Every time I leave the house, I wear sunglasses.
It’s better than the alternative: squinting and stressing out my eyeballs.
But I am picky about what I wear, especially when I run. I don’t know about you, but I always feel that after an hour or two, my head expands and sunglasses can start feeling tight and uncomfortable.
My perfect sunglasses can’t be rigid and hard. They have to be flexible; bending and flexing to accommodate for the blood pumping into my noggin.
I was excited to hear that Nathan was launching sunglasses. They already make great packs and apparel for running, so why not sunglasses?
They have several variations of running sunglasses, but with winter coming, they sent me a pair of their Summit Polarized Sunglasses with the blue mirror lens to try out.
The choice of lens was intentional. I have plenty of sunglasses for bright, sunny days. But what about those fall / winter days when it is overcast and windy or when I am running on trails with a lot of tree coverage? I want eye protection on those days too and darker lenses are too much.
The frames themselves are really comfortable. They are made from a lightweight thermoplastic material that is durable and flexible. The flexibility allows the frames to bend and contour to your face, but they are also resilient to damage. I did a few drop tests and the glasses came away still looking brand new.
There are also rubber grips that sit flush on the frame around the nose and ears to help minimize bounce and keep the glasses securely on your face. Bouncing down trails didn’t dislodge them. Even a slip and fall on my head didn’t askew them.
As for the lens: they are great. Before when I’d run on cloudy days or in dense forests, I’d always oscillate between having my glasses on for a period, then off. On and then off. Over and over again. But with their blue mirror lens, I kept them on the entire time. And I felt that I had less eye fatigue because of that.
While I have plenty of other sunglasses for bright, sunny days, I’ll definitely be picking up another pair from Nathan. These glasses are the most comfortable out of my collection and will be a great companion for when I start ultra training this spring.
You can find these sunglasses at Nathan’s website for $50 a pair.