Experia - Thorlos

I've mentioned before how much I love running socks and how I am amazed at the different technologies out there. Well, I recently tried a pair of Experia - Powered by Thorlos Pads. I know, the name even sounds fancy! Thorlos makes different socks for different feet and different activity demands. Experia is intended for those who wouldn't normally wear Thorlos because of the thick cushioning. Experia leaves the light weight cushioning where it is needed in the ball and heel and coolmax is used for moisture management. There is special attention given to the Achilles pad of the sock as this is the area that tends to wear quickly. The remainder of the sock is a blend of polyester, nylon and Lycra.

Thorlos makes socks with a lot of cushioning to protect the bottom of feet. They claim that "wearing Thorlos will help you have less foot pain as you get older" because it helps replace and protect the "fat pads" on the bottom of our feet which degenerate as we age.

I have not tried any other Thorlos products except for Experia. The Experia socks were really nice and they felt great on my feet. When I first slipped into my sneakers, I thought the socks might move around a bit because they felt "slippery." That's the best way for me to describe it. The sock itself was not moving though and in fact, it was a nice, comfty fit. When I first set out running, I thought they might be too thin for my shoe or that they may slide around but that feeling passed once I got going. Maybe my foot got warm, I got used to it, I don't know. I will say they held up through a 17 mile test though and I had no blisters, no rubbing, etc.

A pair of Experia will run you $13.99 but if you buy 3 pairs you can get free shipping. They also have a wide variety of colors to choose from. I don't know about you, but I get bored of plain old white socks!! I'm giving Experia socks 8 Biscuits.

iFitness MiniSport Belt

I've been trying to be really good about carrying my cell phone with me lately and have tried a few different belts. But once I get the phone in the pocket, there's not much room for anything else. The one I've been using holds my phone perfectly, but since it flops around a little bit I was looking to try something different. I had seen iFitness belts at Expos but it's hard for me to buy stuff at Expos...there's always too much going on and I'm in sensory overload. So I was really excited when iFitness sent me the MiniSport Belt to try out.

Here are some facts about the belt:

• Water resistant pouch, stretchy and sturdy, made of neoprene will keep your cell phone or iPod (any size) dry.
• Six elastic slots will hold your gels on your belt, for easy access.
• Special inner pocket will keep your ID/credit cards or room key securely.
• Comes with two reflector strips in the front and one in the back, for night time safety.
• Also featured are two toggles to hold your race number, under the pouch.

But the most important tid bit of information about this belt...it didn't move around AT ALL. No flopping, no turning, no rubbing, no chaffing! In fact, I barely knew it was there. It fit snuggly right around my hip bones and didn't bother me the least during my run. And not only did it hold my cell phone, but I was able to carry along some fuel for the run. Unfortunately, the loops are a little big and can't hold my Clif bloks but I was able to squeeze in some Sport Beans. The loops are clearly meant to carry gels.

This particular belt sells for $27.95 from iFitness and I think it's worth every penny. If you don't need the fuel holders or bib clips, check out their other products. They have a lot of different varieties of waist belts as well as arm gel holders.

I really, really liked this belt and thought it was super comfortable. The ONLY thing that would make this better is if the loops were small enough to hold my Clif bloks since that's what I use during long runs and marathons. But since I can still wear the belt even without using it to carry my fuel, I'm giving iFitness 9 Biscuits. (Dear iFitness, make the loops smaller and I'll give you the coveted 10 biscuit rating!)