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The Run Testers Podcast | Interview With Kofuzi
1.2k Plays1 year ago
In this podcast series, we speak to our friends from the world of running about all sorts of stuff, from training and racing to the million-dollar question, "what would be your Frankenstein running shoe?"
In this episode, we chat with running content creator Kofuzi. Expect plenty of discussion about midsole foams, the best songs to listen to during a marathon and how to film great running content.
To watch Kofuzi's YouTube channel, click here: https://www.youtube.com/@kofuzi
You can also find him on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/kofuzi/
All pod guest song choices can be found in this playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1zCyJjbf13KwuShirqq6eL?si=0d1697d0e7f846d6
Perfect for that Sunday long run.
Big thanks to Fear of Tigers for the killer intro music. You can listen to more of his stuff over at https://www.patreon.com/fearoftigers
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Transcript
Introduction to Kefuzzi
00:00:05
Speaker
A time in front of the retesters, another podcast special. In this episode, I'm going to be speaking to Kefuzzi, a man that, if you're a fan of our channel, you probably know quite a bit about him already. We're going to be talking about loads of stuff from his favorite shoes, the type of foam you like, to what he has coming up in terms of races. Hope you enjoy it.
Kefuzzi's Running Journey
00:00:29
Speaker
So welcome, Mike, or Kafoozie, as most people who are listening to this will know you as. Thanks for coming on the podcast. Well, thanks so much for having me. I'm really excited to talk to you today. Great. Well, we've met before. We met when we both did Chicago Marathon, which is, of course, where you live. And yeah, I think most people who watch or listen to the run testers will know of you very, very well. So I don't think we need to do massive introductions. But it'd be good to just find out a bit more about how did you get into running?
00:00:58
Speaker
Well, running was something that I kind of have been doing my entire life, kind of been on and off. I started running in middle school, so right around where my daughters age right now, so like 10 or 11 years old. It's an after-school program that we have available here in the States.
00:01:14
Speaker
Um, a little bit different than the way you guys do kind of run clubs, uh, over there. But, um, a lot of people in the U S get introduced to running usually around that age is kind of like the earliest ages that kids get involved generally, or maybe a little bit older in high school. And that's when I started. So you'd be ready for a while then. Yeah. You know, it's been on and off too. So like, uh, I did it all through school. I, and I ran a little bit in college, but then I took a very long break in my adult years.
00:01:39
Speaker
kind of like a lot of people do and then I came back to it kind of as a not an old adult but as a little bit older of a of an adult nice and you you haven't always been a running expert have you you actually you had a another job before you started doing this full time
Career Shift to Running Expert
00:01:56
Speaker
Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, like, I'm not sure when I became a running expert, if I can even call myself that at this point. But no, I mean, they have kind of like existing in this space doing this kind of thing is relatively new. I only started doing it full time a couple years ago. And before that, I was in the legal space. So I did go to law school, but I never really practiced law.
00:02:18
Speaker
in the traditional sense, instead I went into consulting and I was helping attorneys who were conducting trials and so helping them with the presentation aspects of their storytelling.
00:02:29
Speaker
bit of a change in career then. It's very different. The things you wear are a little bit different, but ultimately a lot of the goals are the same in terms of what I was doing. If you can kind of abstract out a little bit from it, because it was about incorporating technology into helping people tell stories better. And so that's kind of what I did in the courtroom. And I'm kind of now applying a lot of those skills
00:02:52
Speaker
you know, on the internet now, just in a very different kind of forum. Okay, and then the name kafoozie.
Nickname Origin Story
00:03:00
Speaker
Where does this come from? I mean, it's an old like college drinking name from the honest, that's like originally where it came from. But like the
00:03:08
Speaker
The name itself, Ko, is my last name. And then in college I was taking like a East Asian religions or East Asian studies, some sort of like intro survey class. We were learning about Confucius. And so his last name was Kwong. And Futsa, I think is in the Chinese. I don't speak Chinese, but I think that's
00:03:29
Speaker
how you say it translated roughly to like master teacher, but it got like America, not Americanized, but anglicized into Confucius from kung fu zi. So then I kind of played around with that and made kofu zi, you know, like Americanized version of the anglicized version of Confucius. So kind of like two layers of separation. There was a really nerdy, but it was kind of fun. That's a lot more confusing than I was expecting an explanation. Yeah. So that's where it kind of came from. But then it was just more, more of kind of like a nickname I gave myself in college.
00:03:59
Speaker
And then I went away for a long time and then I brought it back for the YouTube channel. Nice, well it works. Definitely a name that people remember when they're into the shoe world. Yeah, I think it's fun to have kind of like, you know, because when I started making videos again, these days, everyone just uses their regular name.
00:04:18
Speaker
But at the time, it was still kind of at the tail end of when everyone kind of had a handle on the internet. And so like, yeah, I had it been like a year or two later, when I started making videos on the internet, it probably would have just been under my regular name, but since it was, it's a kind of a product at the time. So it was, it's Kofuzi, it's a pseudonym rather than a regular name. Well, you're lucky it's quite a cool sounding name. There's a lot of people who've got handles that aren't quite as
00:04:43
Speaker
It doesn't sound quite as good. Also, it gives you a sense of how old I am too, because it's not like kofuzi, like 17394. There's no letters or numbers afterwards, it's just kofuzi.
00:04:57
Speaker
Yeah, well, we won't talk about how old we are. All right, well, let's let's dive into what people are listening for, and that's the shoes.
Favorite Running Gear
00:05:07
Speaker
So a lot of these questions are questions that I've asked other guests, and it's interesting to see basically what the difference is in what people are coming back with. And one of the big ones I always ask is,
00:05:18
Speaker
What is the first running shoe? And you've been running for a while. There's a lot of people that I've spoken to who maybe started running later in life. So the shoes that they answer with are probably going to be a bit different than yours. But what's the shoe that you really remember blowing you away and you thought, wow, this is something really special about this running shoe.
