Saucony Kinvara TR Review (pre-review)

My first running shoe review - Saucony Kinvara TR and why I probably shouldn't be reviewing running shoes :)

I'm not sure where to start this review, as I'm not an experienced runner, I'm not an experienced blogger, and I'm not really an experienced anything that's relevant to writing running shoe reviews! 

The Kinvara TRs - just after they arrived on my desk at work :)

I've read a few running shoe reviews in my time, and although I only got my first pair of running shoes almost exactly a year ago the Kinvara TRs are actually my 10th pair of running shoes, so I guess I'm not totally unqualified.

I have developed something of a reputation amongst my friends and family as a running shoe hoarder, as hardly a month seems to pass without a new pair of running shoes appearing in the porch at home, or under my desk at work.

I've been fortunate not have to purchase all 10 pairs, as one was a parkrun prize and the pair  I'm eventually going to get around to reviewing were very kindly sent to me as a pre-release review sample by Jonny Quint of Saucony UK, complete with a hand-written compliments slip.

A pair of unreleased new running shoes for me to review? Me?? 

Although my friends & family seem to think I have an addiction to buying new running shoes, I'd like to point out that I bought 2 pairs online (my original Asics Gel Kayano 17s and my first off-road shoes, the New Balance MT-271s), before I had any idea what kind of shoes I needed, or liked to run in, and another 2 pairs were replacements after unfortunate accidents befell their predecessors.

An accident-prone shoe destroyer, reviewing shoes?? 

I managed to destroy my first pair of my favourite long run shoes, the Brooks Racer ST-5s just a few days before my first marathon in April this year (and I'd been planning to run in them on the big day), when I decided to get them washed and dried in plenty of time before the race.

My chosen method of washing them was the same as it had always been for getting running shoes clean: I put them in a pillowcase and stuck them in the washing machine with a load of  other washing, started the machine and went to work. I ran home from work that day, and arriving tired, was initially bemused by the massive pile of smashed glass on the kitchen floor.  After checking the window was still in one piece (it was), my eyes were drawn to the bright orange trainers poking out of the front of the washing machine, and it quickly became clear that they had somehow, literally destroyed the glass-fronted door of the washer. 
 

Big chunks of torn running shoe & shards of broken glass, yikes!

Although most people would have been worried about the washing machine and the inevitable expense of sorting it out I was immediately concerned with only one thing - what was I going to run the marathon in?? Fortunately I had a voucher from Sweatshop for a new pair of shoes for £25, and they had 1 pair of size 10 Racer ST-5s in stock in the Nottingham store where the staff know me by name, given how frequently I'm there... 

So that was one pair of shoes that I kind of *had* to replace, the other was a different, and almost even more disastrous incident, the day before my first half marathon at Silverstone in March. I'd decided that I needed to wash the shoes I'd chosen for my first big running challenge, so put them in the washing machine - no problem I thought, they'll dry quickly, so I hung them on the washing line. 

Unfortunately it was early March, and the shoes were still wet when we left for the drive to Northampton, where we were staying the night before the race. "No problem" I thought, "I'll dry the shoes on a radiator in the hotel room.". After a quick inspection of the very basic room however, it was immediately obvious that there was no radiator in the room - and the only source of heat was a lamp. Rather stupidly (in hindsight, very stupidly), I figured that putting the shoes on top of the lamp to dry them was a good idea - after all, they were very lightweight, my new favourite shoes by far, and would surely dry very quickly...

They didn't dry quickly enough however, because before long they'd caught fire! Sarah suddenly asked "can you smell burning?",  I quickly realised what was wrong - and got the shoes out of the window, hoping that the hotel fire alarm wouldn't go off.  It didn't, which was both relieving (because it would have been very embarrassing) and concerning, (as there had been a lot of smoke, so it should have gone off really), in equal measure...

Fortunately the only real damage to the shoes was that a big chunk of the tongue of one of them was now missing, which meant I could still run in them without too many problems. 

 Saucony Kinvara 2 - loved them, set fire to them! - Oops!

Those shoes, were my favourites, the lightweight, minimalist, make you run fast and free, light and happy: Saucony Kinvara 2...

It was an exchange of positive tweets with the inspirational @MartinBown - who tried the Kinvara 2s on my recommendation, then set a big PB the first time he ran in them, which lead to Saucony's UK arm sending me the as yet unreleased trail (TR) version of the new Kinvara 3s for me to try, and write about. 

I'm pretty sure if Saucony had known about me setting fire to my first pair of Kinvara 2s, they wouldn't have sent me the review pair out. I hope I haven't scuppered my chances of future review pairs from them or other firms by admitting to destroying shoes (but I'm guessing I probably have!) :)

I may also have scuppered my chances of becoming a running shoe reviewer by not actually writing a review yet - this post was originally intended to be all about the Kinvara TRs, but as usual, I've written way more than I intended to and run out of time. 

So, the next post (very soon) will be a proper review of the Kinvara TRs, and I'll end this post with a taster three word summary of my thoughts about them: 

Bright, Comfortable & Surprising.