Runners can be notoriously difficult to buy gifts for. Most are very particular about the shoes, shirts, and shorts they choose to don while stacking miles, and there are so many different products and brands that it’s often overwhelming to even figure out where to start. But fear not! We’ve put together a gift-buying guide with test-proven items even the pickiest of runners will love.
The items in this guide are ones that members of our testing team, which includes dozens of runners across the world who run in various environments and terrain, have thoroughly tested and highly recommend. Many of these products are found in our various buyer’s guides and represent some of our favorite products on the market. Be sure to check out all the different gift options below, as they represent a range of running-specific gear to fit nearly any budget, from shoes like the Hoka Clifton 10 to GPS watches like the Suunto Race S.
Our testing team recommended the products in this guide. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
The Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 bone-conduction headphones can play up to 12 hours of audio, making them a great gift for the runner in your life who enjoys logging long efforts while listening to music, podcasts, or audiobooks. Because these headphones transmit sound by vibrating against the bone just in front of the ear, rather than playing music directly into the ear, they allow for situational awareness, enabling you to hear people or cars approaching from behind. This situational awareness is important whether running on trails or roads. These headphones utilize the brand’s DualPitch technology to reduce vibrations, enhancing comfort and delivering clear sound whether you’re listening to your favorite playlist or catching up on the day’s running news.
By looping over the ears and around the back of the neck, these headphones fit securely and stay in place when you’re running. They’re also easy to take off and wear around the neck without the risk of them getting lost. The only situation in which the design is annoying is when trying to wear them with long hair that isn’t pulled back into a ponytail.
The entire package is incredibly light, and you can nearly forget that you’re wearing them. Finally, these headphones are IP55 water-resistant, meaning you don’t have to worry about getting them sweaty either.
The iRunFar team loves these headphones so much that they are a part of our Best Running Headphones guide.
REI sponsored the placement of this product.
Shop the Shokz OpenRun Pro 2
The Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 Headphones offer exceptional sound quality while allowing for situational awareness. Photo: REI
The Nike Pegasus 41 is a classic — and for good reason. The model has been around for over 40 years and continues to be an excellent, moderately cushioned running shoe that works well for many people. Additionally, it has a reasonable price point, especially considering its incredible durability — it will last for many miles on a variety of surfaces. While generally viewed as a road-running shoe, our testing team regularly takes them on gravel and other mixed-surface runs, including on snow, and we find that it provides plenty of grip as long as things don’t get too steep or technical.
This shoe isn’t about all the latest and greatest bells and whistles. Instead, it’s about providing a great value and a solid training companion. It’s a shoe that someone can put on and run out their front door for their daily miles, or you could take them out for multiple days of non-stop running like iRunFar’s founder and gear editor, Bryon Powell, did during the 2024 Ultra Gobi 400k.
Because the shoe has fairly middle-of-the-road dimensions in all of its aspects, it’s a safe bet that they’ll work for the runner in your life.
This shoe is found in our Best Road-to-Trails Shoes guide, and you can read more in our in-depth Nike Pegasus 41 review.
Shop the Men’s Nike Pegasus 41Shop the Women’s Nike Pegasus 41
The Nike Pegasus 41 shoes are some of the most versatile and comfortable running shoes we’ve tested. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Taking the top spot in our Best Running Shoes guide, the Hoka Clifton 10 is one of the best all-around road running shoes available. It’s an everyday trainer with a plush ride — in fact, Hoka added three millimeters of cushion to this version — that also works on pavement, gravel, or mellow, hard-packed trails.
Simply put, if the runner in your life is looking for a new all-around shoe that works on a variety of runs and surfaces and delivers a high level of comfort, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better option than this one. We love this shoe for its soft cushion, which is both responsive and firm enough to pick up the pace. The shoe’s versatility allows it to work well for long runs, tempo runs, and everyday training runs.
For a more in-depth look, read our full Hoka Clifton 10 review.
Shop the Men’s Hoka Clifton 10Shop the Women’s Hoka Clifton 10
Testing the Hoka Clifton 10. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
If you have a runner in your life who is super shoe-curious, the Hoka Rocket X 3 might be the perfect gift for them. Named the best shoe for racing in our Best Road Running Shoes guide, it’s bouncy, efficient, and propulsive. As a super shoe, it is made with premium foam and a carbon plate, costs more than a typical running shoe, and is best used for racing or fast workouts. The Rocket X 3 isn’t as aggressive as other super shoes, making it a good entry-level option that isn’t as unstable as some other super shoes on the market. At $250, it costs less than nearly all other high-end super shoes, but it still has all of the key features needed for fast running. In these ways, it’s good for a runner trying out super shoes for the first time.
It’s also relatively versatile, especially for a super shoe. You can wear it for workouts in addition to races, and it will serve you well for anything from a 5k to a marathon on the roads. Hoka added rubber sections to the outsole to make it slightly grippier, allowing us to run on wet pavement and gravel roads without issue. The foam is bouncy, the carbon plates have winglets to increase stability and propulsion, and the mesh upper is breathable, making it a great option for those with fast races in their future.
You can read more in our in-depth Hoka Rocket X 3 review.
Shop the Hoka Rocket X 3 – Unisex
The Hoka Rocket X 3 is designed to go fast. Photo: iRunFar/Nathan Allen
Named one of the top shirts in our Best Running Shirts for Men guide, the Patagonia Capilene Cool Daily Shirt is an excellent choice not only for running, but also for all types of outdoor activities. It can even be used for everyday wear and travel. It’s supremely soft, lightweight, comfortable, and durable. At $45, it’s difficult to find a better value for a shirt that is so versatile. This shirt, like all Patagonia products, is made in an environmentally and socially conscious manner.
