The rubber on the NB beacon basically disintegrated in 100 miles.
My pair of shorts developed a hole in the crotch after a few washes.
Avoid this brand.
I've had new balance shorts for years. No problems. I've always felt that the shoes don't last as long as others but 100 miles? no.
The initial observation lacks basic credibility.
The current 1080 is an excellent everyday training shoe.. (very) durable, supportive collar for the ankle, flexible and breathable upper, with a midsole that allows a reasonable soft footstrike without being a pillow. The Fuel Cell super comp trainer (graphite insert)? Same.
I've run a lot of miles in a lot of new balance shoes over decades. They're good and have improved.
Kyle Valby is out here pulling NFL-type deals for his daughter. You people doubted him. He delivered. GOAT Sports Agent.
The RW article stated
Her father, Kyle Valby, who is a pharmaceutical company executive used to negotiating multimillion-dollar deals, served as Valby’s agent during talks with brands. He passed the World Athletics agent exam in June.
NB has always been willing to give market-topping contracts when they think an athlete (usually female, very talented, and attractive) is worth it. It's a quality over quantity strategy, and it makes sense. If you have enough runners for your magazine ads and billboards, what's the point in signing another 100 athletes that you don't have the bandwidth to actually promote?
Yup, great point and I assume you're referring to SML and Gabby Thomas. I'm super excited to hopefully see Valby on billboards at least in Boston. Also, I hope that Kyle's mention about it being a unique contract is a hint at maybe no non-disclosure agreement? Would love to see it publicized what her base rate is. I think that transparency could set a nice precedent and be good for the sport.
For those worried about altitude- I think it would be irresponsible for her to go straight to a training environment that is full-time at altitude with no prior experience. The NB Boston setup allows her to experiment with altitude camps and get benefits during certain parts of the season.
Nico is openly gay. Also I think this is not a worthwhile conversation for this thread. Runner power couples usually aren't the best thing for those involved and are not even interesting anyways.
She put herself in the best situation possible by signing with New Balance. Congrats.
Nike would have been hell. They spend as much time working against their athletes as they do working for them.
This was the deal that I had expected Tuohy to make. For all of her talk about loving the team aspect, she ended up alone in Raleigh with no training group. She could have joined this group and had fantastic training partners and been close to her family. I was really surprised that she chose to fly solo and stay with Henes in Raleigh. Not sure what has been going on with her, but abruptly ending her European tour and pulling out of the NYC mile does not make it seem like things are going well. Wish she could have taken advantage of an opportunity like this.
Parker Valby really ended up with everything. She has the sweetheart deal and the great training group and a fantastic new coach who will challenge her (and is not divided with college coaching). Coogan seems ready to work with her current training and make careful changes that will up her game. In hindsight it is apparent that she has made such great decisions for herself all along the way. Using her dad as her agent seemed like such an odd choice, but look at her now! She just keeps challenging the usual way of doing everything with success, and I think the runners on her new team will benefit from her tremendously. I expect that they will all be faster next year.
Other than being based in the NE there is really no downside to being associated with this coach and training group. Glad for her and I cant wait to see what she does in the future.
This is a major downside for a warm weather girl like PV. Boston sucks in the winter. So much for heat training...
Who knows how they will handle her (cross-) training history, but I am a bit surprised that that shehasn't stayed with the college coach and a situation that has worked very well....
No surprise that Nike blew it and lost Valby to NB. Committing to Valby means going along with an athlete that has unconventional training and a history of serious injuries, some of which were never really diagnosed accurately. As much as Nike would have loved to have someone as marketable as Valby, they want their athletes training as hard as they can up to their breaking point. Valby works hard, but has a very different approach that Nike would never be able to live with and would probably throw a fit if Valby did not produce the results they wanted.
NB Boston will be a great fit. She gets to train with ESP. She is a 2 hour flight from home when training in Boston versus about 4+ hours from Portland. NB Boston trains in Flagstaff. Coogan is a coach who will be willing to meet Valby where she is instead of trying to force her into training that will put her at risk for another major injury.
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