New Shoes!

After much mental debate, I purchased some new shoes.  I've been intrigued by the whole "barefoot" or "minimal" running movement for awhile now, but I didn't want to just jump right in and buy a pair of Vibrams or something similar.  Luckily, over the last few months, some mainstream companies have come out with their own versions of minimal shoes which are nice halfways between normal running shoes and full fledged barefoot shoes.

While there are a few different ones out there, I decided on the New Balance WT 101's.  I went with them because I've had a lot of New Balances in the past and have been happy (for the most part) with them. I recently switched to Under Armour shoes from New Balances because New Balance had A LOT of bulk to them and the Under Armour shoes made my feet feel light and speedy.

I've been considering the minimal movement pretty much ever since my half marathon in October.  Why?  Well, during that half marathon, I got extremely tired (due to undertraining) around mile 9 or 10 and my form slipped, a lot.  This was also during a point when I was traveling downhill for a major portion of the race- so, bad form + downhill= lots of foot slapping, heel striking, and joint jamming.  So much so that my knee still hurts from it if I don't take my glucosamine supplement.

After reading everything that I've seen about minimal/barefoot thinking- their basic argument comes down to this- if you wrap your foot in padding, you'll change your form (because it wont hurt your foot) to something that will hurt the rest of your body later on (i.e., major heel striking).  This can be proven over and over again- go for a run with shoes and then without- your form is totally different, naturally, and I can guarantee that you aren't heel striking when you're barefoot, because the pain would make you keel over.

So, I'm gonna try it out and see if I like it, if it kills me, or makes me a better runner.  I will also post said results on this blog.

And, my shoes came in the mail today!  Here are the pics-

Outer side

Inner Side

Top

Bottom

My only concern is these are kind of billed as trail shoes and all the reviews come from people who have used them on trails...and I mostly want to use them on the road.  Oh well, nothing to do now but try!

This week the new fitness center at the Y will open...so I can try them as soon as this week!  Woo!!