Brooks PureFlow 7 — An Obituary

A workhorse clocking 873.8 hard earned KMs taking me all over the US and Canada. From late night solo workouts, to 50 milers around town, to the all important capability of a single shoe you can run in AND spend an afternoon on your feet in when absolutely needing that luggage space.

Great on pavement, solid on hard-pack gravel trails, adequate on looser single track stuff, but capable when operated with skill. Good in the rain, solid on snow. Really, the PureFlow 7 just does whatever it needs to. I have this shoe a long time as I roll a lot of shoes, so it sees multiple seasons, crushing them all.

The Brooks PureFlow 7 is clearly one of my all time favourites. Especially considering I likely pay $99.99 Canadian for my pair. Regular price. I bet it is at Forerunners in Vancouver, BC now that I think of it. Either way, not a high priced shoe. Yet, after more miles than any shoe I have owned, it looks the best.

No blown out toe box, and very little tread wear considering the miles. A heel cup that looks near perfect. Aside from single track trail running induced cut in on toe, and close examination of some pretty iffy laces, my PureFlow 7’s look used — by no means warn.

My knees providing the argument to replace them. They always win this argument.

Needless to say, I’m feeling frisky after a couple — down — 80 KM weeks, so I strap on the PureFlow 7’s and set off on one of my favourite type of workouts. 1KM in and out from 5K pace to Marathon pace with no recovery. Just fast and faster. 7 KMs are on tap.

I wish I did more.

I enjoy the challenge of night workouts. The isolation one feels in the dark. The ability to zero in on the effort with lack of distractions. Negative energy melting away into the dark as you twist the faucet. Anxiety replaced with a welcome anguish, one that starts in the stomach for me. A throb that identifies the fine line I am about to cross. A signal to hold it…….riiiiiiight…..there.

These workouts are where I know I’m earning my next PB.

Tucked into this gem of a workout is my second fastest 5K, only bested by arguably a downhill race that shouldn’t be ranked the same. In fact, I would argue, these here Brooks PureFlow 7’s, at their time of retirement, hold my personal best 5K of 19:42 — not bad for a mileage hog.

You can read all about it at Layover.Run, and see the Strava page, but the short version is that I had a big 12 hour layover to get the cheap flight from Edmonton to Sacramento for the California International Marathon in November of 2018. It turns into a plan to run a 50 mile — fake — race around Seattle overnight.

It goes remarkably well for my first run of that distance. Of course, my shoe of choice is the Brooks PureFlow 7. I had never gone over 50 KMs in a single run before, and without aid stations or any support, I only had one pair of shoes. They had to have a good day.

At the time, it was a no brainer. Light, durable, and a bit of support where needed. My workhorse for all kinds of runs, why not my first 50 miler. Note, I don’t run 50 miles…but close.

If you were on that start line, on that bridge, with that pack of animals, you would firmly believe that you ran your best mile at the start of that race. And if you suffered the way I did on the back half, you surely would trust you ran your best mile at the start of that race.

The scary thing is, I heard someone yell out 5:25…and I wasn’t 9 seconds back. Also note, I did jump a short fence and touched the hood of a moving vehicle in that first mile. Ahhh, real good times.

Thanks for all the miles, both fast, and slow. You were my best PureFlows.

Photos below by: GnP Photos & Conor Hayden