Trouble Keeping Laces Tied? Try ClickTight!

The cool thing about the Internet is the ability to connect with people all over the world. I've made awesome friends in the UK, Australia, Canada, Brazil (just to name a few) and now the Netherlands. A few months back Jurriën Theuvenet, the owner and founder of ClickTight Innovations contacted me about testing out a new product--ClickTight. I'm always game for testing new running related gear, so I told him to send me the ClickTights.

What is ClickTight? It's a new little device that you slip on your laces which keeps them secure and prevents them for coming untied. Oddly enough, the idea for the product didn't sprout out of a running related need, instead it was the result of finding a way to keep a surfer's boardshorts from coming off. 

While surfing in Mexico, Jurriën realized that the only way to keep his boardshorts from falling off was to double-knot its laces. This also meant a cumbersome knot pressing in his stomach while lying flat on the board. On the beach, he drew some initial designs of a flat lace-lock system.

As soon as the first prototypes where made Jurriën realized this technology had wider applications, particularly for athletes who habitually use a double-knot to tie their shoelaces. Tying shoelaces is one thing; untying another, and a nuisance after a sport activity. 

Back in Amsterdam Jurriën met up with Hans Koeleman to further the design. Hans Koeleman is a freethinker who believes there is a creative solution to every problem on earth. Educated at universities in the United States, the arenas of two Olympic Games and the work floor at Nike, he is embedded with a fairly impatient drive for excellence and innovation. Thankfully he recognized the immense potential of ClickTight and became a crucial contributor to its further development.

My ClickTights arrived in the mail and I immediately began testing them out. They are very simple to put on your shoes and the nice thing is once they are on, they're on. You don't have to take them on and off. There are three different ways you can use the ClickTights with your laces. I chose the traditional bow look. To tighten the laces you simply lift the ClickTight flap, pull on both sides of the bow, and then push down on the ClickTight flap until it clicks securing the laces in pace. I tested the ClickTights on numerous runs and have not experienced any issues with the flap coming "unclicked." Everything stays in place and when it's time to take off the shoes, you simply lift the flap and pull up slightly on the ClickTight unit to loosen the laces and then you're ready to slip off the shoes. It's really that simple.

ClickTights aren't available in stores just yet. To get a pair head over to the ClickTight Kickstarter page and a pledge of $15 or more will enable you to get one pair of ClickTights. You can choose from the basic Black/White ClickTight, a color ClickTight (5 colors to choose from), the ROPARUN ClickTight, or choose from one of the Challenger ClickTights (5K, 10K, 22.1K, or 42.2K)

RunnerDude Discovers The Blender Bottle!

Disclaimer: The following post may sound like an infomercial, but it's not. Just a pretty cool product discovery I made and wanted to share it with you. :-)

The other day I was picking up some sports gels, sports drink mix, and some protein powder at the Vitamin Shoppe. While at the checkout counter, I happened to look down at the impulse-buy items. You know, those cool flashy gadgets that work for about a day and then break (kind of like the kids' happy meal toys). But this time what I saw were water bottles. I needed a new bottle to take with me to the gym, so I took a closer look.

To my surprise they weren't water bottles; they were shaker bottles—Blender Bottles. Okay, you're thinking the same thing I did...."[yawn] You've seen one shaker bottle, you've seen them all." But, something inside the bottles caught my eye and piqued my curiosity. Inside each bottle was a wire ball. Basically, Blender Bottles are shakers, you know the things you plop your milk and protein power into and shake, shake, shake to mix it all together. The cool thing about these bottles (or so said the label) was the unique wire ball inside. Ever mix up your protein shake and gulp it down only to have the last swallow full of un-mixed powder? Yuck! Well Blender Bottle claims that the wire ball acts like a wire whisk when you shake the bottle making sure that all the ingredients are mixed thoroughly. Sounded good to me, so I bought one. (Okay, it doesn't take much to sell me something, but I was really tired of that unmixed powder in my protein shakes!)

The good news is that it actually works! It actually does what it claims to do! So far I've used it to mix up my sports drink as well as my protein shakes. Both mixed up great with no remaining powder! I saw a website on the bottom of the bottle, so I checked it out and discovered there are lots of other uses for the bottle including mixing up
• Salad Dressings
• Pancake Batter
• Yogurt Smoothies
• Lump-Free Gravy
• French Toast Batter
• Scrambled Eggs
• Tempura Batter
• Sauces and Marinades
• Pudding
• Omelets & Egg Dishes
• Water Bottle
• Dry Ingredients (cinnamon or colored sugar, etc.)

The website also provides dozens of different recipes using the bottle. You can purchase the bottles from the website or [click here] to find a store near you that carries them. Check them out. This time the impulse buy was a great buy! I checked to see if there were any video clips of people using the bottle and I came across the clip below from Dr. Brett Saks, a health and wellness coach.