Products to Make Running Easy

Welcome to our products page! We will introduce several existing products on the market or explore new product ideas that make running easy. The Running Products will cover anything from pre, during, or post run. Our goal is to share a product and discuss the important features, so you are armed with questions as you look at competitive products. Our New Product Explorations will cover product ideas and a general review of entering the market with this product. Will these products help you achieve that PR? Keep reading to find out!

Running Products

There are a ton of products on the market to make running easy. The list includes carbon plated shoes to improve speed, wicking clothes to keep you comfortable, and even sunglasses to protect your eyes. We will cover some products and latest trends that may help you with your goals.

Nike Pegasus

Good shoes are so important to make your running experience a positive one. Poorly fitting shoes will result in injury. The Nike Pegasus is an overall great shoe for training. It’s a neutral shoe, so it provides a good level of support for someone with normal to high arches (not overpronation). If you don’t know, do a quick an easy test by stepping in water and then on a piece of cardboard. From the test, you can easily find which shoe characteristic you need to fit your foot.

These shoes provided the right level of support to eliminate those nagging injuries. They are durable, breathable, and have the right level of cushion. They’re great for general training or getting your mileage in. I can’t emphasize it enough, but having the proper footwear will save you lots of pain.  If you are just starting out with running, go to your local store and get fitted. Will this help you get a PR? It will probably help you train for one, because it could help you avoid injury. Or these shoes are great for casual running.

Apple Watch Ultra

I started running with the Ultra a few years ago. It’s a great watch for running. It generally does a great job for most situations and will be a great watch for many runners. It makes running easy by distracting your mind with music or podcasts as you run. The main features I found helpful with the Apple Watch Ultra:

• Increased GPS accuracy:  the GPS is more accurate, especially where there is dense tree cover or big buildings compared to previous Apple Watches I’ve owned. This is due to the additional antenna.
• Ecosystem: If you are an Apple fan that uses the their ecosystem, you will quickly get acclimated to the software. I use Apple’s Workout app, but there are many other apps you could use, like WorkOutDoors. The Podcast and Music apps are both similar to the iPhone and a must have with Bluetooth headphones. Maps is great if you get lost and want to quickly look for a coffee shop for a post run. Weather app is great for keeping track of temps and potential rain.
• Connectivity:  The nice thing is that you can stay connected.  Being able to utilize the connectivity is a real benefit for long runs, so your family can track you.  It’s also great to have peace of mind to send a text or make a phone call if anything happens.
• Battery Life:  Being able to charge the watch every other day or not having to take a phone with you everywhere is really convenient. The larger battery is definitely noticeable. 
• Larger screen:  The large screen is nice for basic activities while running, like texting, checking email, listening to podcasts, or keeping up with your favorite team’s score.  It really becomes a mini-phone on your wrist.  

The Apple Watch Ultra is a great running watch if you are interested in a decent set of running metrics and GPS capabilities, want to stay connected on long runs, and take advantage of the Apple ecosystem. You can find the latest at Apple. Will this help you get a PR? Probably not, but it will track your time for you if you do. And you can crank that one song to get you to the finish line. Or that jam as you are taking an easy run on a Sunday.

Goodr OG

These sunglasses were originally designed for runners and have won many awards. They don’t bounce, slip, and handle sweat well. The lenses are also polarized. On top of all of this, the glasses are also only $25 US, at least at the time of writing this. I think these check all of the boxes to be a good running companion, so check them out to see how they fit on you. Don’t forget, sun protection is critical, especially for us red hair/light skin folks like me. And everyone else as well. This is an added barrier to your arsenal. Will this help you get a PR? Probably not, but it will keep the sun out of your eyes and help you look cool.

New Product Explorations

There are so many products on the market today to make running easy. Everything from shoes, clothes, or wearables. It’s a very competitive landscape. It’s estimated that there are 50 million runners in the USA and the most practiced sport worldwide. With this potential market size, there are significant opportunities if you can define a product value proposition that can scale. Or maybe your goal is to make running easy for a targeted runners in a niche market. Let’s explore some products from the perspective of entering the current market.

Responsive Shoes

Shoes are so important for running. Some argue they are the most important tool for a runner. With the addition of printed shoes, specialized foam, or even carbon plated, the technology in shoes can have a huge impact on running. Wouldn’t it be cool if your shoe could tell you more about your run?  Maybe your striking form has changed or you have too much contact on the back of your foot instead of the ball of your foot. As a runner, getting real time information on a stride can help build better habits or alert you when you are creating bad habits.  It would be great to integrate your other performance metrics to get real time alters when things need to get better.

There are definitely products on the market that either attached to your shoe laces or are an insert that go into your shoe. The value proposition here is providing runners a solution that will allow them to determine if they have good form. The additional value proposition for a in-shoe insert could also be at running stores to help you find the best fitting shoes. I can’t imagine you would want to race in something like this, but getting data like this would be really interesting. The challenge to further explore a product idea like this is how to tackle the convenience of adding a device to your shoe. Will runners find an insert or shoe attachment annoying? Will this only work if it came included within the structure of the shoe.

Is this product idea a PR idea? Unsure. It could be worth exploring the competitive products to further understand what’s on the market. It does seem like there are many players in this market. Further exploration of the value proposition would be important as well.

Wear Tracking

How cool would it be to know when you are shoes are ready to be replaced?  Many sources have shown that you should get about 300-500 miles total with your shoes before you need to replace them. I don’t know about you, but that is just far enough that there’s no way I will remember to keep track. I usually try to get every mile I can out of my shoes, and probably go too far in some respects. I found that Asics Runkeeper will track your distance with an app. But can there be something visual from the shoe?

The target audience would be a runner that knows the importance of getting new shoes when running shoes reach their end of life to prevent injury. If you could see something on the shoe to let you know it’s at end of life, it would be hard to ignore. The value proposition is a solution that alerts runners that their shoes have reached their end of life. The runner would need to be a solution that is built into the shoe, either a special shoe sole that changes color, a visual indictor attached to the shoe to let the runner know, or something that attaches to the shoe that can connect with a device. I would want to explore with runners which of these ideas would be the least intrusive to their running experience and the most convenient to receiving the alert. Not all runners carry a device or want something bouncing on their shoe. The idea of the sole of a shoe changing colors seems interesting, but not sure the feasibility. Nike did previously offer a product that inserts a sensor into the shoe. Of course, it may just be easier to use an app for that as previously mentioned.

Is this product idea a PR idea? No, while an interesting idea, the idea needs more exploration to understand the value proposition, feasibility, and competitive solutions. There are many solutions on the market and maybe most runners would find it easier to track mileage with their wearables.

We will continue to add more products here to make running easy. Come back and check us out.