Review: Converse Force 5

Retro Shoes.... a keepsake from the past? a vintage fashion statement? a forgotten weapon from the battles of the past? Whatever way you think of it, Retro shoes have slowly faded away to the performance area into the lifestyle section. Either People are a lot tougher back then or retro shoes don't carry the same support they did before. While there are also some athletes who don retro kicks once in a while, reactions have been certainly mixed. In the late 90's before his first retirement, His Airness wore a retro AJ1 and caused him blisters. On the other hand, the black mamba laced up a pair of cons weapon 86 early in the 2000s as a part of "Endorser Shopping" after his contract with the 3 stripes brand expired, he then would play well on those retro kicks. Heck, even a college intramurals teammate of mine wore chucks during our basketball games..



And now, We give our take on one of those retro athletic shoes. The Converse Force 5.



Look:
Being a "Retro Running" shoe, the force 5 has that simplistic, 2 tone scheme of black and faded lime with accents of gray and white. The color scheme is still pretty much present in modern released runners. It's like a vintage car with a new paintjob. It's classic and modern at the same time.



Ventilation:

One thing that has it coming for the Force 5 is its breathability. It has a soft mesh  that keeps the feet cool and dry.



Performance

The rubber outsole is constructed flat but  has some ribbing in the upper part of the sole for flexibility.On the heel area of the sole, there is some kind of small polygonal wings called the stabilizer bars. They are responsible on keeping you land properly and spreading the weight on the whole feet..

An interesting thing with the outsole is that a part of the heel area has been hollow, this might have to do with weight reduction of the shoe.



Overall, the Converse Force 5 is a decent running shoe enough to protect and give you a long and stable support. While it may not be at par with the top of the line running footwear today, it is still better than the budget friendly "Entry Level" shoes of other top brands, And without a shadow of a doubt, better than Class A imitations of high end running shoes. So, If you guys are looking for a running shoe that is Affordable but has the ability to hold onto its own while doubling as a casual shoe, then the Converse Force 5 is for you.

Recommended for: Neutral Pronation

National Honor

April 17, 2011
Luneta Park



The Run with the masters is a fund raising event for our Philippine team for the World Athletics Masters Championships this June Held in the USA. Supporting the Philippine team is something I hold dear. And one of the few causes I really care about.

Being my first 10k run, I implemented a 10 week program that I saw in Front Runner's magazine for transitioning from the 5k to the 10k. Granted that time constraints prevented me from following it to the letter. I was aiming for the top 300 finisher's medals and looking at the race results of 10k runs, you would need at a sub 1 just to be sure to get to the top 300. A sub 30 for a 5k race would now be easily attainable for me, but my base is still not enough for 10k.

So come race day, I left for the race 30 minutes later than I would normally leave due to the venue being nearer than the usual BHS routes. I realized that carrying 4 bottles on my hydration pack feels a bit heavy (I am usually using just 2, until now) so I gulped down half of the contents 2 of the rear bottles .There is a small starting area at the front of Rizal monument (While the finish line is stationed at the grandstand). The sound system was far from being loud and by  5:40 am the gun was fired for 10k.

The run was tiring, especially the Flyover before the turning point at Buendia.A lot of experienced runners usually say don't expect much on your first try in a new, longer distance. Now I learned it firsthand.


By the Finish line I clocked in at 1:07:17 Not enough for the Sub 1 I was planning on getting but luckily enough to get a top 300 finisher's Medal. Hoping to improve on for the next Races.

Some of the Cons were lack of Photographers, On the past 3 races I participated in, there was only 1 hobbyist/ photographer taking the shots and he is also a runner (and not an official Photographer) . So you really can't demand having your photo taken because what he was doing was a labor of love. I hope this is something the organizers can improve on next time. Another one they said was the lack of hydration and the 20k route (which did not concern me due to the fact that I had my hydration belt and was running 10k).


Overall, those cons were forgivable, since this was for a legit, noble cause. And the organizers were honest on admitting their mistakes and improving the next time around.Good luck on our athletic masters this coming June.

By the end of the race, I was able to cop a "Run with the master's" Shorts. A nice way to compliment one of the best singlets so far.

Good Enough?

April 3, 2011
Bonifacio Global City



First, I had small expectiations for this race, from the overly pixelated singlet, to negative news coming from different forums. It seems like there was nothing new or different even with the price of P600. Gladly I was proven wrong.


Raceday, there was a moderate crowd for the race, But I'm surprised that it was far less than the yakult run. Hydration was ok. It was the same route as run united 1 and km markers were a plenty. Due to being more prepared this time around, I managed to get a new PR at 28:53 good for 77th place out of 714 participants. There were also a lot of celebrities in the race.

After the race, Lots of freebies were given plus free medical (blood sugar tests are fail though since it requires fasting.) Lines are still aplenty but not as bad as it was back in Run United 1.

