Merrell M-Connect Apparel Review: RFE Shorts, MixMaster Windshirt, and Torrent Shell

Me in the RFE Shorts and MixMaster Windshirt today

I have only reviewed clothing a few times on this blog. However, I am a frequent wearer of clothes and I feel like I probably wear them just about every day. So, while I may not be as versed in running apparel as I am in running shoes, I think I can probably throw a few thoughts down on this three-piece kit I was sent by Merrell on the heels of my M-Connect shoe series review.

Merrell sent me three pieces, the RFE Shorts, MixMaster Windshirt, and the Torrent Shell.  My test samples were both black tops and a grey/orange pair of shorts. I have come to expect a lot of Merrell in terms of innovation and quality, and these pieces have not disappointed.

In all honestly, I wear the MixMaster Windshirt pretty much constantly, as a mid-layer that looks sharp and classy enough for my outdoorsy job, and provides a unique, breathable barrier to the elements under a poofy vest or jacket.

Joe Grant Interview: Above Average Athletes

Joe (center) on his recent trip to Japan (alpine-works.com)

On Monday we all heard some of the most heartbreaking and terrible news imaginable associated with a running event. This running event, the Boston Marathon, is sacred to runners everywhere.  Even mid-packers like me, who are never likely to qualify for the race, revere it and love it as though we could.

What Boston represents is the ideal, the pure love of amateur sport. Accomplishment. Marathons are not about competing, except for the rare few who are elite level runners. Rather, marathons are about defining ourselves and being the best we can be. The running community worldwide has responded with kindness and camaraderie, a remarkable family we are.

In that spirit, I am pleased to share my recent interview with Joe Grant. Joe, perhaps more than any of the great runners I have interviewed here on AGHTR, loves his running in a pure and authentic way that can only be defined as his own. Like many of us, his running is personal. It is about being his best self. It is about defining himself and being inspired.

Joe runs and wins ultramarathons. He recently returned from a mountain running trip to Japan, which followed his second-place finish at the Iditarod Trail Invitational 350...a 350-mile race in winter in Alaska. It was his first time at the event. Joe provides art-heavy, beautiful blog posts. His posts have actually inspired me to consider a new new approaches to my own self-expression. Ladies and gentlemen, Joe Grant!

Coming to My Senses

What I am daydreaming about most days

All my life I was never much of an athlete. I tried basketball, baseball, wrestling, golf...I was never much more than slightly below average. I was an art kid. Later in life, when Moira got sick and I was clearly sick as well, I found running as a vehicle for clawing my way to health. As it turns out, I found more fitness than I ever had as a kid. At 35 years old I am capable of running all day. I'm not too fast, but I can cover terrain under my own power that I never would have thought possible just a few years ago. 

I am an average runner, performance-wise, but even an average marathoner is still a marathoner. I need to tell myself that, I need to actively come to my senses, after every long run, half or full marathon, or ultra I finish.  These experiences require me to really reflect, because it still doesn't feel like me that is finishing. Sometimes it is almost an out-of-body experience for me. I don't look like a guy planning to run 50 miles this summer. I'm sturdy. I am clumsy with a golf club. That can't be me running all morning, it is someone else. I run the danger of not appreciating the hard work I have put in, the blessed experience of running all day.

On the Meaningful Running Blog

 Average Guy with his above average family,
a few years ago...I can always date it by the shoes I am
wearing (Brooks Cascadia 3!)

Let’s just get this out of the way right now...this blog gets the lion’s share of it’s traffic from seekers of shoe reviews. Running geeks united around the world have wasted countless hours surfing to find the next big thing in running shoe hardware, and I am lucky to have been the beneficiary of all that interest and traffic. It is largely rewarding, but (poor me, I know) it actually gets a little bit slow when reviewing another running shoe. To be honest, running shoes are so awesome across the board now, I rarely find something I don’t like!

Once I read an article with the Boss, Bruce Springsteen. While he said that all his work was rewarding, he looked most forward to those more somber albums between his great, radio-friendly stadium-fillers. For example, after “Born to Run” with the mighty E Street Band (6x platinum), he released “Darkness on the Edge of Town” as a solo album (only 3x platinum, and mostly because of sales later in his career...Darkness had no hit singles). Later, he’d release the angry and stark “Nebraska,” a stripped down solo acoustic release that *only* achieved 1x platinum status even through today. “Nebraska” was followed by “Born in the USA” (15x platinum) and his legend rose to mythical status.

Merrell M-Connect Series (or, how we spent the last few months)

Let the epic party begin.