This shirt is made with recycled polyester, which feels so light, smooth, and soft that it often feels like you’re not wearing a shirt at all. It can go multiple runs between washes because of its HeiQ Mint odor control treatment, and it’s comfortable to wear throughout a range of temperatures. Finally, it wicks moisture well and retains its shape and softness even after years of use. It’d be a challenge to find a better shirt for the runner in your life.
Shop the Men’s Patagonia Capilene Cool Daily ShirtShop the Women’s Patagonia Capilene Cool Daily Shirt
The Salomon Adv Skin 5 running vest is one of the testing team’s longtime favorite low-capacity packs, and the new version has some slight but meaningful upgrades that don’t change the overall fit and functionality of the previous version that we loved so much.
This vest simply checks all the boxes. It sits high on the torso, comes with two 500-milliliter soft flasks, and there are plenty of pockets to store hydration, jackets, gloves, chapstick, keys, and anything else you want to carry. The five-liter capacity is plenty for most runs, and the pack can also hold a 1.5-liter bladder for longer outings without access to water. In addition to the soft flask pockets, two mesh pockets securely hold small items and will fit a phone, while a zippered pocket ensures you don’t lose your keys in the middle of a run.
The vest is secured to the body with a single elastic sternum strap that reaches across the body in two different spots. It’s easy to personalize the fit by moving the attachment points up and down, and a single toggle changes the overall snugness of the vest.
Shop the Salomon Adv Skin 5 – Unisex
The Suunto Race S is a feature-rich GPS watch made for the trails. It’s slim, stylish, and durable, and at $350, it is a great value for a GPS watch that can do it all.
With up to 120 hours of battery life, you won’t need to charge this watch daily. We found that we could get up to 40 hours of continuous GPS use on a single charge. When you need to charge it, it can go from zero to 100% in under 40 minutes, which is the fastest charging time among GPS watches. We appreciated that we could charge it during an activity without losing our data.
While still expensive, this watch is priced lower than many similar options while still having all the important features a runner needs. In addition to offering free offline maps and all the tracking functionality of higher-end watches, the watch also provides all the training metrics necessary to monitor how your body is adapting to training, including HRV, which is currently one of the top methods for measuring overall body well-being.
The high-definition AMOLED display is simply stunning and easy to read in all light conditions. All of the menus may take a bit to learn how to navigate, but once you’ve learned where all the features are, it’s easy to access them. The watch face is made with Gorilla Glass, and the bezel is crafted from stainless steel, making it durable enough to withstand rough conditions. The whole package is relatively sleek for a GPS watch.
For a more detailed look at this watch, read our Suunto Race S review.
Shop the Suunto Race S
While there are countless headphone options on the market, there’s a reason so many people turn to the Apple AirPods Pro 3, whether they’re out running, working at a desk, or trying to drown out background noise on an airplane. These in-ear headphones feature advanced Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) technology that helps reduce background noise, allowing you to focus on your music or audio content. Like all previous versions of these earbuds, they are packed with the latest technology to provide an outstanding listening experience.
All this to say, these headphones are great for everyday use, and we’d argue that they’re one of the best options out there for running as well. They’re light, they fit securely in the ear, and the sound quality for all types of audio is exceptional for an earbud this size. The headphones have an eight-hour battery life between charges, which is plenty for all but the longest training runs and races.
Perhaps a feature interesting to runners is that these headphones can track your heart rate — though it’s a bit hard to believe that anyone who wants to know their heart rate doesn’t already have a watch that can do the same thing. They also have a built-in translation feature for select languages, which seems like technology that will only continue to develop in the future.
When out on trails or roads, it might be worth lowering the ANC so that you can hear what’s going on around you. No one wants to be the person blocking the trail that others can’t get around because they have headphones in and the music on full volume.
Shop the Apple AirPods Pro 3
If the runner in your life likes to run before the sun comes up or after it goes down, the Nitecore UT27 MCT headlamp is a great all-around option that will light their way whether they’re running on roads or trails. At 2.6 ounces (75 grams), it’s lightweight enough to be comfortable on the head and stays put when running without having to tighten the strap down excessively, which can lead to headaches over time.
The most unique feature of this headlamp is the three lighting temperatures: warm, neutral white, and cool white. There is also a red light setting that uses next to no power and is perfect for doing camp chores during a fastpacking trip. For running, we loved the warm light setting — which is significantly more yellow than the white options — because it was easy on the eyes after hours of use. In this warm light setting, the headlamp will last 3.5 hours at 500 lumens and 6.5 hours at 280 lumens. The latter setting is plenty for running in nearly any condition, including technical trails. The 500-lumen setting makes it easy to search for landmarks in the dark, and you can increase the brightness to 800 lumens if you really need to find something in the distance.
This headlamp is also comfortable on your head and easy to use — both important features, especially when trying to use it after hours of sleep-deprived running during an ultra. It can operate off the included Lithium-ion battery pack, or you can use three AAA batteries as a backup.
Shop the Nitecore UT27 MCT
Gift Certificate to Your Local Running Store
While shopping online is convenient and easy, providing access to every imaginable product, the chances are that the runner in your life has a favorite specialty running store, and a gift certificate there could be the best gift for them. It will allow them to select what they want or need, try on shoes and clothing, and consult with running experts about their specific needs, all while supporting a local business. At iRunFar, we love our local specialty running stores!
Call for Comments
- What gifts are you planning on getting the runner in your life?
- What’s the best running gift you’ve ever gotten?
