Altra Instinct

The barefoot / minimalist revolution is upon us...  Thanks in no small part must go to Christopher McDougall and his national bestseller Born to Run. His book is not so much a narrative as it is a mass media endorsement for Vibram Five Fingers and a scolding for the industry standard running shoe.  I read the book; I enjoyed the book; and I credit the book for teaching me how to run.  It was last spring that I took the techniques advised in the book and applied them to my running.  Viola, no more shin splints!

Although my legs problems had been cured, my foot problems were just beginning.  See this post  My feet are just a touch on the wide side, and when I run, they swell.  When they swell, my pinkie toe gets tucked under and my big toe... well, you get the idea.

It was in December that I started wondering why running shoes (and the liners) didn't look like feet.  I've known about the five finger thing, but that shouldn't be the only option.  I also started to question the built up heel on traditional shoes--when I started running, I heel-struck on purpose.  I thought, "why else would running shoes have such big heels, if you're not supposed to land on em?"  Duh.

Fast forward to now.  My favorite running store, Skinny Raven, advertised these shoes on their Facebook page.  The timing couldn't have been better--this was exactly the shoe I wanted when I was ranting to my wife in December.

This past weekend,  I went back to the Raven and traded in my new Mizuno Wave Inspire shoes for the Altras.   My first run was that evening (3.5 miles, easy) and these are quickly becoming my new favorite shoes.










I got mine here