00:05:34
Speaker
I think it'd have to go to be one of my old sentimental favorites, and that's going to be the Nike Pegasus 32 Shield. Wow. I enjoyed the Pegasus 32 a lot. I think I bought three or four pairs of those that year. I think I bought three or four pairs of that shoe in that year, and then I was thinking, you know what? I always run in the summer, and then I take all winter off.
00:05:56
Speaker
And then I get out of shape. And then I have to redo it all over again. Even though I live in Chicago and the winters are hard. And I was just thinking there's got to be a better way for me to kind of run all year round, even though the Chicago winters can get messy. And so I kind of like went onto like the Nike website and did like a chat. And I was like, hey, I'm looking for I really like this shoe, but I need something to run in the winter. And they were like, well, we have a shield version.
00:06:20
Speaker
And I was like, Oh, for real? I didn't know that. And so I bought that one, ended up loving it. And it was kind of unlocked for me, the idea that I can run year round, and they don't have to kind of like, you know, start over every single spring. And so that she meant a lot to me. And I also just really liked I still have that.
00:06:36
Speaker
shoe now. It's one of the few shoes that I've held on to from way back then, because it meant a lot to me to be able to kind of unlock that. And this is back in a time where you maybe had one pair of shoes. Yeah, that was usually like one pair of shoes at a time. And so maybe I had two to kind of alternate, but it'll be two of the same shoe. So I think from like Pegasus 32 to like 34, that's the only shoe that I bought.
00:07:00
Speaker
And I would just buy multiple pairs of them over and over again. Yeah, pretty common. I imagine when you've got one pair of shoes, you just stick with the one that you're comfortable with.
00:07:08
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, well, at the time, you know, there weren't like a ton of like, the ecosystem wasn't as robust now in terms of the information that was out there, or maybe it was, but I was just having a harder time finding it. And so like, I could either get this shoe that I know works for me, or I could take a risk on something else. And I just didn't want to take all those risks. And so I was like, this one works. I like it. So let's just buy it again and keep going. Well, that's, yeah, that's definitely an older version of a shoe than we've had previously on the podcast.
00:07:38
Speaker
All right, well, let's talk about current shoes then. So, I mean, I can see from your background, which is a real background. Yeah, there's real shoes. Real shoes that you probably, there's a lot to choose from. And it's a tricky one. I have the same problem. I've got a pile of shoes, not as neat as yours. But yeah, and choosing my current favorites is really difficult. So what would you say at the moment are those shoes that are really standing out to you?
00:08:04
Speaker
Well, I just finished running and for me finishing running in the shoes usually 100 miles just because I want to make sure I'm getting to as many shoes in the year as possible. So I just finished running the Nimbus 25 absolutely love that shoe. I'm running, I just finished running also in the cloud surfer, which on has never been kind of near the top of my list for their shoes. So really excited to see that they have a great one.
00:08:25
Speaker
And just today I ran into DV8 Nitro 2, which I think may be Puma's best shoe that they have out right now. I think it's a great shoe and it has gotten a lot of attention, but I still think it's a little bit underrated. So that's just been a really great shoe for me. Yeah, it's an interesting year. There's a lot of brands that are reinventing some of their lines. You pick two there.
00:08:47
Speaker
And both of them were a massive surprise to me when the Nimbus, I've never been a massive fan of the Nimbus, it's always been sort of a solid shoe. But yeah, I think a lot of the run testers are really, really impressed with that shoe. And the cloud surfer is yes, not often we get an on shoe and everyone says, wow, this is this is good shoe. This is something about this shoe. How are you finding what you're finding the cloud surfer, it was a class of seven. What is the what you're finding is the best use for that shoe?
00:09:14
Speaker
I really like it for just kind of every day general daily training. And so like if I am going for an easy run, it's a pretty good choice. If I need to throw some strides into the run, it can certainly handle it. And I think it's even soft enough for me to take on some recovery runs as well, depending on kind of what else you have in the rotation, it may be one of the softer shoes that you have. And so I kind of
00:09:35
Speaker
really gravitate to like soft mushier shoes for recovery. It's not the softest mushiest shoe in my kind of collection. But it is on the softer end, which I think is very unique for on because for me on historically have been a little bit on the firmer side. So it's been really refreshing to see them willing to tinker and change and experiment with something that's important to them as a cloud server. Hmm, definitely, definitely. Yeah, I've been really enjoying I've not you out 100 miles in the cloud surface. Yeah.
00:10:04
Speaker
And how is it holding up? That's one of the questions we get quite a lot. And I don't think any of us have got to 100 miles in it yet. Yeah, I still like it. And so that's another unique thing for me. There's been a couple of on shoes where the first couple of runs, I'm like, this is it. Ons, finally. They're on that upper trajectory. I'm really excited about this. And then about halfway through 50, 60 miles of my testing, then I'm like, I don't really feel like running in this shoe anymore.
00:10:30
Speaker
But with the on-cloud surfer, I continued to want to reach for it. And so that was really exciting and a really good sign for me. I think that it might not be quite as peppy as it was right out of the box, but it doesn't feel like it's dying anytime soon. So it's a little bit more on the comfort size than it is on the speedy side for me at 100 miles. But for what I want that shoe to be, I think that's a great development. And it's progressing in a way that is really pleasant for me.
00:10:58
Speaker
Yeah, it should be really exciting to see how they use that foam in across the other shoes as well. Yeah, I definitely think that it's a really good really good move for on to start doing that. I always find with when you've got as many shoes as we've got that if it's a shoe that you want to take out of, you know, I don't know how many you've got, but I probably got
00:11:20
Speaker
80s, 100 pairs floating around the house. And if there's a shoe that I constantly pick up out of that pile, that's a pretty good sign that there's something going on with that shoe that's really making it work. Yeah. And for me, that's a primary indicator of if I think a shoe is still good at that 100 mile mark, do I still feel like running in it? Because there's not a lot of shoes that are bad, but there's a lot of shoes where I'm just like,
00:11:46
Speaker
I don't really want to run in that, but I probably need to for testing purposes. So I do get that from time to time. And so I always try to notice when I'm excited to run in a shoe at that 100 mile mark. And I always try to, in terms of my reviewing process, I always try to think about, well, why am I so excited? What's getting my interest peaked? And why does it keep floating to top of mind for that shoe? And so that's one that that has.
