One of the best gifts related to running I’ve ever received, hence one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received, was socks. Really. The gift portrayed, in so many movies, as the worst turned out to be the highlight of my birthday gifts and here’s why.
My wife, who is not a runner but is fantastic crew, wanted to help support the training for my first 100 mile run. She knows I spend more time than necessary researching what may work best and provide the most value. One pair of specialty running socks can cost as much as a six-pack of everyday athletic socks. I want to know I’m getting a good value and a product that will work for me. Really difficult to do without a test-drive.
Back to the best gift ever. If you’ve tried to buy gear for someone else, you understand the risk you’re taking. My wife did, so she read some reviews and decided, instead of guessing which to purchase, to just buy ALL the socks on the top 10 list from some trail running website. It was BRILLIANT! Not only did this shortcut my researching process but it gave me the chance to test-drive a lot of different brands and styles. Over the course of my training for the next month I found a couple brands and styles I LOVED. The rest were all fine and will eventually be worn out, but some were, for me, MUCH better than the others. I’d have never known without the ability to try them side by side over days, weeks, and months of training.
This isn’t a sock review so I’m not revealing my favorites. I’ll save that for another day. What I am doing is celebrating my wife’s ingenuity and the opportunity her decision gave me. The next time I’m wrestling with what to purchase I may employ a similar tactic. Can’t decide which gel flavor, or drink mix to try? Get every flavor or get the same flavor from every major brand and see which you like. Obviously, this won’t work with higher dollar items, like hydration vests, but there are many categories in which you can employ the Pokemon strategy of “Gotta Catch ‘em All”.