Great shoe for disciplined, lightweight runners

By Christopher3000 Ranked #499 - Men's Trail Run Shoes May 19, 2010

These shoes are an excellent way to force yourself into proper running form. They are designed to provide thin underfoot protection for runners who strike the ground in the mid- or forefoot range, without altering the natural mechanics of a runners foot, the way some "motion control" shoes are. Often, when I find myself "in the zone" on a long run, I space out, my stride elongates and I start to pound my feet a little harder. In these circumstances I pronate slightly, but over time, this leads to tight shins and calves, sore arches, and knee pain. With these shoes, I've learned to keep my strides shorter and to maintain a consistent midfoot strike. Although they hardly seem to have enough cushion for pavement running, I've found that, with extra attention to good form, I can enjoy running on asphalt more than I do with traditional road shoes, which some people suggest contribute to elements of bad running form such as a heavy heel strike.

Unfortunately, at 160 lbs, and with a propensity to find "the zone" for a period on most runs where my conscious efforts at good form start to deteriorate, I find that I'm on the upper end of the weight range for shoes this light. Perhaps someday I'll be disciplined enough to run in them all the time, but until then I'll use shoes with slightly more cushion most of the time.

Also, why no widths, New Balance? These things are much wider than most superlight shoes, which is tough for a guy with B width feet...on that note, it is absolutely critical that shoes as minimal as these fit perfectly. Whereas in cushier shoes there is more padding in the upper to take up little bits of space around the heel and forefoot, if there's extra room in these shoes of any kind, your feet will be swimming.

View Details: New Balance 100 Trail Running Shoe - Men's

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