For those who haven't heard there is beginning to be a revolution in running shoe design to move back to shoes that allow humans to run with their natural stride pattern rather than one enforced by their shoe design. Shoe companies after producing increasingly complex engineering marvels meant to isolate our feet from the ground are responding with a long list of running shoes that they are labeling "minimalist". Mostly this is a marketing ploy since few of these shoes address the major design components needed to allow for a natural stride. A great critique of our modern addiction to foot wear as the major contributor almost all of the common foot disorders and major suppliers of patients for podiatrist is The Barefoot Book by Daniel Howell, available here at Amazon. Read is and be converted. Daniel Howell's point is to mostly go barefoot, since he is not the impressed with any minimal footwear and feels that full barefoot has advantages over any form of shoe. I have taken his point and I will give it a try next summer, though I'm willing to bet that they doctor hasn't encountered the little demons that we have in the southwest called goatheads. These little seed-coats with long thorns can flatten a thick mountain bike tire and hitting one barefoot is instant agony.
In the mean time I think that my zemboots are almost the perfect compromise between barefoot and normal shoes. These shoes have a very thin sole that provides just enough protection that I can run and train on very challenging surfaces without pain in my feet. At the same time they are so thin that you have an indescribable riot of sensation under your feet. Everything before this feels like running in ski boots. Once you have experienced an activity like martial arts practice wearing these or similar shoes you will be totally hooked. My favorite is training forms on sharp edged "crusher fine" pea gravel, the foot feel is very rich proving that the bottom of our feet are as nerve rich as our hands.
I have showed these shoes to lots of friends and I have shared feedback of their experiences as well. Some have felt that the round toe model allowed better toe movement and a little better fitting in the toes. I take their points but for me the spit toe works and I like the added stability of the fabric and sole around the toes. It's cold winter here and I wear socks with these so the split toe can be a problem since it requires tabi socks or toe socks. This was initially a problem for me since these are hard to find and expensive. However, now that I have started wearing toe socks (injinji's) I am hooked on them as well and wear them almost exclusively now.
These shoes do have a problem with wear in that the seam between the upper and the sole curves under the sole. I have developed wear on both the outside and inside edge of my forefoot and a bit at the heal. Some of this comes from my style of foot strike while running and is changing as I spend more time running in these and other minimal shoes. I have read complaints about lifespan for running but I think these are mostly due to unreasonable expectations. Most runners only expect to get a few hundred miles on a pair of shoes that cost five times as much. These shoes weigh almost nothing and as I have said above have soles thinner then the tread pattern on most running shoes. I have easily gotten 150 miles on a $30 pair of shoes (now $35, oh well they're still cheap) and I think that much of the side wear comes from my use in martial arts and other activities which involve more hard lateral direction changes than running. I have put a bead of shoe goo along the side seams of my newest pairs and I'll see how much this helps. Their website shows their newest models and it looks like they may be producing a design more specialized for running with a different side seam.
For anyone interested in trying barefoot style running and adverse to paying $100 for VFF's these are the ticket. Personally the only shoes I've found that give the level of tactile sense as the Zems are a pair of VFF Mocs that cost 4X as much and are not designed for outdoor use. Prepare to discover a new world of experience at the soles of you feet, learn a new level of balance, and wake up muscles that have been asleep for years.
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We had these shoes 15 days! worn 3 days and there are a total of 4 quarter sized holes all the way to the skin and 11 dime sized holes to the skin in them. Not worth the money and if I had a way of contacting seller (which amazon doesnt allow) I would be asking for a full refund. This p*sses me off!
-P*ssed off customer
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