Patagonia Strider Shorts Review

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The beauty of running is that there are not a lot of items you need to get out and run.  Pretty much a pair of shoes, socks, shorts, and shirt will do for most people.  Some people might disagree as they run barefoot, so they can skip out on the socks and shoes and some people might say they don’t wear a shirt while running in the warmer months.  But unless you are running on a nude beach (ouch!) you need to have a pair of shorts for running.

I’ve been testing out the Patagonia Strider Shorts with a 5′ inseam while on my runs and I wanted to report back to you on my findings.  The Patagonia Strider Shorts come in inseam sizes 3,5,and 7 for men’s and a 3 1/4′ for women.  Plenty of choices for all runner types.  Given that I don’t like running in super long or super short shorts, I chose the 5′ inseam to test.  The material in the Strider Shorts is made of a super lightweight 100% polyester fabric that flows with most peoples running strides.  The inside liner is made of your typical soft moisture wicking fabric that seemed to fit me well.  I am a size 32 waist and I tested out a size medium and I felt that the sizing was correct on both the liner and the shorts.  I tested these shorts out on both short and long runs and I found no chaffing which is very important when picking out the right pair of running shorts for you.

For pockets, the Patagonia Strider Shorts have one inside key pocket.  I did find the key pocket to not have the greatest placement for me while running.  I placed my car key remote in these shorts and found the key placement to be too close to the region where you don’t want a key bouncing around.  For future models, I would like to see this key pocket be moved over a half inch to an inch out.  On the overall look of the shorts, I found the shorts to be a little bit more different and fun than your standard black running shorts.  I tested out the Deep Space color and I felt that the colors were a little girly looking, so depending on your style, you can decide what color is best for you.

For more information on the Strider Shorts and other Patagonia products, visit www.patagonia.com or www.rei.com/patagonia.