00:12:14
Speaker
Yeah, it's been it's been really good to see from on because, you know, they do a lot of things right from the brand. And like sometimes the shoes haven't kind of lived up to what the rest of the brand is doing. And I feel like they're becoming like that whole package.
00:12:32
Speaker
All right, so we'll talk a bit about foams there. What is your, this may be a difficult one for you to answer, but what is your favorite foam in a shoe? What brand has got the foam that you think this is really at the top of the list here?
00:12:46
Speaker
Yeah, right now I think it's got to be FF Blast Plus. So I think that there's a lot of things that they've been doing with it. So it can be a variety of different densities, which I know can be very confusing to consumers, but they can do a lot of things with it. So it can serve as a Max Cushion shoe in the Nimbus 25.
00:13:04
Speaker
And it can serve as a daily trainer in the noblest three and it could be a speed issue in the magic speed three so we could do a lot of different things. But I just generally feel like if that's in the shoe, there's a pretty strong indicator that I'm going to like it. So that's kind of number clear number one for me. But number two behind is probably fuel cell but I love fuel cell more in
00:13:24
Speaker
kind of daily training applications. And it's not my favorite racing foam, but for like in the Rebel three, I think it's really fantastic. So that's another foam where I'm like, if it's in like Rebel three daily training type of application, I'm like, that's going to be a fun, squishy, bouncy foam. Cause I like the foams that move a lot. And so like, I know that one does. Yeah. I'm funny with you on that one. It's I sort of want a shoe regardless of what I'm using it for to, to sort of feel it on the run.
00:13:51
Speaker
And there's a lot of shoes that you get where you go after your run, you come in, you don't think about the shoe. That's not a bad thing. Some people that's probably quite good because you don't have to worry about it. But yeah, I think definitely for me fuel cells is one of my top ones because as soon as you get a fuel cell shoe, you look at it and you go, I know this is going to feel interesting. It might not necessarily feel the same as another fuel cell shoe, but you know there's going to be a bit of life in that. And I think that's an interesting
00:14:16
Speaker
comparison between the fuel cell and the other foams that the brands got because they really do feel very different and it's sometimes you get one of those one of the other shoes and you go just wish you had fuel cell in everything else is right about this shoe just just wish you had a bit of fuel cell but you know it's probably there's people that like the more stable traditional style foam as opposed to that fuel cell but yeah I agree with you fuel cell is a fantastic foam.
00:14:40
Speaker
Okay, so from good things to bad things, is there anything about running shoes that something that the brands do or specifically brands don't wear that you think you're not very happy about? It infuriates you a bit that brands are doing this. You know, I feel like that sometimes one thing that comes to mind that I reviewed recently was the Pegasus. And I'm very frustrated with the way Nike's treating the React foam in the Pegasus, because React can be a really good foam.
00:15:10
Speaker
I mean, there's some of my favorite running shoes have had react foam in it, but the Pegasus always, well, not always, but since like 37 to 10 hour on number 40, you just feel like they're putting a very dense version of react foam in there. And I don't understand why it's kind of like the later versions of the zoom fly, just very stiff. And it kind of takes all the fun parts out of react and it just makes it feel kind of like a brick, in my opinion, to be very blunt.
00:15:34
Speaker
And so that's always frustrating to me, to extrapolate what frustrates me about brands, not just that brilliant of Nike, is that sometimes brands will get very stuck into, well, this is kind of what the consumer is expecting from this shoe, so we can't deviate too much from it.
00:15:50
Speaker
And so I feel like there's a lot of times where it's just a lot of kind of fear of adapting and updating that keeps shoes from being you know, really what they could be given what other new technologies are available or what other kind of features that they can put into a shoe.
00:16:08
Speaker
Yeah, it's tricky. It's a tricky one, isn't it? I think we talked to this other guys about this the other day, where you have these certain pegasus is one of these brands that is so steeped in legacy and history that, like you said, you had so many versions of the Pegasus, and there's probably 1000s of people that do that. I like the Pegasus, I've been running in it all the time, I'm not going to risk getting another shoe. And you have other ones that are like the Clifton, the Clifton has always been pretty much the same sort of shoe and
00:16:35
Speaker
Have you tried the latest Clifton? Is it The Nine? Yeah, I feel like The Nine is a departure. And so that's one of those situations where you can depart from what the franchise has traditionally been. And I think it's very successful. For me, it's one of the best Cliftons that I've ever run in.
00:16:56
Speaker
But I can understand that there may be some of those people that, I mean, I feel like people that ran in the Clifton 1 are just like a special breed of people. They have a different level of fandom for the Clifton and they also seem to hate all the new Cliftons. So you may be alienating them, but I think that the Clifton 9 is one of the more approachable Cliftons that they've ever made.
00:17:17
Speaker
And it's the daily trainer. It's kind of like the workhorse in the stable. I feel like that shoe needs to be as approachable as possible. And I think the direction they're going on it is really good. And so like, you can have, you know, like a Keystone shoe in the lineup change and still be successful. Yeah, it's a fine line, isn't it? And I think what I find with the Clifton 9 is that I've never liked the Clifton range. Every time I get one, I'm like, okay, I've got to...
