On the weekend, Jill, Anne and I were puttering around the Annex and, on a whim, I bought Born to Run and am finally (finally!!) reading it. It’s convinced me: I need to transition to a more “free” shoe.
Ever since I started running, I’ve had hip and knee problems. It’s not anything major and foam rolling keeps it under control, but if changing my shoes means I can change my gait and eliminate pain, I’m all for it.
I’m hoping to test them over the summer and make the full transition by the fall for the TBD half I will be running.
So…this leads me to ask: what kind of shoe do you use? Do you recommend it? Have you ever tried a minimal shoe? What did you think of it? Let me know!
I have a pair of Nike Free’s that I was kind of convinced to buy (persuasive salesperson). I didn’t buy them for running though, I bought them as a cross trainer to use for Turbo Fire and P90X. My first Turbo Fire workout with them – I had to stop 15 minutes into the DVD to change my shoes, my feet were hurting A LOT. I know you have to get used to them, but I have messed up feet from my RA. I’d rather just be able to put on a pair of shoes with good cushioning and go.
That makes sense. I’m nervous about buying a pair and hating them, but I think there are enough converts out there, it’s worth a look. I am going to re-visit the New Balance shoes I bought at the beginning of my training — they gave me tendonitis, but they might be okay for 6-8k runs, s I was using them for 20+ long runs.
Do you have a Garmin? I’ve been researching the smaller Garmins and they seem to offer what I want: GPS with the clunk.