Baby Needs a New Pair of Shoes…

Well, I have over 400 miles on my New Balance Minimus Road’s and I thought since it is the beginning of the tri-year I should probably get a new pair of running shoes. I headed over to the local running store, The Finish Line in Emmaus, PA, to find something new. Althought the NB’s treated me well, I wanted to get something a little different that I was also able to run in barefoot. Losing those precious minutes of putting socks on in transition would get me a place or two. Unfortunately, I stressed too much on the sockless feature and not enough on the fact that I prefer a minimalist shoe. The girl recommended 2 shoes the Saucony Fastwitch 5 and the Brooks Pure Connect. The PureConnect was minimalist, but the arch really dug into my foot and they were really wobbley from side-to-side. The Fastwitch were extremely light and felt good on my feet, so I went with those.

That weekend I took the Saucony’s out for a 9-mile spin and although they are very light, I just could not “feel” the ground. If you are not a Chirunner or minimalist runner you are probably wondering what I am talking about here. One thing that helps me keep my form is the ability to feel the ground beneath me feet. This lets me know that I am contacting the ground with my mid/forefoot and not heel striking. With the Fastwitch 5’s I felt as if I had blocks of balsa wood attached to the bottom of my foot. These shoes are made more for heel-strikers and those more used to much more cushion between them and the ground.
I then contacted Chris from the FInish Line and he said he had some other lines that may help, such as Newton’s. They graciously took back the Saucony’s and I gave some others a try. The one that stuck out for me was the Newtown MV2
 . These allowed me to feel the ground even with their extra sole bars right across the middle of the forefoot. It is a nice contact patch so I know that I am hitting the ground in the right place. I will forewarn you though, I am a mid to forefoot runner and even I got a little sore in the calves the first few times I wore these. They do provide a extra cushion you can stick under your heels until you get used to them though. I know have about 50 miles on them and I really like them. I did a 12.5 miler on Sunday and they performed perfectly. May need to stock up on these. Still not sure about going sock less in these, but got some time to figure that out.
Until next time.