If you find the AW sizing too generous and don’t need a thicker sock (for cold weather), you can substitute the AW sock liner for a regular Newton sock liner. This is 1 mm thicker and will effectively take away 1/4 to 1/2 size. If you need a full 1/2+ less room, add a sock liner to the existing one.

I don’t suggest sizing the shoe down, as you want the active membrane technology (red lugs) under your flex point. Sizing down will move this point back, which will change the way the shoes runs.

Magazine shoe reviews can be mixed bag. The current issues of Runner’s World and Running Times are a great example.

We’ve been working for almost two years to get Runner’s World to review our shoes. The hold-up seemed to be that Newton didn’t fit any of RW’s standard shoe test categories. Finally, when New Balance introduced its own forefoot/midfoot shoe, the 800, Runner’s World had a category and could publish a comparison of the shoes. Of course, the comparison is apples versus oranges. We have to agree with blogger Jim Gosse’s critique of the review. Click the following link to read the article and form your own opinion. runnersworld_feb09_gravity

Interestingly, Runner’s World UK has a similar, but much more positive review of the Newton shoe. Click the image below to read their review.

Meanwhile, the March issue of Running Times features a in-depth article on midfoot running by Brian Metzler. In the story, Metzler includes quotes from the major proponents of midfoot running, including Danny Dreyer, Malcolm Balk, Nicholas Romanov and Newton Running’s cofounder, Danny Abshire. The article delves into the history of running technique and includes results from some interesting midfoot running studies. It’s a much more detailed and in our opinion, more valuable story for readers than the very cursory midfoot shoe review in Runner’s World.

At Newton Running, our first priority is helping runners to learn faster, more efficient running technique. Metzler’s article in Running Times presents one of the more comprehensive and compelling arguments for runners to try midfoot running that we’ve seen to date.

Click the following link to read the Running Times story and you can be the judge. Running Times Mar09_Newton

If you live in the Midwest and you’re looking for a way to escape the brutally cold temperatures, consider checking out the Great Lakes Running and Multi-Sport Expo.  Newton sales guru Tom Curran will be there with our retail partner, Runner’s High ‘N Tri, which by the way, was proudly the first store in the country to carry the Newton line. It sounds like a great weekend with five keynote speakers including Frank Shorter, lots of giveaways, 150 exhibitors, tech demos, a 5k race and a team bicycle time trial.

The first 30 people that buy a pair of Newton shoes at the event will get a free hat or visor. Stop by and say hello!

The event takes place at the Wisconsin State Fair Exposition Center from 9am-8pm on Saturday and 9am-3pm on Sunday.

As they say on the Expo website, “What are YOU doing in the middle of winter?”

Newton athlete Heleen bij de Vaate from the Netherlands placed second at the Ironman 70.3 in South Africa last weekend.  The following is from her website.

Heleen had an early start of her 2009 racing-season today, resulting in a 2nd place in the Ironman 70.3 in the South-African coastal city of East-London / Buffalo-City. Her friend and training-partner Mariska Kramer, also from The Netherlands, placed 4th. Both girls don’t have peak-shape yet and they mainly traveled to South-Africa to train in ideal conditions (compared to the Dutch winter). But once they were there, of course they would battle for the podium positions in the race.

The shark (ed. note – SHARK?!! Yikes.) that held them back from training in the ocean on Friday was gone, so the organization could guarantee a safe start this morning… read more here.

So, not only did Josh Cox pull off a major feat at the P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Sunday in Tempe AZ, but several of Newton’s own kicked some butt too. Newton co-founder Danny Abshire and his partner in product development, Ian Adamson, both qualified for the Boston Marathon with their strong finish times in Tempe. Newton’s sales manager extraordinaire Robert Dennis and our indispensable vice president Anne Klein both ran the half marathon distance. They all reported seeing LOTS of Newtons in the race field, especially at the front of the pack

Congrats to all!

I haven’t had a chance to get a first hand report yet, but I just saw this from USA Today:

An ailing Josh Cox, struggling nearly the entire race, held on to break the American record for 50 kilometers Sunday at Arizona’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon.

