It happens to everyone at some point: no matter how hard you tie and even double-knot your shoelaces, the laces come undone. It’s bad enough when it happens during a regular run, but it can spell disaster when it happens during a race. Precious seconds tick when a runner must dash to the side of the road to re-tie laces (please tell me you follow running etiquette and make your way to the far right on the race course if you ever need to stop). Worse yet is when the runner either (1) stops in the middle of the course and blocks the people behind him, or (2) continues running with the shoelaces untied, endangering both himself and those who will crash into him when he trips over those laces. You might wonder who would ever be crazy enough to run with laces untied, but I can tell you I saw two racers do it at the Brea 8K this year. It took all I had to bite my tongue and not chastise those runners. In retrospect what I should have yelled at them was, “Buy some Lock Laces!” (This is not a sponsored post. The lovely Lock Laces people have no idea who I am. However, the Amazon product image is an affiliate link).
Lock Laces are elastic laces that replace your regular shoelaces. Instead of tying them you cinch them with an adjustable toggle.
Pros:
– you never have to worry about laces coming untied again
– it’s easy to slip the shoes off and on (which is handy for everyone but especially helpful for shaving time off in transition for triathletes)
– they come in all kinds of cool colors
– they’re relatively inexpensive — I’ve seen them for sale for anywhere from $3 to $8 per pair.
Cons:
– they can take some getting used to and some fiddling to adjust them properly. Cinch them too tightly and the shoes become uncomfortable, too loosely and your feet move around in the shoes.
– Some people might be bothered by the end clasps flopping around but that is easily solved by tucking the ends underneath the rest of the elastic laces just as you might tuck in regular shoelace tips.
Obviously I am a convert and I love my Lock Laces. It’s one less thing to worry about on race day. I wore them for the Santa Barbara International Marathon last November and did not have any problems.
Do you use Lock Laces? What do you think of them?
Fit Fun Mom 