00:17:43
Speaker
I've got to test this one now, have I? And it's a bit dull, it's a bit firm, and then I normally like, and I'm not quite sure what to use it for. But I'm going to get the Crypto 9 and just thinking, oh, hold on, there's a little bit, not the same as the Cloud Surfer, but it's a bit softer. It just feels like there's more to that shoe. And I remember running it going, actually, actually mind this, this is quite good. But it's not too far away. So it hasn't really alienated the fan base. It's just tweaked it a bit, which I think is a smart way to go. I'd like to see the Pegasus do that and
00:18:11
Speaker
Yeah, you know, I really thought with the 40th version, it'd be like a 40th anniversary version, you know, I thought there would be more fanfare as well. Yeah. And so it's kind of like, I wouldn't say a lifelong fan, but as like a long time Pegasus fan, I was very disappointed that it was just like, here's number 40. We put another zoom air pocket in there, you know, and I was just like, I know that is a big deal. That's not a small thing. But like,
00:18:36
Speaker
It's 40. I mean, it's a big deal. And I just felt like that was another kind of miss by Nike on that one. Yeah. And every time these new shoes gets released, they're slightly more expensive. And you go to this whole thing where as a shoe reviewer, it becomes very difficult to say, get this shoe. Because when it's something like the Pegasus Fort, you go,
00:18:56
Speaker
you don't need if you've got the older one, you've got you've got the basic the same thing, or just going by the older one, it's very difficult to say I'll get the new one, which is more expensive for no for no reason. So and I think that's a lot of brands know that now. And you look at the likes of a six, they're really changing up what they're doing. So you know, if you if you look at something like the Nimbus 25, you go, well, actually, this is a different shoe. So 24 is not going to do the job for you if you want all these these benefits.
Marathon Experiences
00:19:22
Speaker
Right. Yeah. And
00:19:24
Speaker
Yes. All right. So this is a big question for you. And it's my favorite question. Okay. That we do. It's the Frankenstein shoe question. Now this is basically, if you could make a shoe out of different elements of all the different brands out there or different shoes out there, what would you what would your shoe be made of?
00:19:43
Speaker
Uh, that's an interesting question. You know, I get the question like similar questions a lot, like what would you design if you were designing your own shoe? And I say like, you don't want me to do that because it would look like a Franken shoe. So I like this question a lot.
00:19:55
Speaker
I don't think I don't want to make a shoe. I don't want to be a shoe designer or anything like that. But I don't I think that like the closest thing to a Frankenstein shoe that I would ever want I think kind of exists already and it would be like something very much like the Primax something that is like kind of ludicrously tall because I live big tall shoes to the point that they're unstable. I've told many brands like if you want to make a fun shoe
00:20:20
Speaker
Make it like well i think people gonna hurt their ankles on this then you're on the right track so that's kind of like what i want something that's kind of like unstable something that's like super bouncy so like the prime x with its two layers of carbon energy blades and the
00:20:35
Speaker
The energy rods that are in there definitely is something that's super fun. The Light Strike Pro that's in there is also really fun too, but I was like, you know, if we're going to go Frankenstein, let's put a bunch of fuel cell in there because that is super squishy and is going to move a lot. So like that would be a lot of fun. And then let's put a knit upper on top, you know, so like that. I love knit uppers. I think that they're underrated.
00:20:59
Speaker
And anything within it up or I'm just going to instantly love. So that, I think that's kind of would be my Frankenstein shoe, mostly Primex, like, you know, mostly Primex with a couple of tweaks. I have many friends who would very much jump at the chance of getting that shoe. What are you thinking? 90 millimeters?
00:21:14
Speaker
I mean, I think if we're making the Frankenstein, especially if it's fuel cell, I think we could crack 50 easy. I mean, we should go to like 55 maybe. Why not? Might as well. Yeah, as long as you're not running on the trails or something, but that's a nice flat road, you'd be all right.
00:21:31
Speaker
I imagine over in the future, we'll see some of those just fun shoes coming out. Here's the thing, I think that if you were to run along the Charles in Boston, I think that if you just waited on a park bench long enough, you probably would see something like that because there's a lot of brands that are headquartered in that area. My understanding is that a lot of times, these product guys will get together
00:21:56
Speaker
and just run in their shoes and so you could be seeing this random group of like three or four guys running along the charles river in boston and you might see something that ludicrous um and it could be from a variety of brands but none of them have logos on it so that'd be your that that'd be your case so you know maybe we need to do like a shoe shoe spotting kind of day
00:22:15
Speaker
Well, I'll be in Boston next year. So I'll get there a bit early and do some watching. But I know some of those brands and I do know some of the discussions and like prototypes they look at and things like that. And yeah, I'm with you. It's some interesting stuff going on.
00:22:38
Speaker
Okay, so let's move away from shoes slightly and talk about running accessories. So is there just an accessory that you just can't live without? It might be something you've had for years and you're just always there. What have you got? Yeah, I mean, for me, it'd be the GoPro. So I take the GoPro with me for every single run, just because every run I'm testing a shoe.
00:22:57
Speaker
And so I just collect all the footage. And also, you never know what weird is going to happen. You spend enough time running, and you know this, you're going to end up seeing some weird stuff. And sometimes you'll be like, I wish I had that on camera, because no one's going to believe this story. So I always just like to have the camera with me. For that reason, a lot of people will run with their phones, and they could do something pretty similar to that. But for me, the thing that I'm always running with is a GoPro. Nice. Are you on the GoPro 11? Yeah.
00:23:23
Speaker
Haven't tried that one yet. I've been holding it up. I thought I'd skip this one and get the 12. Sounds like there's going to be some big changes in 12.
00:23:29
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's a good move. If you're on the 10, there's not really a lot of reasons to get the 11 in my opinion. But if you're on like, nine or eight, then you know, I so I feel like GoPros are getting to that point where it's like every other year is a really good time to upgrade. I get one every year just because I'm pretty hard on them. I run with one every day, but also like I review them every year. And so like, that's the reason why I get it. But I think for most people out there, like getting one every year is not really necessary.
00:23:56
Speaker
And you've not wanted to investigate. You have got Insta, haven't you? Insta360. Yeah. And how do you find it? You use the X2, don't you? X2 and X3. So those are the two that I've been using. The X3 updated, and so now they have the high frame rate again. So that was a little bit of a kind of a, I don't want to call it a fiasco. Well, maybe it was a fiasco with them. So there was a little problems with kind of the release of the latest 360 camera.
00:24:23
Speaker
But since then, like through firmware updates, those have been resolved. So I've been really enjoying that one. I like their 360 camera. I don't really love the go. There are little small ones quite as much. I could see why they're very popular with runners, but, uh, they just don't, I don't find too much benefit in the extra likeness of it. Cause I'm used to carrying a GoPro sized one and the GoPro gives me a little bit better resolution and clarity. So I prefer that.