All at once, it seemed, my cancer-beating, hardcore wife and I had a lot of work to do. Don’t get me wrong, it was a lot of fun, but I have never in my blogging career had such a task ahead of me. Yes, it is a tough job reviewing an entire line of amazing, innovative running shoes from one of our favorite companies, but we persevered.  We ran in sleet, snow rain, heat, night, day, trails, roads, up stairs, down stairs, on treadmills, to work, from zombies, over hills, underpasses, through the woods, to grandmother’s house, and anywhere in between. We came out of it uninjured, and on the upswing in both of our running.  Here...here is our epic story of real-world-testing the 2013 Merrell M-Connect line...

We begin with the day that the UPS man thought he would hurt his back, but didn’t, because the huge boxes he had saved for last ended up being as light as a chap-stick.  Amazed, he carried both of them in one triumphant, glowing march to my front door.  From there, he tipped his cap, gave a knowing smile, and high-fived us both as we cheered, ecstatic at what we had been delivered.

Feverishly, we tore open the boxes, and inside we found many more boxes.  For her, five pairs of shoes ranging from the slipper-like minimal maestro, the Vapor Glove, through the crossfit-crowd loving Crush Glove, to the new pink Proterra boots she’d wear all winter, and even more shoes in between.  For me, it was the much-improved Bare Access 2 and new MixMaster Move that caught my eye, but the men’s Vapor Glove, Road Glove 2, and Proterra mid were waiting in the wings to rock my running world.

Exploration: Saginaw Bay Watershed

Photo by Craig Sterken

In the past year, I moved about 100 miles away, back to my home region in the Saginaw Bay Watershed of Michigan. I found a job here where I could spend a lot more time outdoors, working to protect nature. Ironically, in this area, access to nature is harder to come across than it was in Ann Arbor. While it is a larger city, Ann Arbor has more protected natural areas and more topography. Just a short jog from my house on the west side were three contiguous protected natural areas where you could easily string together a rigorous 3, 4, 5, or even longer (I once did a 16-miler there with several laps).

Of course, here in Bay City (well, in the Great Lakes Bay Region of Saginaw, Midland, and Bay City together) we have epic amounts of wild public land, too. You may have to drive to them, but even just in our area are Tobico Marsh, Midland City Forest, Chippewa Nature Center, the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge, Pine Haven, and the Michigan DNR refuges of Nyanquing Point, Wigwam Bay, Fish Point, and Crow Island. A little further afield, about a 45-minute drive, we have Tuttle Marsh and the entire Huron National Forest with amazing opportunities to lose yourself in wilderness.

Patagonia EVERmore Review

Patagonia is, bar none, my favorite outdoor gear manufacturer. I am sure I am not alone when I say I like their style, their lifetime guarantee, and their commitment to the environment (see the 1% for the planet printed right on our subject today the Patagonia EVERmore). Did you know that Patagonia was the first company in California to register as a B-Corporation? That means that they are, now officially, a for-profit company with a charitable swagger built right into their step.

Of course, you also know of my deep affection for Merrell. Merrell is a company under the umbrella of Wolverine Worldwide, and they are right here in the Great Lake State, where I am from.

 While Wolverine makes a variety of shoes ranging from dressy to workwear to ultra-marathon distance trainers, Merrell is where my heart really belongs in their portfolio. Oh, did I forget to tell you that Patagonia footwear is just down the hall from Merrell?

Saucony Adventerra GTX Review: Darth Vader Eats Trail Mix

The Adventerra GTX is a first-of-its-kind from one of my favorite running specialty makers, Saucony. Unlike Merrell, who came into running from the outdoor adventure crowd, Saucony is attempting to do something amazing and enter the outdoor crowd coming form the running side.  

Why is it amazing, in my opinion?  I guess there is a mentality I believe I have observed in hardcore outdoor gear that heavy, traditional, and tried & true products and brands are best, like my pair of Vasque Sundowners.  

There are many distance hikers that swear by this style of all-leather, indestructible boot. Gore-tex liner. Heavy Vibram lugged outsole. High, stiff ankle collar. One-piece smooth upper.  In short, a hiking boot in the traditional mold. What you really have is a work boot. I don't us ermine for hiking, even with a pack.  I use them for driving a shovel in the ground, protecting my feet out in the field for work, etc.  Hiking, after all, is pretty much just rigorous walking with a load on your shoulders.

So, with my long-standing belief that less-is-more in footwear, I am eager for this emerging market of effective, lightweight, low-drop hiking products coming online.  Right now I am wearing the Saucony Adventerra GTX and the Merrell Proterra in a "battle of the 'terra-boots" testing period.  These are both low-drop hikers based on performance lasts shared with popular minimal running products like the Saucony Kinvara and Merrell Barefoot platforms, respectively.

Now, no one will accuse either of these boots of being minimal footwear.  Make no mistake, they are both hiking boots.  However, in a twist of fate, the Saucony...the one from the running shoe company, is the sturdier and more robust of the two, while the Merrell Proterra, from the traditional rugged outdoor company, is much lighter duty.

