The Minimus Road in garish blue and yellow. (Go Bears?)
Until now, I couldn’t imagine finding a running shoe that I ever felt was worth writing home about. I always enjoy getting new running shoes, but for me shoes are by nature a utilitarian purchase, something not typically freighted with emotion.
But, there is something different about these particular running shoes.
Dear Mom and Dad,
The Saucony Peregrine in blue, cleaned up after a long, muddy run.
I’ve spent the last few months enjoying the roads in a pair of Saucony Kinvara, and I’ve come to appreciate their super light weight, soft ride and minimalist construction. I was looking for a shoe that was more accommodating to my increasingly fore-foot strike. I could feel the thick heel on my regular trainers interfering with the normal mechanics of my foot and Achilles tendon.
The Kinvara, with its lower heel feels much more natural to me. I’d be careful about them if you are a heel striker or need some motion control, as they are a completely neutral shoe. But as I said, I’ve been very happy with them, running distances of up to 22 miles.
But right now, I’m not training for a road race. I’m training for the Way-Too-Cool 50Km and the American River 50, both of which include a wide variety of trails—rocks, mud, technical, hills, etc. Whenever I’d hit the trails for training runs, I’d put on my Montrail Masochists.
