Found my Socks!

Well I wasn't really looking, so in a way they've found me. I had given up on finding a good pair and put all my faith instead on taping and foot lubricants; Duck tape, Bag Balm, Body Glide and such. However I think I've found my brand - Drymax! No I'm not sponsored by Drymax, frankly I'm not fast enough to be a sponsored runner and no I have no financial interest in the company.

All of that said I really dig them. I liked them so much that I've started giving out pairs to some of my triathlete/runner friends. In fact I'll mail a pair to the next 3 people to email me about wanting to try them out, no worries on the shipping. The catch is that they are sized large, men's 8.5 to10.5 or women's 10 to 12.

So back in August Olga gave me five pairs, I gave away three and trained and raced on the last two. Back then I gave them away because I didn't see what the big deal was about these socks. Then Donald had a post about them on his blog. After racing successfully on a pair I shared my positive result with him not realizing that he in turn would forward my name to Drymax. They got in contact with me and asked if they could send me some socks to test. Pretty nice.

So far I've been mum about it because I was going to wait until the end of the year to give them a final review but I don't think I need to wait that long. They've performed superbly in my day to day training, pacing at the Rio del Lago 100-miler, the Skyline to the Sea 50k and just recently the Dick Collins Firetrails 50-mile race. Both Skyline to the Sea and Firetrails were races where I went all out and I had no problems with blisters. I haven't had a blister since August, not even at Rio del Lago where the fine sand got into my shoes and feet (I forgot my gaiters). They have worked very well for me. My socks don't feel damp after a long run.

The place I usually get and have the worst blisters is in my toes. When I train I get blisters in my toes. When I race I get blisters in my toes. Some of you know that when I race I pre-tape the bottoms of my feet but that does nothing for my toes. I've just learned to suck it up but now things are looking up. I'd like to see how these socks perform in a dry 100-miler with fine dirt and sand like Western States or Rio del Lago, then again on a wet one like Kettle Moraine and Bighorn this year. We'll see, they'll be part of my standard gear from now on so I'll have many opportunities to try them out in different conditions.

The kit they sent me came with a book that showcased all the different sock varieties they offered. For example they had socks for hot and cold weather running. They even had socks specifically made for trail running which has a little more padding, cut higher to help protect the ankles and in colors that look good with mud. Personally I run in their standard running sock because I like my pairs cut low. If the trail running socks were cut low I would use them.

This leads me to a couple of things I hope they produce in the future. I hope they produce trail running socks that are low-cut and that they make their standard running socks in colors other than white. The running socks are predominantly white and after a day on the trails they have that permanent dirty look. No one knows when your shoes are on but they bug me nevertheless. Overall I'm quite happy with my Drymax pairs, especially since I didn't expect they would make such a difference.

Lastly, these socks will go well with my new kicks which will be the topic of my next post. I don't remember being this excited about gear and racing this late in a season. It's um...very, very cool. I hope this groove lasts all the way to mid-December.