Adidas and Reebok jump the shark

I find the look of this shoe disturbing

Today's run (street): 3.75 miles

Earlier this week, I was walking up 7th Avenue when I noticed a guy wearing a strange looking pair of Reeboks. They looked like a chromosome-damaged version of Nike's Shox, a shoe I'd disparaged in what has become my all-time most popular post. Amazingly, these shoes looked even weirder than the Nikes. It turns out the guy was wearing Reebok ATV19's, ATV standing (I guess) for "All Terrain Vehicle.

It's no secret that I despise Reebok's line of running shoes because they significantly miss the mark in terms of both quality and style. I'm sure there are plenty of middle school-aged boys who would disagree with me on this. That's my point. I've wondered how a respected company like Adidas, that makes some very good running shoes, would also have a brand (Reebok) that produces such gimmicky footwear. And then I got a PR mailing from Adidas that's helping me understand that better.

A picture's worth a thousand words

When I first saw the press release for the Adidas Springblade, I thought it was a parody. While the Springblade isn't the first running shoe to use cantilevers to promote energy return, the design they came up with looks completely ridiculous. Or, in the words of those middle schoolers: Awesome! I'm curious to see if anyone ever shows up for a race wearing these monstrosities. The only thing worse would be if the wearer won the race.