Published by Ronald on Thursday, 01 Sep 2011 15:18 EDT
In Dutch there is a saying that applies to the general population, me included, “Act normal, that’s crazy enough”. The attitude is slowly disappearing nowadays, but for me it still holds up. I do not like to act crazy or grab everyone’s attention in one way or another. I rather like just being a normal guy who happens to like running in minimal shoes. The barefoot running thing has always been a bit weird to me, especially when you see the VFF, which I still haven’t tried because they look weird and demand attention (I will try them eventually though, no worries). In this respect, the VIVOBAREFOOT Neo is perfect for me. The Neo looks like a shoe and stays in a category appearance wise that I feel is “normal”.
I apologize for taking a long time to get a proper review up of this shoe. It’s not because I didn’t have time, but I felt I couldn’t do many miles in them from the start. I am learning to run minimal and it has simply taken a few weeks to get to the point where I felt confident enough to run longer distances with these shoes. In the middle of testing them, I got the Invisible Shoes as well (which was admittedly a fun experience and I will look into those again) which set me back a week into testing the Neo.
Published by Ronald on Friday, 29 Jul 2011 12:30 EDT
VIVOBAREFOOT is now coming out with a shoe specifically designed for trail running and it’s the VIVOBAREFOOT Neo trail. Some notable differences from the original Neo are:
Published by Ronald on Wednesday, 27 Jul 2011 15:44 EDT
I have wanted these shoes since I had the opportunity to test the VIVOBAREFOOT Evo at a barefoot race in Tilburg a few months ago. They felt excellent, but at that point I was still a new runner and investing such a large sum of money (160 euro) was not in my budget at that time. I kinda regret not getting them now because I could have been running in minimal shoes for the past two months instead of starting now with the VIVOBAREFOOT Neo.
It took a while to receive the shoes, so that gave me ample time to do some research. I am a worrier, and the more I found out about the VIVOBAREFOOT Neo, the more I worried. I started to wonder if this was more of a casual shoe in lieu of a running shoe. I worried: Will they be too heavy? Are they way too minimal? Will they ventilate properly with so much fabric? They market the Neo as a performance shoe which could really mean just about anything.
Published by RunningPoint on Wednesday, 06 Jul 2011 15:56 EDT
I have been interested in trying out some VIVOBAREFOOT shoes for quite some time, but have been wary to blindly order shoes on the internet since there is no place close for me to try their shoes on before I purchase. When VIVOBAREFOOT offered to send me a pair of shoes to test and review I was very excited. I decided that since they were nice enough to send me a free pair of shoes, I should go for a model that I normally would not purchase. I love to run in sandals but the idea of a zero drop, fully molded foam, waterproof running shoe quite frankly piqued my interest so I jumped on the chance to get a pair of the VIVOBAREFOOT Ultra. After a great initial impression, I set out to take the Ultras through the paces of daily life with me which involves standing for 40+ hours a week at work, chasing kids after work and on the weekends, and of course running in the mountains of Western North Carolina.
Published by RunningPoint on Friday, 10 Jun 2011 08:13 EDT
VIVOBAREFOOT was nice enough to send me a pair of their new Ultras "a light-weight barefoot amphibious running shoe" for me to put through the paces. I received them yesterday just before Noon and was off for a run by 12:30, I can't stand to get new running shoes and not run in them within an hour. This gives me a very quick and very early impression of how the shoes will perform without clouding my judgment by standing around in them and going about daily life for a few days before I get to run. My first impression of the Ultras? I'm pleasantly impressed, and I'll tell you why below.