00:24:48
Speaker
Yeah, I tend to use the GoPro more than that. I tend to use the Insta360 X3 if I want to have a play and come up with some interesting shots. But really the GoPro is my, if I'm doing shoe shots, they're the best quality I can get. Yeah, yeah, I agree. And there's a question for you then. I don't normally talk to people about cameras, normally just talk about shoes, but I know you're quite keen on the cameras as well. So when you're running, do you always hold the GoPro or do you have like a holster to put it in?
00:25:15
Speaker
No, it's always in my hand. But like, I'm kind of holding it like as you would like if you were walking around with a hammer, you wouldn't just walk around with it at the end, you might hold it at the top, because then it's kind of like the balance is a little bit better. So I have like a stick, and then the GoPro is on top, and I'm kind of holding the stick. So I'm holding it kind of like at the base of where the GoPro would be. Yes, we're like 95% of the run, it's like that. And then I only it's only like this stick is only extended when I'm filming and the clips are usually pretty short like 10 10 seconds.
00:25:44
Speaker
Yeah, I've always wanted because I might take mine, it'll be a two hour run and when it's hot, it gets really sweaty in the hand. So I really want some sort of holster, I was thinking like a He-Man holster in the back, pull out and quickly film and then stick it back in, but I haven't found anything that works yet.
00:26:04
Speaker
Yeah, you know, one thing that I did, because I tried to film an FKT attempt that I did, it was a 30 mile attempt. And I knew that it was going to get super sweaty and gross. And then once like the sweat gets on there, then your footage is all just kind of cloudy. And then you're just ruined for the rest of the run.
00:26:20
Speaker
And so I was like, well, I got to figure out a way to avoid that problem. And I also wanted to use a little bit of 360 camera and a little bit of GoPro. And so I eventually found this mount that kind of, it's like a magnetic mount. So you can quick change on your stick. And then I would in my pack, put the camera inside like a Ziploc bag. So that way, you know, when it's real sweaty, your pack's going to get sweaty too. And that wetness is what ruins like the camera image. And so I put it inside a plastic bag. And then I also in another bag had like,
00:26:47
Speaker
dry paper towels, so that way I could wipe off the sweat if it did get sweaty. So that's the only things you could do, but it only works really if you have a pack with you. And so for races, it doesn't work. And a lot of times for races, you just got to like, hopefully you're not dripping sweat down your arm onto the camera because then your footage isn't going to be as good. Yeah. People listening to this probably don't know the pain of trying to get running shoe footage, especially when it's raining. And
00:27:13
Speaker
You've got to keep wiping the top because even when you wipe it sometimes, it still doesn't look great, does it? It's hard work, people. Don't take it for granted. You mentioned races there. You've done a lot of races over the past. Some people I speak to have only been racing for a few years. When did you start probably doing endurance racing?
00:27:33
Speaker
My first marathon was in 2010 and it went terribly, so I took a six year break from running. And then I get back to marathoning maybe 2017. And how many have you done now, do you think? I don't keep track anymore. I think I did five or six last year. Wow. Okay. Yeah, you do a lot of race videos, don't you? Yeah. So out of all of the marathons you've done, which I'm guessing you might know your answer, but which is your favorite?
00:28:00
Speaker
I would have to say, uh, you know, I have to give two answers. Chicago is like my hometown race and it's a world marathon major. And I feel like I get to like welcome everyone to my home. So I love that one. Um, but I also just ran Tokyo and like, that was just like running in a different world. So, uh, it was a phenomenal experience. I highly recommend it. If anyone has the chance or if you're thinking about it, I'd say do it. It's an incredible race. So between those two. Nice. Well, I don't need any tips for Chicago because I already got those off of you before, before I raced or before we both raced.
00:28:30
Speaker
But I will be doing Tokyo hopefully year after next, so I probably will come to you for some tips for that. Cool, yeah. Have you done all the majors you've done now, or is there something that you need to do? No, I have two left. So I have to do London and Berlin, and then I'll have all six. Are you doing either of them anytime soon? I don't know. My plan would be to do them both in 2024. But lotteries are difficult, and so I kind of have them penciled in on my calendar.
00:28:58
Speaker
And I feel like 24 is the year where if I don't get in lottery, then I'll have to, you know, do the go the more expensive route, you know, and do maybe like a marathon tour, that kind of thing. Can you do, because you've done Boston, did you say? Yeah. So you could, you could do, I think I'm probably doing them next year because I've got a good for age in Chicago. So I can, I sort of, I think I can get guaranteed entry into it. So maybe you can, because I think, yeah. Yeah. Well, we'll be there. We'll be there. So if you decide to do it, and then I think I'll do Berlin this year. So, um, it sounds like you're not going to make this year for Berlin.
00:29:28
Speaker
you know, there's a chance but you know, it's not clear yet. So it's a weird situation. Right. Okay. All right. Well, let's let's have let's talk about running shoe brands. So every year we've talked a little bit about it. But there always seems to be a couple of brands that are really doing well every year and then other brands sort of dip out and they've seemed to have a low year when they're not really pushing anything. What brands at the moment you think are the ones that are really wants to watch over the next few
Innovations in Running Shoes
00:29:55
Speaker
months?
00:29:55
Speaker
I mean, over the next few months, I feel like we haven't heard all that much from Adidas yet. I still think that some of their biggest franchises were still waiting for shoes. So like, I don't know if we're going to get a Prime X update this year. I don't.
00:30:09
Speaker
I think we're going to get an Adios Pro update this year. So those will be two shoes that I'm really looking forward to. I did get to try the Prime X2 on in the running event in Austin last December. I mean, that's basically my Franken shoe right there, like all my dream things in one shoe.
