Its all about the sock!
Growing up I wore whatever socks my parents bought me. Or which ever socks were the cutest!
Like most people I used to feel like socks were socks!
I was a swimmer growing up, so I didn't have to worry about socks for athletics. So when I started running a couple of years ago, I figured out real quick that socks were REAL important.
I went through all different brands of socks and finally settled on a sock by Under Armour. I have been wearing the same socks for a year in every race, every training run, every bike ride. Now don't get me wrong I had no problems with the UA socks. And I thought I was through with the sock hunt.
Then, Swiftwick entered my life!
When I was at the Runners World Heritage Festival last month. Yeah, you know the one where I hung out with my 2 best friends Bart Yasso and Shalane Flanagan. I received a pair of Swiftwick Aspire Zero socks in my amazing swag bag from the weekend. As part of the blogger group we of course wore them to dinner Friday night with our new ALTRA ZeroDrop shoes. It just so happened that we went into a running store in Bethlehem before dinner and met Andrew. He noticed all of us were wearing the black Swiftwick Aspire Zeros. He told us all about how they work, why they were so comfortable. And for a bunch of health and fitness runners some of those crazy "we have to test these socks out" things. One was that we could run all 3 races Sat and Sun, in those same socks and that they would never smell. Now come on normally I would be like your kidding right? But we all looked at each other like, CHALLENGE! Second was that they would feel the same at the end of Sunday as they did on Friday night when we put them on! HMMMM! CHALLENGE!
We put the same socks on we had worn the night before and lined up at the 5k start line.
How did they do? PERFECT!
And hour later we lined up at the 10k start line.
How did they do? PERFECT!
Oh and then Jill and I spotted this beauty in the parking lot...
How many pairs of socks do you think are in this van?
HMMM, inquiring minds want to know!
After a day full of races, we headed back to our room for the ultimate "smell" test...
It had no smell at all. NONE, NADA, ZILCH! Your probably wondering why in the world we would smell our socks. Because that's what we do as social media bloggers. You give us a CHALLENGE and we take it. (Do you have a challenge you want us to take? Let us know! LOL)
But wait the Swiftwick challenge wasn't over yet, we were going to put these same socks back on in the morning for a half marathon. Yeah, the same socks that we had worn for 36 hours and already ran 9.3 miles in them.
Sunday morning we got dressed and put on our Swiftwick socks and lined up at the half marathon start line.
This was our attempt at jumping for a pic, it didn't work out!
So how did the socks do? PERFECT!
As a matter of fact they were so comfortable during the race I practically forgot I had them on. I didn't have to tug at them once or adjust them. My feet never felt sweaty or hot. They still had the compression feel that I like about running socks. And remember this is the 3rd day we were wearing the same socks.
After the race we headed back to the hotel to get ready to leave for the airport.
But first we had to do the "smell" test...
Well?
NOTHING! FREAKING CRAZY!
They did not have even the slightest of a smell. Nor did they even look like we had worn them for the past 3 days, through 3 races, and tons of walking miles!
The compression was perfect in these socks and never loosened up after wearing them.
I actually ran into Jillian (Swiftwick PR chik extraordinaire) and Andrew at the Pittsburgh airport before leaving and I could not have been more grateful to them for introducing me to such a great product.
Since being home, I have worn Swiftwick socks pretty much everyday. I have the white Aspire 12 compression socks that I have been wearing every night. They have been awesome with my calf soreness from getting used to running distance in my ALTRA Zerodrop Intuitions.
I also received the Aspire 4 socks for my husband. He is a furnace operator at a steel mill and is around high heat for 12 hours a day. He is also diabetic. He has always had problems with sweaty, smelly feet. We have bought all kinds of powders and sprays for his feet and boots and nothing has ever worked. He has been wearing Swiftwick Aspire 4 socks for the past week and he absolutely loves them. He says his feet didn't sweat and the compression in the socks are perfect for his diabetic feet. He has to stand on his feet all day including walking up and down thousands of furnace steps. They have really helped his circulation.
I am saving all of you from a pic of his feet, trust me I'm doing you a favor!
I know all of you are wondering if I did the smell test on his socks.
The answer would be NO, I love him but I'm not smelling anything that went on his feet.
LOVE YA BABE!
This past weekend I ran the Senior Bowl 5k wearing my Swiftwick Aspire 12 socks and my new RunningSkirt, so comfy!
Amanda, my BFF, was wearing the Vibe One socks. I think people thought we were crazy taking pictures of our socks:)
So trust me when I say that the socks make all the difference in how your shoe feels. They can make or break a run. If you have been looking for a great sock that has a company that stands by its product. Check out the entire Swiftwick sock line. You will not be disappointed!
Even if you are happy with your current running socks, you should still give these try.
I am so glad I did!
One last thing, I received a Mezamashii Project invite from Mizuno USA to test out a pair of their shoes. I have always been a Saucony Kinvara fan for long runs and have recently been getting used to the ALTRA Zerodrop shoes. However I am excited to try these Mizuno Wave Rider 16's. I have never worn a Mizuno shoe before, but I will definitely let all of you know how they feel.
Aren't they pretty?
My husband says I have a problem...
What he doesn't understand is every shoe has a different use!
Y'all understand right?
QOTD:
What sock do you currently run in?
Have you ever tried Swiftwick?
Do you have a running shoe problem?
