Product Review: Reebok AT Thrill

 

I got two new pair of trail shoes this week. These kickass Reebok AT Thrills and the super comfortable Altra Lone Peak 2.5. Two really different shoes, I mean reaaallllyyy different. Here's the Reebok review.

 

Out of the box and onto my feet. (There's no picture of just my feet.)

Can you tell I'm a professional photographer?

They feel stiff and unyielding. Not a lot of cushion in these. The material feels thin. I'm used to my Reebok Outdoor Wilds and my ATV's. These feel funky. I don't like change...

Texas likes them!

But wait! Look at them. They have some pretty decent tread. A familiar looking pattern, but differing from the Outdoor Wild. Notice there is no extended heel. This sole is very similar (maybe even the same?) as the other All Terrain series. Why the hell can't I get the Reebok website up? What's a "long running script"? Shit. Stupid interwebs.

Also note the arch. Not nearly as aggressive as the Outdoor Wild.

This shoe has some serious drainage ability. The insole is perforated, as is the actual sole of the shoe. And they drain very effectively. Hopefully I remember to add the video after these two pictures.


The horizontal lines on the sole are drainage ports.

Inside of shoe with insole removed.

Not the best quality vid. But you can def see the water draining. 

Remember how I said they felt funky out of the box?

That didn't last long.

Out on the trail these things kicked ass. The feel/fit is still stiff, but not at all uncomfortable.

The tread both climbed and descended very well. I never felt like I might slide out. Steep stuff I climb on my forefoot, and typically descend on my heel, but when descending gentle grades more towards the forefoot, they still felt solid.

There's some mud out on my local trail right now, this shoe barreled through it without losing traction or feeling like it was going to come off my foot.

The interesting material they're made of actually felt pretty damn durable when trekking through some swampiness. Swampiness is a word now. There's also a rockplate hidden in there. Nice little extra bit of protection when running on dicey terrain.

Pre-mud picture.

This shoe, even with the interesting feel, is very reactive. All the twists, corners and short little hills on the Hulk were crushed under this thing. I never felt any disconnect or sliding inside the shoe. Every bit of energy I put into the shoe felt like it was returned 150%. Nothing sluggish going on here.

Fast and responsive. When I ran some fartleks, these things responded and took off like a hasher to a beer check.

Are they light? I don't know. I know they're not heavy though. After half a mile I couldn't feel them on my feet. (Reebok says they weigh in at 11.5)

Oh hey, I'm a heel striker. I often run in Vibrams, but as rule I heel strike. (These shoes have 10m drop. 20m at the heel to 10m at the forefoot) As previously mentioned there is NOT a ton of cushion here. I didn't get any ankle or heel pain, but I haven't run anything over seven miles in them. My personal feeling would be anything longer than a 10-12miler may become un-cumf. I will try to update this blog when I do that.

I want to take these Obstacle Course Racing, as much as my Vibrams. Reebok does make an OCR specific shoe (Heather has it), but I think this shoe would do fine.
If I can finally convince my better half to get back into OCR, I will post an update for that as well.

OH DAMN. Pandora is playing Sisters of Mercy. Bet you haven't heard this in years.

Reebok has always done fine by me. Their shoes anyway. I don't wear those awful basketball clothes. But I've been a Reebok fan since wearing those hilarious big white puffy shoes in high school.

They retail at one hundred ten bones. Huh. That's a pretty good bit of money, that's a race entry for a Spartan..or food for the week. We'll see if they hold up to the $110 price tag though.

So there ya go Sports Fan! Go get yourself a pair of kickass treads, crank up some weird 80's Goth Metal and enjoy your damnself.