00:30:26
Speaker
So like that's one I do think they have other couple of other releases that will be coming later in the year That like, you know, we've heard a little bit about the Boston so far They will release like the adios 8 the Takumi Sen has been really great but I think that kind of came out last year really but I think some of their biggest hits are still to come and so like I think Adidas is the one to watch maybe in the next six months and
00:30:50
Speaker
They've been pretty, we always call them adidas over here. Yeah, yeah. And we get comments from everyone saying, you're pronouncing it wrong. We get that with every review brand basically. So yeah, adidas is a funny one, isn't it? Because it's consistently putting stuff out and a lot of it is very good, but nothing ever really seems to be that exciting. The adidas Pro 3, I love that shoe. I think it's fantastic and really like running in it. But I see, I just, I thought the last year that
00:31:17
Speaker
it never really got the sort of awareness or anything that some of the other big shoes shoes did. I think maybe because it was just sort of a consistent, everyone went, yeah, it's good. I like it. Yeah. I'm going to buy that one. But it didn't really sort of get our whole marketing thing around it. And some of the other big brands did, especially with some of the Nike and stuff like that with a, with a really big releases.
00:31:33
Speaker
Yeah, I think part of that too is that the Adios Pro has tended to come out really late in the summer. And so I think that part of that is a lot of people have done a lot of buying because they don't ever seem to have big releases right before Boston Marathon, which I always feel like is kind of a miss for them. And then they do have the Adios Pro come out in time for Berlin. But I always feel like there's kind of an underwhelming push to get that on people's feet for Berlin.
00:32:03
Speaker
And then I think that kind of trickles, then you're not going to see as much of a push for people wearing it in Chicago or New York, which has always been a little bit surprising because I do think that it is one of the better race shoes that is out there. So I really liked it. I thought it was really good. Both all three versions I've really enjoyed and I agree with you that it's like it's really successful, but it could be more successful.
00:32:23
Speaker
Yeah. All right. Well, um, so leading on from that, I'm going to give you three different running shoe brands. And all you need to do is tell me the best thing about, so it could be a feature, could be a shoe, could be an ethos. And if anything that comes to mind me that, so Nike, what's the best thing? Okay. Um, when they want to change something, they can change it very effectively.
00:32:49
Speaker
And so like when they wanted to make a new race shoe, they were able to make a kind of like industry changing race shoe. I mean, like the running industry looks completely different now because of the vapor fine, what they did with it. Cause they decided we want to make something different and they put all their might behind it and they did it very effectively.
00:33:07
Speaker
So that's something that they can do. Okay. So can I, I feel like they have a really good sense of who their customer is and what they're delivering to that customer. And I think that they're not as big. I don't mean, I mean, I don't know, like the relative sizes, like market cap or anything like that, but I get the sense that they're not nearly as big as some of their competitors, but they are punching way up above their kind of like weight class. And I think they do that by understanding exactly what their customers want and delivering it to them in a very effective way.
00:33:37
Speaker
Good answer. Okay then, one more puma. I think that they are
00:33:41
Speaker
doing a very good job of showing people that they're here for the running space. Because I think they kind of disappeared for a little while. And then I know when they started bringing shoes back, and I guess it was like maybe three years ago, four years ago now at this point, when we started seeing like the nitro foam shoes coming in, everyone was like, this is interesting. But like, who's Puma in the running space at this point anymore? We're not sure. And is this like a one or two year experiment?
00:34:07
Speaker
I think they've proved that they're definitely here, they're investing in athletes, they're investing in events, they're investing in community. So I feel like they've showed up and they put their money where their mouth is and they're here, they're here to stay. Yeah, I think this is a really good point. I find people to be really interesting at the moment because they're in a really interesting position in what they're doing. They seem to be very experimental, very much
00:34:31
Speaker
driving stuff forward. They're not sure if it's all going to work, but it's exciting to see. And you see a lot of the other brands and things like Nike Wear, they're delivering new stuff. But if you look at things like the Nike Bayfly 3 or Fly 2, it's slightly changing a model that works as opposed to you look at some of the stuff on Puma, like the Fast R and things like that.
00:34:52
Speaker
they come out and you think, what's it for? I don't even know what it's for. And if you're not sure what the shoe's for, it's interesting. I love opening a shoe box and going, right, I absolutely have no idea when I'm going to use this. Do you think, though, that regular customers like that as much? Because I feel like part of me is like, am I just a jaded reviewer now? And I'm like, oh, I'm not entertained. This shoe's because I'm not wowed by it. And I'm like, I demand novelty.
00:35:19
Speaker
Do you think there's a little bit of that going on there with you? Or do you think that regular people think that too? I think there's two sides to it. So I think there's a group of people that are like us and they want exciting things. It's normally the people who may be racing a lot or
00:35:37
Speaker
you know spending a lot of money on going around the world to these races and they really want that excitement around running at you know the new the new bay fly three things like that where it's like that's a milestone but i do think there's a side of humor which is something that is quite difficult so i think those shoes are fine i think they sort of sit in this realm of being the fun exciting shoes and really if i bought any puma shoe it would be the deviant nitro elite too
00:36:01
Speaker
I probably wouldn't ever pick up one of these quite nice shoes. I think with Puma, the bit, the area that they, as you say, that is quite confusing probably for consumers because they don't know what shoe to get. And I think that's Puma's big problem at the moment. Even if you go to the other side of the market, which is, you know, I just want a daily shoe. I just want a cushion shoe. I went to a shop the other day and I was looking at the Puma's and I just, it just all seems so confusing. Whereas if you look at, it's pretty simple with Nike, isn't it? You know, you'd go in there and that's a race shoe. That's a cushion shoe. Fine. I know which one to get.
00:36:30
Speaker
And I think Saucony's got a similar problem at the moment. They've got a lot of different lines and they all seem to be doing a similar thing. So if you said to me, okay, I want a cushion shoe from Saucony, you're like, okay, maybe there's stability cushion shoe. You've got the shift, you've got the tempest and all these ones. Really difficult to sort of navigate that. And now we've got, I don't think I can talk about it, but there's other shoes coming out from them, which again, I opened a box the other day and I was like, hold on.
00:36:59
Speaker
Well, the older version of this didn't do this, the new version. This is like, okay, I can't quite see it. It seems like they're sort of stacking and stacking up these shoes. And you could pick any of four shoes for the same reason. And it's very confusing. But yeah, I suppose that's, and I think Saucony and Pew were the two brands that are really doing that a lot. Yeah, you know, I think that it goes in cycles too, because like brands will kind of expand the product catalog.
