Running on the Moon

A few lucky people from the team test-ran the new Nike Lunar Trainer yesterday afternoon. The feedback was extremely positive - See Report below. Meanwhile just to make you jealous here is a picture of us in our FREE Nike Lunar Trainers and NIKE running tops. We also got the NIKE+ Sportband, yes that was FREE too.

L-R: Randy, Carmen, Kimbeley, Chris, Emma, Julie, KK, Sam

LUNAR TRAINER TEST REPORT: On Tuesday evening a few of us from the team were invited to test-run the new Nike Lunar Trainer. The idea was Nike wanted to get feedback from local athletes on what we thought of the shoe. Now since many of us are die-hard Asics fans we were sceptics but hey, free shoes! We were there with bells on. (Sorry for those that didn’t get to come, logistics blah blah, certain numbers allowed blah blah – AGAIN, VERY SORRY!)

ANYWAY, these shoes are a lightweight training shoe. Similar I guess to the DS trainer from Asics in the fact that we could use it for racing. There is a Lunar Racer coming out and we are working on Nike to let Team Tri-Hard test-run this shoe too, so, NIKE if you’re reading this, you know where we are!

The Lunar Trainer weighs about 9oz (men’s). The Lunar Racer weighs 5.5oz! So it is equally as light as many of its competitors, but what about stability, cushioning and all that other mumbo jumbo. The tongue is seamless on both the Trainer and Racer – helping to prevent rubbing, while the upper on the Trainer is breathable mesh compared to the paper thin light weight upper of the Racer that accounts for its amazing 5.5oz. A lot of runners, myself included have naturally board feet and most broad wide fitting running shoes are clumpy and heavy so it was a pleasant surprise to see that the Lunar Trainer is both very wide and very light. The square tread of the rubber waffle sole is evenly distributed to help give a smooth even ride (this is a cushioned shoe recommended for neutral to slight overpronators), similar to the Nimbus I believe. The Lunarlite foam cushion in the shoe has been derived from NASA technology – so I am not kidding when I say “Running on the Moon”.

The Design: A florescent yellow sole paired with white upper looks cool and means you are not going to be missed when pounding (opps sorry, bouncing along) the Bukit Aman to Sri Hartamas route of a Sunday morning. Very Cool, although how long mine will stay nice and white remains to be seen.

The Test: We laced up, put our new Nike running vests on and went out of the HQ in the Curve into the searing afternoon heat for a 5K “jog”. Bouncing around like Tigger from Winnie the Pooh (that was me), we were all eager to test our footwear. From my personal opinion I found the ride very cushioned – which is surprising considering the lightness and thinness of the shoe – it also felt lighter than the 8oz weight (ladies size). Those guys at NASA really know their stuff I guess! I had a slight blister forming on my heel – but that could be due to 3 back to back tri’s with no socks and my feet are really quite a mess at the moment. The thing is I felt bouncy, I wanted to ‘run’ and so I ran to catch up with Kimbeley and she was having none of that and so my ego was very quickly shot down. I slowed down to run/race with Randy enjoying the bouncy lightness underfoot.

Would I buy a pair? Yes. But only now that I have tested them I would. To be honest I would probably not have brought them having never worn NIKE running shoes before, and I believe many of you feel the same way. If you buy a new shoe and it doesn’t work out then you have wasted a lot of money – how many of us have painfully run down that path before? So kudo’s to Nike for coming up with a great shoe that I feel will attract a lot of new fans and for allowing some die-hard athletes the opportunity to try them out. THANKYOU NIKE & THANKYOU Carmen for inviting us along.

BTW: The Lunar Trainer and Lunar Racer will only be available in the market from October – so to all those once again who haven’t got them...Nah, nah, nah nah nah!