A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to fly out to Portland, Oregon to attend an insights meeting with Merrell Footwear. Merrell has organized a meeting like this each year for the past 3 years, and they basically invite a collection of individuals throughout the running footwear world to solicit feedback on trends, marketing […]
Is The Minimalist Trend Over? – Comments on Injury Risk and Sales Data
June 24, 2013 By 25 Comments
One of the comments I’ve seen a lot lately is that the minimalist running trend is over. A number of reasons are given to support this statement, and I thought I’d take a deeper look at two of the big ones. Injury Risk in Minimal Shoes The first reason I typically see put forth as […]
Nike Free Flyknit Hyperfeel: The Shoe Giant Goes Ultraminimal?
June 19, 2013 By 12 Comments
In a footwear world where most companies are looking to step back a bit from ultraminimal shoes, Nike appears poised to take it’s biggest step yet toward barefoot-style footwear. A reader just alerted me to a post on Nikeblog.com about the Nike Free Flyknit Hyperfeel (thanks Joel!). It combines a woven, sock-like flyknit upper, what […]
Altra 3-SUM Zero Drop Running Shoe Review
June 4, 2013 By 17 Comments
This is a guest review by John Shepard (@runsheprun on Twitter). John is the owner of Take it on the Run, a boutique running store that he runs out of his home. John is an Altra vendor, and over the past few months has been trying out the recently released 3-SUM Tri shoe. I asked […]
Nike Free 3.0 v5 Review: Redemption For One Of My Favorite Shoe Lineages!
May 23, 2013 By 46 Comments
Update 3/14/2014: Nike has just announced the release of the Nike Free 3.0 v6. For details, visit this post. After a phenomenal debut, the Nike Free 3.0 line entered a steady downward spiral, culminating in one of the worst shoes I have worn since I started reviewing running shoes back in 2009. The Free 3.0 […]
Be Careful About Converting Your Experience into a Prescription for All Runners
May 21, 2013 By 40 Comments
One of the big challenges I face in writing this blog is trying to remain objective given that I have personal biases stemming from my own experience. For example, I review, promote, and like running in more minimal shoes and don’t foresee myself ever going back to more traditional models. However, I try hard to […]
Do Vibram Fivefingers Increase Risk of Foot Stress Fractures?: Some Thoughts on Recent Research
April 1, 2013 By 41 Comments
A couple of weeks ago a study titled “Foot Bone Marrow Edema after 10-Week Transition to Minimalist Running Shoes” was published on-line by the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. The study created a bit of a stir in the news, with the typical hyped up headlines accompanying articles on the paper. “Barefoot […]
Saucony Virrata Zero Drop Running Shoe Review
March 27, 2013 By 82 Comments
Several weeks ago I travelled a bit over an hour south from my home in New Hampshire to visit Saucony headquarters in Lexington, Massachusetts. The purpose of my visit was twofold. First, I wanted to visit their biomechanics lab and have my form analyzed using their gait analysis setup (force plate treadmill, 3d kinematics – […]
Nike Free 3.0 v5 Preview: The Awful Upper is Gone!
March 22, 2013 By 9 Comments
The Running Warehouse blog just put up a post introducing the Nike Free 3.0 v5. As I’ve written on this blog many times, the Free 3.0 is a shoe with special meaning to me since version 1 of the model was my first “minimalist” running shoe. It led me on the path to where I […]
Recommended Read: Scott Douglas Book Excerpt on the Future of Minimalist Running Shoes
March 13, 2013 By 11 Comments
Several months back I spoke on the phone with Scott Douglas, a writer and editor for Runner’s World and Running Times. My own book, Tread Lightly, had just come out, and Scott was writing a book of his own on minimalist running for Rodale Press (the publisher of Runner’s World and Running Times). We covered […]
Brooks PureDrift Running Shoe Review
February 18, 2013 By 13 Comments
I’ll start this review by saying that I am loving the Brooks PureDrift, but with a big caveat. That caveat is that I didn’t love the shoe out of the box, and I needed to make a modification for the shoe to work for me. So let’s start with my problem. The Brooks PureDrift is […]
Merrell Trail Glove 2 and Pace Glove 2: Update Details and Photos
February 1, 2013 By 12 Comments
The Merrell Trail Glove was among the first shoes released in Merrell’s Barefoot collection, and it remains one of the most popular. After almost two years on the market, the Trail Glove is getting an update – I recently received a press release from Merrell with a photo and details regarding the release of the […]
Dirty Runner: Altra Torin Shoe Review
January 29, 2013 By 29 Comments
In 2011 I decided to tackle six 100 mile races in a single year. One of the biggest sources of stress leading up to the first race was deciding which shoes to wear. I had recently discovered Altra, and had fallen in love with the Altra Instinct. After completing the Western States 100 in the […]
Saucony Virrata Review and Comparison to the Saucony Kinvara 3: Guest Post by Alex Raggers
January 23, 2013 By 38 Comments
A few weeks ago I received a message from one of my many footwear spies across the globe. Alex Raggers is a runner from the Netherlands, and to his surprise he recently walked into his local running store to find that they had the new (and much anticipated) Saucony Virrata in stock. Given that I’m […]
The Future of Minimalist Running: Article from SGB Weekly Discusses Brand Perspectives and Provides Some Shoe Sneak Peaks
The most recent issue of SGB Weekly features an interesting article by Thomas Ryan on the future of minimalist running shoes. The article focuses on current trends, and runs through how each manufacturer plans to approach the continually evolving footwear marketplace. The opening paragraphs give a pretty good flavor of what follows: With many runners […]