00:37:26
Speaker
And then kind of see what sticks and then there'll be like a call and then like certain things will go away. I think New Balance had that a couple of years back when they were, we had like the Zante, the Zante pursuit. We had like all these different weird name shoes in addition to all their number.
00:37:42
Speaker
shoes like the 880, the 1080, 860, all those. And then a lot of that went away. I mean, some of it still lives on kind of in their casual and gym space, but like from the running space, a lot of it kind of got narrowed down. And so there's kind of like you figure out, all right, what's gonna kind of work, and then you have to narrow it down. I think Saucony is on that they're experimenting, you know, in terms of like what all to do.
00:38:04
Speaker
I think that like, I don't know if the Endorphin series was intended to be a capsule collection that existed for three years, but I think because of its success, like they can't get rid of it now. And so like, does everything become like the Endorphin series or does there exist a separate Saucony part outside of the Endorphin series? And how does that look when you're looking and you line them up all on the table? What then? You know, and so I think I agree with that it can be confusing, but something that I always try to tell people is that like,
00:38:33
Speaker
You know, just because a brand offers 10 shoes doesn't mean that they're telling you, you got to buy 10. You know, and so there's some times where it's like, people are like, all right, well, what's the difference between the Novablast and Accumulus? I'm like, well, they both are supposed to do the exact same thing. But for two different people, you know, we're all different, we all have different feet, we all have different preferences. And so like,
00:38:51
Speaker
There are a lot of shoes. It can be confusing, but it's like these are think of them as like these are options. There's a lot of runners in the marketplace and a lot of preferences. So the great thing about that is we get lots of things that will feel like these were made just for me. And I just love that feeling.
00:39:05
Speaker
Yeah, and I suppose the other side of that is a lot of the foams and things, Pume's a good example, where a lot of those shoes are really, they're really designed for elite, sub-elite runners that are going to understand the benefits of those foams. If you look at some of the, I think it's the Fastart, the Fastart 1's got the,
00:39:22
Speaker
the hard heel section hasn't it and then softer front and obviously the only people are going to understand that are the people that are running fast and they're working out what the benefit of that is and there probably is probably a level of it which is they go we don't really know we've got a plan for what we know what we think it will be like but we want the feedback from people to really understand what works and yeah it's exciting it's good to see that I like to see brands learning from the consumer
00:39:47
Speaker
as opposed to saying, this is the shoe, we're always going to make the shoe the same. We're not going to listen to how people use it. Definitely a lot of that going on with humor.
00:39:59
Speaker
OK, so this is a tricky one.
Future Trends in Running
00:40:01
Speaker
We obviously had complex shoes as a big thing. So there's a big thing. But it's sort of it's become normalized now. It's it's there's not a lot of excitement around the carbon plates of shoes because there's so many of them. What do you think is going to be the next big thing where we see something come up and we go, well, hold on, this is new. This is exciting across any shoes, any type of shoe.
00:40:21
Speaker
Yeah, I think I mean, this is pure speculation, because I do get sometimes information early. But like, this is a pure speculation on my part. And I just don't know. I don't even know if the science is there. But I suspect that we're going to swing back a little bit from super tall shoes to short like to lower stack shoes. And not because we want
00:40:38
Speaker
to run in racing flats anymore. I think that time is gone. I think we're not going to be running marathons in Zoom streaks. But I think that the shoes will get lower to the ground because of advances in technology, whether it's other materials like carbon and advances that they're making in terms of how they're shaping it within the shoe or things that they're doing with the foams or combinations of foams.
00:41:00
Speaker
where we could do more or get the same thing we're feeling now with less material. So the shoes will get lighter, the shoes will get lower to the ground. It'll be harder to sell a little bit because tall shoe, better shoe is an easy selling point right now in 2023. But I think going forward, we're going to say 35 millimeter stack height and people will be like, I don't know what that means until you tell me what's in it. And I think that's the future.
00:41:25
Speaker
How's this going to affect your Frankenstein shoe if you don't get to get this enormous stat card on it? You know, I'm not married to the Tolstach idea, but right now I'm in the mindset of taller is better for me. And so like, it could change the Frankenstein shoe might be, you know, world athletics legal. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool. So what have you got coming up soon then? Is there anything that you're working on? Anything that you're, you're, you're
00:41:51
Speaker
Whether that's racing that you're focused on or from the point of view of the channel. Yeah, so I don't... Well, in a couple of days, I'm going to Atlanta. I'm going to be running the Peachtree Road Race. It's a giant 10K in the United States, one of the biggest races in the country. I'm really excited to do that because I've never had a chance to run that race before. So that's coming up really soon. We'll be doing a live stream live while we're down there, shake out run, show a fun weekend of activity. So I'm really looking forward to that. And then
00:42:17
Speaker
The rest of the summer, it'll be a lot of travel, not a lot of racing for me. So I'll just be getting a lot of running in, but I'll be visiting some friends in Baltimore. And then I do have a couple of stops in Europe coming up as well later in the year. So I can't really announce all of that quite yet. But I will be in some places where I think that a lot of other people will be later this summer in Europe. So I see. Well, we might be around some of those. Well, hopefully I'll see you then. I'll tell you when we get off camera.
00:42:46
Speaker
Okay, then, second to last question. Does that mean you are not really following a training plan at the moment? That's true. That's true. I mentioned that I might be going to Berlin, so I'm kind of staying close to ready to jump into a marathon training plan is kind of where I'm at, kind of like in a holding pattern.
00:43:06
Speaker
But I'm not really doing too many hard workouts. I've been getting ready for this 10K. I've been doing a couple of shorter workouts, but like I'm not really in a hard training program right now. What's the aim of the 10K? I mean, it's going to be hot and it's going to be hilly. So mainly just survive. So we'll see. I think if I can, if I could finish this 10K at like my PR marathon pace, that'll be a victory. I'm not even sure I can do that. So are you still in the world of trying to break your PBs or are you more, have you left that now?