It was the absence of pics that dissapointed me. There were a lot of Photographers in the event but only one managed to post pics. I was surprised that the site at bazu did not even show the pics unlike the races held by the same organizer (which not only had a fast time uploading the results but the pics as well). Sorry but if you have a high priced and well sponsored race, at the very least try to give the same quality as the previous races.

OK ka ba Run?

Yakult 10 Miler
CCP Grounds

After a slow Run United 1, I decided to give it another try to get a sub 30 at the 5k mark, An acquaintance gave me some tips on building up more base and sprinting faster. So, while browsing different running forums, I came across this gaudy singlet with colors that would make Christiano Ronaldo and Kris Kringle proud.

It was the Yakult 10 Miler which was the second oldest running event in the country. After learning they have a 5k fun run to coincide with their mile run, I signed up for this affordable race.



After gunstart, everything seems ok as we make a right turn for Roxas Boulevard. Ater 2 Kilometers though, the side of my calved felt a bit stiff, due to the fact that I was trying a new running shoe and I haven't broken it in for a longer period of time (it usually takes me a month to adapt to a new running shoe). But after the turning point in the buendia area, the legs felt much better and I cruised in for a sub 30.

The Results were 29:23 good for 87th place for about 796 runners. It finally felt good after my dissapointing performance at Run United 1.

At the end of the race, Former San Juan Knights Center and tallest Filipino ever Raul Dillo was greeting the finishers, We were given a free size Finisher's Shirt (Which looked like a singlet) and a bottle of Yakult. No frills or extra goodie bags, but you get what you pay for (Php 300) and by all means, a finisher's shirt (or a medal) is far better than goodies you won't be using anyway.

Running... United

March 6, 2011
Bonifacio Global City

After a slow running time, it's time to bounce back with one of the biggest running events in the country. The Unilab Run United 1 is the first leg of the run rio trilogy. One of the biggest running legs in the country, to show how grandiose it is, there are around 12,000 runners that were competing that day.



Upon entering the event area, I'm surprised at the huge turnout of the event, the queue from the starting line is around 2 blocks long. Video monitors are stationed in the start area and at the back. The announcer told us that there were at least 4 thousand participants in our category (39++ to be exact). This was also the debut of the runrio song "Running for Love" Which is a great song, and as of present, can only be heard through Runrio events (Unless you look for the music video in youtube, but it has those testimonials that kinda killed the mood). To top it all of, a 3d animated Rio running like pacman on the a map showed us the route we were going to take.

After the gunstart, Running in this event was actually a lot harder due to the sheer number of people. You'll spend a lot of time and expend a lot of energy trying to overtake runners. The Lanes are really overcrowded especially when the slow 10k runners and fast 5k runners merge. It seems like wheher you look left or right, there is an eternity of runners around you. Good thing though, that around the 4k mark, the 2 categories split their ways. But since this was a "transition" race from 3k to 5k lack of base and fatigue started to build up, and was forced to walk for multiple parts of the race.

The result was 31:10 and ranked 319th out of 3,900+ runners in the 5k category. Surprisingly, falling in line in the heat of the sun for pics and freebies were a lot more tiring than the running event itself.

143 never go?

CouFebruary 27, 2011
Mall of Asia

143 go is a one of a kind run. It was a one of a kind run as we preffered to join the couples run.



My GF is not a runner so we just went by her pace and clocked in at the 36 min mark. I did not know if it was the starting time for 10k either

Sadly, the results never materialized. It took a really long time for them to release the results. And when they did, There were so many missing names in the results and the people in charge in FB kept passing names and email adresses to forward our concerns. So, a really bad job in processing the results.

Since I'd like to end this on a positive note, the run was well excecuted and freebies were a plenty.

Good luck to the patients of the Phil Heart Center.

Racing for Place

Jan 30, 2011

SM MOA Grounds


With a race experience under my belt , a couple of lessons were learned on the do's and donts when going on a race. While looking for some possible races online, I saw this one. Sure the singlet is kinda cluttered but seeing the race details, it doesn't look bad at all. First, it is to be held in the SM Mall of Asia which is a lot nearer than BHS (Plus it's the area where I usually train). Also, They are giving medals for the 1st 500 finishers of each category .Come to think of it, I haven't won any athletic achievement since my high school days with the tug of war. So, I went to the nearest Chris Sports Branch and registered.  

Race Day:

Luckily we got there at 4:30am with still plenty of time to stretch and relax. A Friend of mine, JR also joined the race with the 3k category.

Race Start
Knowing that gun time would be used, I immediately positioned near the staring area as soon as the 10k and 5k run went off. Knowing that most of the participants here are students, a lot of them seem to sprint their way from the start. There were around 300 who got past me in the 1st kilometer. by midway, there were around 50 left ahead of me. What is good in this race is that there were a lot of hydration stations. At least 1 per kilometer, a far cry from the bull run 2011.

So After the race, I got a new PR. 47th place out of 1,084 participants and my first medal in a decade.