Hoka One One Clifton Shoe Review

REVIEW OF HOKA ONE ONE’S CLIFTON SHOE

 

Hoka One One, a Maori term meaning “time to fly” is a recent entry into the Darwinian world of the running shoe industry. With “new models” coming out every six months, a company coming up with a really innovative shoe is a near impossible task. That a brand new company has done so is truly mind boggling.

 

Full Disclosure-I went to school with the President of Hoka One One, Jim Van Dine. That said, it took me almost two years before I tried a pair of his company’s shoes. I have always worn neutral cushioned shoes for my high arched feet with no problems. I’ve worn and trained in all the major brands. In that respect, I’ve been very lucky to have not suffered any major injuries that resulted in my going under the knife. So why would I try a shoe that offers the ultimate in cushioning?

 

Like many runners, it’s not the long hard runs that caused pain, it was the day after and the day after that and the day after that spent in “recovery.” Long recoveries meant less total mileage. So, while I wasn’t injured, I still missed valuable training time. I read that people wearing Hoka’s recovered from hard runs faster. So, with that in mind, I went to my favorite running store of all time-Transports in Oakland and picked up a pair of the Cliftons.

 

Looking at the shoe from the side, the assumption would be that the shoe is a heavy clumsy beast. That assumption is wrong. Once I got on the shoes, I was amazed that they felt lighter than my Saucony trainers. And the ride? Very soft without feeling I was running with pillows strapped to my feet. I am not a big heel pounder and was curious if the rocker design of the sole would feel strange. The design is meant to encourage an easy transition from the heel to the fore foot which allows for a more efficient and ultimately faster stride. I felt like I was landing on the ball of my foot as I had with all my other shoes, the difference was that the push off with my toes felt effortless. It just happened. The toe box is generous while the heel counter locks in the heel without pinching or rubbing. It’s clear that a runner designed this shoe. A runner that does serious mileage. It shows.

I wore these shoes for long runs. I wore them on the treadmill and more amazingly, I wore them as racing shoes in a trail half marathon and a 11.5 mile long obstacle race. The shoes were outstanding performers. Light, nimble and comfortable. The best part was that my recovery days dropped dramatically. The Frankenstein like walking after a hard run or the races because of my locked up and painful quads had gone away.

Bottom line-while there is no such thing as the “perfect shoe” this one comes damn close. Try them.

The Next Season

It's the end of the year and for most runners, it's also a time for reflection and planning for the next season. With that in mind, I'd like to mention that in 2014, I only ran two races. The first was a trail race in San Francisco from the Marina to the Cliff House (1/2 marathon) where I did it in 2:02 resulting in a 2nd place finish in my age group.

 

The second race was sponsored by Mens Health and Hoka One One and was a 11.5 mile race with 15 obstacles thrown in. I finished in 1:49 resulting in a 3rd place finish in my age group.

 

What else did I do? Well, I did a lot of hiking and cross training.

Next Year's Wish List:    1)  Run the Way Too Cool 50K in May
                                         2) Run a destination race, either in New York or Vancouver
                                         3) Try snowshoeing with the goal of doing a race in the future
                                         4) Do more back packing trips this summer

Will the legal community go paperless?

1) From criminal prosecutions to the smallest of civil matters, evidence of all kinds is being accumulated, stored and disseminated in pdf, jpg or jpeg formats.
2) The providers of evidence are scanning and storing that evidence rather than incurring the expense of storing, copying and providing those documents to firms, agencies or corporations. Document repositories of millions of pages of paper are no longer necessary. Teams of lawyers, paralegals and investigators poring over these documents are becoming a thing of the past as document providers find it is more profitable to scan the documents they can and destroy what they don’t want to retain.
3) Courts are understaffed and are no longer equipped to process the massive volume of paper formally kept in paper files. Courts are increasing having huge backlogs of pleadings, orders and other documents waiting to be physically placed in the paper files. Eventually, the local Courts will have no choice but to require all parties to submit all documents in pdf or an similar form. Call it the trickle down effect of PACER.
4) In the private sector, it is becoming increasingly evident that as the corporate world goes paperless, it will force the law firms it employs to adapt to this new reality. 
4) Finally, the demographic of the Judges, attorneys, paralegals, investigators and other staff has evolved to the point that spending hours shuffling papers is no longer a viable means of prosecuting or litigating a case.