Well, let me just say I am very happy that I was able to get a shot at reviewing both products, but in my everyday life the unusual (more on that in a minute) Adventerra gets the nod.  I wear this boot for work (i manage a conservation non-profit, so I get muddy a lot) and I appreciate the familiar feel and fit I have grown accustomed to running in my all-time winner, the Kinvara (with the Kinvara 3 being my "everyman's shoe pick-of-the-year" in 2012).

GPS Watches...I want YOUR reviews!

Do you run with a GPS watch?  Which one? Why did you pick that model?  Have you had others? What are you planning on buying next, or are you happy with watch X?  Do you think GPS watches are for sissies?  Do you use a smartphone app?  I want to know everything!

I am seeking some input just because I feel like a lot of the reviews out there are pretty stale old "one run and review" kinds of posts, except for DC Rainmaker, who goes so in-depth it is amazing.  That said, he has such enormous experience and expectations with many of the pieces he tests, and I am more interested in those of us who can only afford one piece of kit.

Cancer: Moira (and Leo and me) three years later

Last year on this day I wrote about Moira's 2-year anniversary from finishing her cancer treatments. Well, here we are one more year later and just about everything has changed once again, I think for the better. Today I am writing from our new-in-2012 home in Bay City, about 90 miles north and 20 years back in time for me, as it is my hometown area. After college, grad school, a career, a marriage and having Leo, we picked up stakes and made this big move to be near family and friends, save some money, and set ourselves full back on course after what cancer did to our little family in 2009 and 2010.

Like I did last year, I want to lay down a few thoughts about Moira and her (our) cancer story. It is odd because even though I write mostly about running and lots of people here in Bay City know about this blog, we lived in Ann Arbor when Moira was sick and so few people here have any real appreciation for what it was like for us. That is good and bad.

2013 Minimal and Barefoot Style Running Shoe Sneak Peek

I gave away shoes in the past few weeks to make room,
It is getting out of hand in my closet.

Well, mine won't be the first or the most heavily viewed 2013 running shoe preview blog post, I will leave that the the big boys like my friend, Pete, over at Runblogger.  So, why even do a 2013 running shoe preview post?  Well, in my case I work with fewer companies than some of the really big blogs, so I like to think I can offer a more detailed look at those products that I do review.  So, this is my own way of teasing what you will probably see here at Average Guy. Not that the big guys don't do a great job at what they do, they just have a lot going on! In 2013, my reviews of these shoes and more will be more detailed, more illustrated, and better than ever!

Saucony Triumph 10 Review

In the past year or two I have had the pleasure of reviewing a few Saucony products, sometimes before launch to the general public.  It is a great perk of being a running blogger! Many times, I have been approached by running gear companies to review a product and I respectfully decline.  Typically, I decline for a few reasons...

First, I may just know off the bat that the product is not for me.  For instance, a big-time stability shoe wouldn't make my rotation even if it was the best stability shoe ever created by man or beast.  Second, I may not have time, I already have about 10 pairs of shoes in the review rotation as we speak, and only now am I getting fully back in the swing of being a distance runner (my move up north and new job have taken over my free time for the past few months!).  Third, I may just not be that into the product offered, may not typically use that kind of thing (certain hydration systems come to mind), or may just feel apathetic about the whole thing.

New Balance MT1010 Long Term Update

As a running shoe, the New Balance MT1010 has become my favorite walking shoe. That isn't to say it isn't a great runner, it is, but I love it for wearing to work at my day job. Of course, my day job is running a conservation organization, so a lot of the time I am heading out into the woods. As a dedicated minimalist/barefoot running kind of guy, my daily shoes when I am staying low-key or surfing the desk all day are casual shoes like Vivobarefoot Aquas, Merrell Barefoot Edge Gloves, and even the Vibram Trek LS. When I know I am going to be on my feet a lot in the woods, heading off trail (most of our protected lands are truly nature preserves, with hardly any trails or developed amenities), I reach for the MT1010.

I have done some running in these and I don't think I have much to add that Ken or other bloggers have not said already in that regard, but I can tell you that they drain well, fit a little loose, offer tons of protection underfoot (but still feel pretty minimal), are flexible, tear easily when poked with something sharp (that said, I hike off trail in them as I mentioned, and we have lots of scrubby, thorny stuff here in Michigan), and they look awesome.

(Help) Run a marathon!*

* and by "run," I mean from the administration perspective!

It isn't often that professional part time jobs, especially those related top running, pop up in Mid-Michigan, but here you go...I have paraphrased some of this port from en email chain floating out there looking to get the word out about this cool job.

