Well, it's official. I hate these shoes. :( I am sad, cause I really wanted to like them, but I don't and don't see it getting much better then this with them.
I wanted to give them a fair chance, so I went out and bought new actual athletic socks, something I have never done in the 2 marathons I have trained for and ran, because the shoes wouldn't fit over my regular socks (I figured it was time for that anyways) and I waited till it was a bit colder to see if I could combat the sweaty foot issue. My time piece reads 43 degrees, and its dark out so there was no sun.
I slapped a band aid over my big blister (to read about my blister and my first review of these shoes follow me here!) and headed out. Things were fine for a little while but after about 2 miles I noticed my feet were pretty sweaty, although I was not at the time. This caused my toes to squish together, jutting a toe nail into another toe. Maybe I should cut those bad boys.
If you can see the reddish color above the swoosh that is a blood stain from my big fat blister. Not my first by any means, but this definitely intrigued my 5 year old who takes a great concern over my feet. Many nights he includes a special prayer for my blisters. :)
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| New socks baby! |
One thing I noticed with these shoes both times I wore them, that I have never noticed with my Flow's is how I hold my foot in them. Yes, these shoes do have more of a minimalist feel to them, less support, which I love and I am sure there is a learning curve to running in shoes like that, but I feel like I grip my feet. I think it's because of them being sweaty, which makes them more likely to move around in the shoes so I am subconsciously clenching my feet to make them more steady. WHO KNOWS! But I did notice that the bottom of my feet felt sore this week, which they don't normally, and today I pulled a tendon on underneath my 2nd metatarsal while charging through uneven pavement, which aches when you keep running on it. It feels ok now, but man I could go for a solid arch rub down.
So all and all I think these shoes would be amazing if not for the non-breathable material they are made out of. It doesn't make sense to me why someone chose this material and what the point of it was. I know they got rid of it in the v5, but I don't know if it was used before these and well liked. I am going to try to return them in exchange for the New Balance WR00 minimus road shoe, which are about the same price. But this time I am going to go to the store and try them on first.
What are your FAVORITE running shoes?
Have you ever had any bad experiences with shoes or buying online?
