The gear junkie in me strikes again. Before I've even finished my Merrel Trail Glove review (Coming Soon!) I've picked up 2 new shoes to test and review...
Karhu Racer Fulcrum Ride
I had a free pair of Karhu's from beating the bear at the Karhu 5K earlier in the month. Karhu is a Finnish Brand, apparently around since 1916, though I've never heard of them before. It looks like they're just starting to try to make the move to the States, explaining the "Beat the Bear" promo events. Their shoes look to be designed for heal strikers and I would never have considered them if I was shelling out money, but it's hard to turn down a free pair of shoes... Most of their shoes have ridiculous looking soles, reminding me of Sketcher Shape Ups, though the color schemes are pretty cool. The Karhu racing flats seemed to have the thinnest soles and lowest drop, but even then the drop is about 15.5 mm. I want to stay at less than 8 mm drops (with the idea that anything more starts to make proper running form difficult) so these shoes will be working at a disadvantage already... That said, free shoes can't be passed up, and thus these shoes will get a fair review despite not matching my typical requirements. Plus the color is kinda cool...
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| Karhu Racer Fulcrum Ride |
New Balance Minimus Roads
Since I had made the trip up to Runner Depot anyway I felt I needed to check out some of the other shoes in my search for the perfect marathon shoes. I had seen the Minimus Roads and they looked just like what I was looking for. Low (4 mm) drop, light (8.2 oz), designed for a forefoot strike, but with enough padding to protect against a return to heal striking late in runs. The rear of the shoe is slightly under cut, making it more difficult to heal strike - a neat feature I thought. I tried them on and the sock like feel was amazing - I decided I couldn't pass them up, a 15% off coupon helped that matter as well. The first 15 miles in them have been questionable, the slight arch support is noticeable and they're perhaps not as comfortable running in as they were standing in at the store... I also have questions on how long the soft soles will last. We shall see as I put on some miles over the next couple months and write a review!
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| New Balance Minimus Roads |
