Update: Avelo Running is closer to arriving with an already funded Kickstarter campaign that doubled its goal within hours of launching. Learn much more about the project and pledge your support to join the race.
Avelo Running is a fitness-focused startup that recently came out of stealth to unveil their first product. What the company is building has the potential to be the perfect running companion for Apple Watch. Any runner with a smartphone can benefit, though, without bringing a phone or watch along for the run.
Avelo intrigued me from the moment the company crossed my radar—before revealing their actual product—though I worried their running solution might ask me to choose between it and my Apple Watch.
I’m not sure I would have ever run my first mile without the Apple Watch, much less my first 5K or seventh half marathon, so there’s real product loyalty that has built over time. The watch is also a lot more than just a run tracker for me, and I’m not keen on strapping more tech to myself.
Avelo isn’t trying to compete for space on the wrist, though. Instead, the firm will compete in a market where brand loyalty has even more of a cult status: running shoes.
Avelo Running shoes in my mind are the spiritual successor to the Nike+iPod Sport Kit from nearly 20 years ago.
Nike supported a connected running system that was quite rudimentary by 2025 technology standards. It consisted of a single sensor that either attached to or embedded inside a running shoe and a receiver that connected to an iPod. The system captured workout duration, distance traveled, pace, and calories with mixed degrees of accuracy.
Presently, comparable run tracking data has much higher fidelity thanks to heart rate sensors, GPS, and advanced algorithms. Apple has also pushed the watch beyond measuring basic workout data. Now Apple Watch displays running power and running form elements including vertical oscillation, ground contact time, and stride length. But even Apple acknowledges that a set of sensors on your wrist can’t measure all workout data. That’s why the Apple Watch can interface with Bluetooth accessories for cycling workouts, for instance.
Avelo’s smart running shoes may be the runner’s equivalent to those accessories: purpose-built hardware that enhances what a smartwatch can do, without competing with it. And they’re not just any smart shoes—they’re built as supertrainers first, designed to be loved by runners before any tech considerations come into play.
That’s only the hardware aspect. Avelo aims to not just capture more running data with higher accuracy, but also provide feedback and coaching that can make you a better runner. That’s an ambitious goal that requires a combination of expertise and state-of-the-art technology that hasn’t been assembled in quite this way before.
... continue reading