Day 62 - Fresh Kicks

I never thought I'd see the day when 13k would seem like a perfectly reasonable distance to run in a brand new pair of shoes.

Once upon a time, not so long ago, I wouldn't have run more than 2 or 3k in shoes that weren't broken in. Thirteen long kilometres was an unattainable goal anyway, and I worried plenty about injuries and blisters.

Irrelevant but cute.

Today, however, I stopped off at the Running Room for a new pair of runners. I actually prefer an independent store near my place, Runner's Choice, but they don't carry Nikes, and I find that once your feet meet a brand they like it's hard to imagine going through the sometimes long and painful process of finding another brand that works equally well. Incidentally, the Running Room doesn't carry the Balega socks I like, so I had to make a stop at Runner's Choice anyway. There is just no substitute for a good Balega Hidden Comfort sock. Tried them once, fell in love, and am now desperately dependent on them.

But I digress.

I ended up picking out Nike Free Run+ 3s, last season's model. This is the same shoe I wear normally, though I was forced to pick a different colour than I prefer. Apparently they have stopped making Hot Punch Pink, and the Tiffany Blue I wanted was never released in Canada. I passed up this season's model, because they have an attached tongue that I find creates a struggle when it comes to putting the shoe on and taking it off. I really hope they go back to the un-attached tongue next season so that I can replace my current shoes without having to compromise.

Yep, they're pretty sweet.

I then immediately headed to the gym and polished off 13 easy kilometres before meeting Katelyn for bubble tea at Classics.

While I was in the store picking out my shoes, the sales guy and I started chatting about minimalist footwear, barefoot simulator shoes, and barefoot running.

I know this is a hot topic in the running world, with some people insisting that barefoot or minimalist running is more biologically correct than running in a structured shoe, and decreases the incidence of injury.

Desi is glad I don't prefer barefoot running.

Personally, I found that transitioning to a less structured shoe reduced a lot of the knee pain I was experiencing in my Nike Moto 8s, which is a pretty supportive shoe for neutral strikers. The benefit was immediately obvious, and I haven't turned back. With that said, I did try running in Vibram FiveFingers KSO for a while, and found that I ran too far onto my toes and ended up with some nasty shin pain that quickly disappeared when I switched to the Free Runs. Evidently, this wasn't the right shoe for me.

I've just started searching the literature, and there seems to be some solid research on differences in foot strike and a bit on whether this is affected (and how) by barefoot versus shod running. For now, I'll link you to a couple of subreddits where you can get info on barefoot and minimalist running and walking, and spend some time reading over the research myself. I hope to update you within a couple of days with something more than just anecdotal evidence...

Goodbye, snowy home! Tomorrow I'm off to Vancouver!