The Great Lakes Bay Regional Trail and CRIM Fitness Foundation will be working together on presenting races including a marathon and half-marathon that will be part of the Dow Weekend of Races schedule for the weekend of May 17th, 18th and 19th in 2013. In 2012 the win event was called "The Qualifier."

An essential role they are seeking to fill on a contract basis is that of “Community and Public Relations Outreach Coordinator” which is more fully described below. It is their goal to contract with an individual who has experience with similar running events and is well networked in the running community within the Great Lakes Bay Region (Mid-Michigan) and beyond. 

Also, if you are interested in a portion, but not all of the duties defined in the attached position outline, we are open to having 2 people work together to deliver the support outlined in the accompanying position, but be sure to indicate this with your submission, providing clarity around who would handle what portion of the needed services.

A statement of qualifications that highlights experience relevant to the functions outlined should be submitted via e-mail to Cathy Washabaugh at catbeck@aol.com no later than October 1, 2012.

The job is described below...cool job!

Contract Position: Dow Weekend of Races, Qualifier Marathon and Half Marathon, Community and Public Relations Outreach Coordinator

Job Summary: Maintain all current relations with the cities of Midland and Bay City, as well as with all townships and counties along the marathon and half marathon routes. Coordinate the efforts of all police, EMS and fire departments throughout the route. Coordinate the 911 plan with police, EMS and fire including staff plans for the event. Communicate additional volunteer needs to fulfill the security plan (as defined above) with the race event overall volunteer coordinator. This portion of the position reports directly to the Race Operations Director.

Promote the race at a local level with all running groups and race events in the Great Lakes Bay Region Area and in any interaction with media partners. This portion of the position reports directly to the Race Director.

Timeframe: Since this is a contracted position, it is anticipated that the majority of the work will be completed beginning January 2013 thru May 2013.

Specific functions related to the community outreach coordinator include and are not limited to:

• Providing a secure route for the marathon and half marathon (or other events that may be added) 
• Coordinating and attending all GLB region 911-meetings 
• Coordinating and attending all other meetings related to EMS, police and fire along the marathon and half marathon routes (or other events that may be added) 
• Working with the race operations director to prepare course maps including details on staffing needs 
• Communicating with the volunteer coordinator number of volunteer positions needed with job descriptions and timelines 
• Insuring that volunteer positions are filled and that the race operations director is aware of volunteer needs 
• Making certain the cities and townships and counties impacted by the route are kept informed, as needed, including being provided with accurate and up-to-date course maps and timelines. 

Specific functions related to the public relations outreach coordinator include and are not limited to:

• Promoting the Dow Weekend of Races Qualifier Marathon and Half Marathon (or other events that may be added) to the GLB region 
• Attending expos and other racing events held in the GLB region to promote the Qualifier 
• Interacting with local media partners in promoting the event and feeding stories of interest 
• Providing media with accurate and up-to-date information and timelines. 

Compensation: $7500

Merrell Barefoot Update: Concept Shops and Long-Term Wear

The Merrell Barefoot Lithe Glove

In the past few months, Moira and I have uprooted pretty much everything we knew and settled down in a new town. We have done chores, painted rooms, landscaped, packed everything, and moved all our belongings 100 miles up north. The one thing I think was pretty constant, though, was Moira in her Merrells. I have been a proud partner of hers ever since she made the switch to more minimal shoes, from which I doubt she'll ever move back. Yep, she's a goner. A barefoot lifer.

Also, I want to point out that at our official specialty retail partner, Elite Feet Brighton, there is a new Merrell Concept installation.  This installation is a sort of store-within-a-store, and Ken and Mike are carrying casual Merrells and many of the training and runner-friendly models as well.

The Merrell "Store" at Elite Feet Brighton

I bought a pair of the all-new Flux Glove Sport in Detroit Tigers-approved orange and blue.  Lovely...that is a shoe that combines a Trail Glove upper (more or less) and a Road Glove outsole...making it the frankenMerrell I have been yearning for (more on that in a few days). Long story short, Merrell is making big strides in specialty running with an all-new approach and a dedicated, focused product line that they are adding to daily.  After Moira's reviews, below, scroll down fro a few extra shots of Elite Feet's new display. Now, back to my lovely wife!

When Moira first took on the challenge to start wearing and training to run in barefoot shoes, she had an open mind. What she didn't expect was to take to it so completely. Now, for casual and active wear, she has a variety of Merrells that she has bought and has received as test review samples for this blog. She started with the Dash Glove, and then grew to love the Wonder Glove. Now she is going to tell us about her experiences with the Lithe Glove and the cushioned Bare Access Arc. Oh, and I have a few thoughts about Merrell's new concept store installations coming soon to a specialty retailer near you...read on! Take it away, Moira-