Cox was timed in 2 hours, 47 minutes, 17 seconds, for the 31.05 miles, shattering the record of 2:51:48, set by Alex Tilson on Feb. 11, 2002. But Cox, who had his mind set on smashing the world record, fell short of the mark of 2:43:38, set by Thompson Mugwana of South Africa, on Feb. 4, 1988.

Perhaps if Cox had not thrown up about six times along the marathon course and stopped for two restroom breaks, he might have had a shot at Mugwana’s mark.

Still, his run was impressive. After traversing the streets of Phoenix, Tempe and Scottsdale and finishing the marathon on the Arizona State campus, he moved over to Sun Angel Stadium and completed his grueling task with nearly 19 laps around the track. His most stunning lap was his last, a 71-second lap.

“I felt good at about mile 14 … and then for the final two laps,” Cox, 33, of El Cajon, Calif., said. “I had a lot of stomach issues, I don’t know why. Maybe I overcompensated for going the longer distance. Maybe I took on too many fluids early in the race. I just kept throwing down fluids. But I didn’t have any after 20 (miles).”

Read the rest of the article here.

LAKE WANAKA, New Zealand (January 17) Australian Chris McDonald’s fleet feet (and fast Newton Running shoes) carried him to win the Challenge Wanaka long distance triathlon in 8:37:41, smashing the course record by over ten minutes. He was nearly nearly seven minutes clear of Kiwi Keegan Williams, with Czech Petr Vabrousek was a further 30 seconds back in third.

McDonald was two and a half minutes down after the swim but had moved to the front 30km into the 180 km cycling leg. “I got on the bike and hammered the bejeezus out of the first 80km,” he said. “I thought I better slow down.”

McDonald, wearing Distance S running shoes, built his lead off the bike from four to seven minutes by 32 km on the run and held it to the finish. This is his second major win in five months having won Ironman Wisconsin in September. “I couldn’t be happier” he said, “What a way to start the year.”

Chris McDonald Crosses the Line First at Challenge Wanaka

Photo Mike Heydon/Jet Photography

Newton’s very own Josh Cox will be attempting to break the 50K world record at the P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n Roll Marathon in Arizona on Sunday. Josh is planning to finish the 26.2 mile marathon and then run a short distance over to the ASU Sun Dome where he will run 19+ laps (5 miles) on the 400M oval track.

In Josh’s words, “In short, this weekend I’ll be racing 5 miles on the track after a long extended warm up of 26.2 miles. Hopefully I’ll break some records too.”

The 50K world record is 2:43:38 held by Thompson Magwana of South Africa. More information here.

Newton can already claim one world record with Natascha Badmann’s 70.3 win at Eagleman last year. We’re pulling hard for Josh and his Newton Distance S shoes this weekend! (I think he needs to go for the sleeveless shirt/arm-warmer strategy again – it clearly psyches out his opponents).

Go JC!

Newton Running has been all over the environmental and packaging blogs this week with a story about our eco-friendly shoebox. The story reached a fever pitch with a re-post on treehugger.com. The shoebox design mentioned in the treehugger story is cool to be sure, but after a lot of research we found out its not very sustainable for us to produce or ship the molded pulp shoe boxes.

We learned that not only were the pulp boxes significantly more expensive to make, but they are produced far from the footwear factory and they would dramatically increase overall freight costs because they do not stack in containers, warehouses or retail stores efficiently.

Newton has instead developed a new rectangular shoebox (pictured above) that is produced from 100% post consumer waste and uses soy-based inks. The new packaging is easy to store and ship, it’s lightweight and it’s easy to break down and recycle. Rather than tissue paper, we’re using recycled cardboard inserts (scraps from the box die-cut) to protect the shoes.

And, my mug is all over the new packaging, so naturally, I love it

We think this new box is a more environmentally-friendly and sustainable solution to packaging and shipping our shoes. The molded pulp boxes are a classic example of the frequent disconnect between design and development. While the pulp design was innovative, ultimately we found that our new packaging has a significantly lower carbon footprint, and this is what we are striving to achieve in everything we do at Newton Running.

For those of you who want to read all the pros and cons of our boxy issue, keep reading.

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