00:43:36
Speaker
I think maybe I have a couple of years left of trying to chase those. So I'm going to take advantage of those while I can. And so I still have a couple of goals left, but there's no more big round numbers to chase now that I've broken three. And so not to be like, oh, poor me. I have no more dragons left to slay. But it does make it a little bit harder to be like, I'd really like to get under 255.
00:44:01
Speaker
That doesn't like, you know, people like being like I want to break three, you know, so like it makes it a little bit difficult for me to kind of like
00:44:10
Speaker
You know, why am I working so hard again? I can't remember because I want another minute and a half. Is that, is that really what this is all about? It just falls into the ego, doesn't it? Because I got a sub three when I was in Chicago when I saw you and that was, I think, I think I could have got about 254, but I sort of held back a bit at the end thinking, don't push it. Don't need to go crazy. Got my sub three. I'm not going to, I'm not going to play around with it.
00:44:35
Speaker
But now, yeah, it's like I'm doing Berlin. I'd like a fast time, but I don't just want a sub three. The next thing is probably like, because I got 255 in Chicago, it's like, oh, I'm going to have to get a sub 250 now. And knowing how hard it is to get a sub three, it's just not fun thinking about it. And also, if you do it, it's like, oh, I've got a sub 250. It's not really a milestone, is it? It's like, okay, you've got to get faster. Exactly. So it's like, what did you get? I got to say I got a PB. That's about it. That's going to have to be enough.
00:45:05
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so it's a tricky one. Yeah, I'll be in that same sort of world now. There's no real major milestones. Well, I'm going to try and do a sub-120 half, but that's a big ask. That's speedy. That's really speedy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, probably where I do it. But you've got to have something to set your sights. You've got to have something to tell people. I'm not at the point where I'm saying, oh, I'm just going to go and enjoy it yet. I'm still feeling a little bit competitive about stuff.
00:45:32
Speaker
Okay, so the last question is not really about running, kind of about running. So what I'm trying to do with all the guests that we have on the podcast, get three songs from them and add them to a playlist so people can listen to it if they'd like to. So you've got three song choices, you've got to listen to them for a whole marathon. So not so bad for you if you're getting a sub three, so you're not listening to them too much. What three songs are you picking that you've got on loop for that whole race?
00:46:01
Speaker
I'm really bad with song names because I almost never look at the device that's playing the music anymore because I'm either in the car or I'm listening to it on the run. So I'll give you like kind of artists because I can't give you any more song names anymore. So I would say one would be like a Linkin Park, especially like the reanimation album. I feel like any one of those songs I could probably listen to on repeat for a really long time.
00:46:22
Speaker
And then there's an artist, Apache, who I really enjoy. And I could probably just, I only need two. Between those two, just pick three songs between those two artists, that would probably be enough. Because I really just like running to that one. I'm not sure if you're familiar, but the best way I can describe it is if you taught AI to make angry classical music, it sounds like robots are making classical music. And it's still very electronic. Well, I've got to listen to this. And it's a little bit on the angry side. So I'm like, it's perfect for marathoning for me.
00:46:50
Speaker
So you'll say you wrote angry marathons. Yeah, you know, I've realized that running angry is not so great for marathons, because then, you know, running a marathon well is about discipline. So like, maybe not the best for the entire, but it's really good for workouts. So like the workouts, you know, I like to listen to angry your music for the workouts, because I feel like it helps you get through those reps. And so, you know, and then listening into the marathon would be fun. Although, lately, I have not been listening to music during a race.
00:47:19
Speaker
So, you know, I haven't really listened to music during a marathon for that because you're filming it's part of it but like I'm also like the guy running around in the race with a selfie stick and so like if I'm also like Listening to music people and the people are gonna be even angrier at me. So Like all right, I will just do one weird thing during this race and then I'll be holding the camera
00:47:40
Speaker
I will refrain from using music, but I also do feel like there's a benefit to me in racing without music because I've done it with music before too. So I prefer to race without, without music. Okay. And then one last question specifically for you. Okay. Do you ever, when you're running a marathon and you're filming it or you're on any, any of the race and you've got your GoPro, do you think I wish I wasn't carrying my GoPro now? Cause this is tough.
00:48:04
Speaker
Um, you know, that happened to me the first couple of times, but I run with it every day now. And so, um, I'm very much used to it. And so I don't really even notice it. Like, like to the opposite of that, when I don't have the camera, it made me really upset. So when I ran my first sub three, it was at grandma's marathon almost exactly a year ago.
00:48:24
Speaker
Uh, Ben Johnson was pacing me and he was like, it was late into the race and I was struggling. And, um, he's like, well, I'll take your camera and then I'll, uh, I'll carry it for you. I'm like, I don't need you to carry it for me. He's like, well, I'll film you for a little while. I was like, fine. So he filmed me for a minute and I thought he was going to give it back, but instead he took off. And so then I don't know if he did it on purpose or not, but now I was like, well, now I gotta go catch this guy because I want, I want the camera.
00:48:46
Speaker
I feel weird not running with the camera. So like that actually helped me get out of a little bit of a funk in the moment because I didn't have the camera with me. So I think the opposite is true. There are only times when if I don't have the camera, it causes me a lot of distress.
00:49:02
Speaker
Maybe a smart bit of coaching there from Ben Johnson. He's a running genius. Well, he's a very good runner. Cool. Well, that was great. Thank you so much for coming on, Mike. That was really, really interesting. Definitely got some answers that we haven't heard before. Really, really insightful stuff. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to meet up again soon at a race around the world somewhere. Yeah, I can't wait. Cheers, man. Catch you later. All right. Thanks, guys.
00:49:36
Speaker
That's it from us, thanks a lot for watching or listening and don't forget to check all the other videos we've got on the channel and give Kafoozie a follow on YouTube and Instagram. Catch you next time. This episode of the podcast was presented by Tom Wheatley and his guest was Kafoozie. The podcast was produced by Tom Wheatley. The music was by Fear of Tigers.