Nike has more than 100 styles of men’s running shoes and more than a dozen ways to filter through them on its website. But nowhere in the shoe-buying experience will you be asked to consider one of the most basic running-related questions: How fast do you run? Vimazi is a Seattle-based startup that wants to put that fundamental metric — a runner’s pace — at the center of how it designs and markets running shoes. The startup is in the midst of a seed financing round that could reach $1 million, and the company said it could pursue a Series… Read More
Almost as swiftly as the records are falling, scrutiny is catching up to the elite marathoners and the Nike shoes they’re wearing. Axios Sports pointed at the debate in a post on Friday, around the times clocked by Eliud Kipchoge, who ran the first ever sub-2-hour marathon, and Brigid Kosgei, who set a new women’s record of 2:14:04. What was on the runners’ feet — and others who have blazed through the 26.2-mile distance in recent years — is the focus. The Nike ZoomX Vaporfly shoes, introduced in 2016, have a thicker midsole than traditional running shoes. According to an… Read More
Some sneaker companies want me to “Just Do It.” But what if I don’t want to do it? I’m not into it today, it wasn’t fun yesterday, and generally it is not all that rewarding. In fact, it would be nice to eat pizza and watch TV right about now. Brooks Running, the 100-year-old shoe company headquartered near Seattle’s Gas Works Park, thinks there can be joy in it — if we’re talking exercise — and the company’s slogan even encourages customers to “Run Happy.” Can a breakthrough in technology help deliver some of that happiness? I went for a short… Read More
At 25 years old, Oliver Brossmann is pretty young when it comes to being an entrepreneur. He’s also young to have already suffered from tendonitis in both knees. But without the latter he might not have become the former. Brossmann grew up in Seattle and dreamed as a kid of of becoming a professional soccer player. But his body defied his passion early on, and in high school he required surgery on both knees. He was sidelined for a year and despite playing again eventually, he was never going to go pro. During the time he was recovering, Brossmann started… Read More
Humans have still yet to break the 2-hour marathon mark, but they’re getting close with the help of sports science and technology innovation. Nike’s attempt to break the record fell just short on Saturday, as world-class Kenyan marathoner Eliud Kipchoge ran 26 miles in 2 hours and 25 seconds as part of a laboratory test of sorts that doubled as a marketing play by Nike. Called Breaking2, Nike worked for two years to prepare for Saturday’s race, investing time and money into research related to shoes, training, nutrition, recovery, and other elements of long-distance running. Nike, headquartered just outside Portland, Ore., streamed the race… Read More