Merrell Trail Gloves Are On Their Way

Published by RunningPoint on Wednesday, 09 Mar 2011 09:18 EST

I finally bit the bullet and ordered my very own pair of Merrell Trail Gloves from Running Warehouse. I just couldn't shake the feeling that I had to own a pair and after trying on the NB Minimus Trail (which I will provide my opinion on soon), I was sure the Merrell was the shoe for me.

Review of Invisible Shoes Huaraches Part 2

Published by RunningPoint on Tuesday, 08 Mar 2011 16:00 EST

In case you haven't read Part 1 of my Invisible Shoes huaraches review, here's a bit of recap. Huaraches are one of the most basic forms of footwear and consist only of a material that protects the bottom of the foot and a lace to secure them. They have been used specifically by the Tarahumara Indians and have been popularized by Chris McDougall's book Born to Run. Steven Sashen of Invisible Shoes decided to modernize the huaraches and offers a DIY kit on his website or he will custom make you a pair.

Part 1 of this review chronicled the process of me measuring, cutting, and assembling my DIY kit. Part 2 is my review of running in the huaraches.

Appearance

huaraches side viewWhen you are dealing with a shoe that is designed for this extreme level minimalism, I'm not sure that appearance is even a factor. I personally like the way the huaraches look. When the laces are tied in the slip on method (which I use), they retain a bit of shape and look like a very stripped down version of any sport sandal from manufacturers like Teva or Chaco.

The only area to add a splash of personality to these shoes is in your choice of laces. There are quite a few choices for lace color with the DIY kit and I chose the black laces. I am glad I did so since I have adopted the huaraches as daily wear around the office and out in public. huaraches at workThe black laces help to not make my footwear a focal point, especially around the office. I am proud to wear them anywhere and have gotten nothing but overwhelmingly positive comments about them. There are no second thoughts involved with wearing the huaraches out in public like there would be with FiveFingers.

Minimal Running is Here to Stay!

Published by RunningPoint on Thursday, 03 Mar 2011 08:47 EST

Awesome article for all us minimal shoe and barefoot running fans. Very promising that the big shoe manufacurers see minimal running as here to stay!!

Why Minimal Running Is Not a Trend

 

How I Got to Barefoot

Published by RunningPoint on Wednesday, 02 Mar 2011 10:45 EST

I realized yesterday while writing my Back to Barefoot article that it may be interesting to some of you to read how and why I started running barefoot. As I have mentioned previously, I have had a pretty long relationship with running. It has most certainly been on again, off again over the years but every time I return to running I always wonder why I ever stopped the last time.

My first experience with running began 11 years ago. I was young and living on my own, and had just gotten my first real desk job. In the past, I had always had an active and physically taxing outdoor job which required no exercise outside of the workplace. The desk job was a total culture shock and I slipped into a pattern of sedentary work and copious amounts of snacking. One morning, I found that my pants were uncomfortably tight and decided that something had to be done. I was at my heaviest, roughly 220 lbs on a 5'-10" frame with my 36 waist 29 inch inseam pants cutting me in half. My father turned to running when I was a small child to shed a few pounds, and I figured if it worked for him why not give it a try. I went to the local mall and found the highest priced pair of Nike running shoes that were on the best sale and bought them (this is a habit that I continued until I started to learn about minimal shoe running, but I don't want to get ahead of myself). I usually set a goal of $50 maximum price price to pay for shoes. I started slow and ended up becoming a daily runner. Over a few years, I shed 50 total pounds and never felt better.

Back to Barefoot

Published by RunningPoint on Tuesday, 01 Mar 2011 14:20 EST

After a long cold winter of running in shoes, I am ready to start back running "barefoot". I started my transition from traditional running shoes to barefoot running last summer and was sidelined by both weather and a stupid injury late in the fall.

I had the unfortunate skill of stepping on sharp rocks with my left foot only, and always in the same spot at the uppermost part of my arch. I decided foolishly that this was a normal part of barefoot running (not actually barefoot by the way, but wearing huaraches) and that I had to condition myself to deal with it.

On that last fateful run, nothing went right. The run ended early when a sudden and intense new pain shot through my left foot and I was left walking/limping back to the car. After a painful month of recovery from what I think was a metatarsal stress fracture, I decided to ease back into running and bought a pair of Saucony Kinvaras and a pair of Brooks Mach 11 spikeless XC flats. I had read reviews on both and consulted a local running specialty store and decided that the Kinvaras would be a great minimal shoe that was padded, and that the Brooks would be a good minimal shoe to ease back to barefoot running.

I'm off to try on the Merrell Trail Gloves!

Published by RunningPoint on Friday, 18 Feb 2011 14:32 EST

Well, I'm off to try on the Merrell Trail Gloves. If it goes well there may be a "First Impressions" review involved!

We're on our way...

Published by RunningPoint on Tuesday, 15 Feb 2011 08:22 EST

First things first, welcome to all who landed here at runningpoint.org. The site is obviously still in the early stages of development but I would like to use this post as a quick introduction to who we are and what we are about.

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