Quigley (Braintree, Mass.), Carrie Messner Vickers (Vail, Colo.), Tera Moody (Boulder, Colo.), and Allison Grace (Blowing Rock, N.C.).  Jankowski and Teresa McWalters (Cambridge, Mass.) will serve as the team alternates.

Team USA finished fourth in the International Chiba Ekiden last year, with the help of Hansons-Brooks athletes Ryan Sheehan, Melissa White and Desiree Davila.

For an official press release with a complete listing of all athletes and countries entered in this year’s race, follow the link below.

2008 International Chiba Ekiden Team Rosters

One of the things we’re most excited about at Brooks–besides our running shoes and gear!–is the Brooks I.D. Program.

Brooks I.D. is made up of over 800 athletes who are active in their running communities, share a passion for Brooks, and inspire people around them to run and be active. Members of the program get discounts on Brooks gear, connect with other members online and at events, and get the inside scoop on what’s happening in Brooks-land.

It’s a truly motley crew… including ultrarunners, marathoners, Olympic Trials participants, masters champions, cancer survivors, and runners like Brian Becker who inspire by virtue of their personal stories. We’ll be introducing more of their stories on this blog soon.

In the meantime, to learn more about the Brooks I.D. program visit the website or watch the video!

Congratulations to Brooks’ own Steve DeKoker, who won this past weekend’s Seattle Half Marathon! While most of us were still digesting turkey, Steve cranked out a 1:11:50 on a hilly course. Along with running (a lot), Steve otherwise keeps busy by heading up our Brooks I.D. Program. He’s also known as a snappy dresser around the office.

Congrats Steve!