Hello everybody!
I am a male runner from Germany.
I started running in 2008 as a heel-striker in one of the clunkiest "motion-control" shoes available, the Brooks Beast. I have flat feet and pronate heavily - so these shoes were ideal for me.
After making the typical newbie mistakes (too much too soon), experiencing different sorts of foot and knee pain, reading in forums discussions about motion-control shoes really being a useless crutch, I tried to change my heel strike to midfoot strike and bought lighter and lighter shoes, ending up with Mizuno Mushas.
But I still had a knee pain issue which wouldn't go away. One day I took my shoes off on a small grassy trail... It was like an epiphany. So I started running barefoot last year in spring, changed from heel/midfoot to forefoot strike. BUT - I ran exclusively on grassy trail. Running barefoot on asphalt was and is no fun for me, especially not on cold and wet asphalt, which sucks tremendously. Running on stony trails is impossible. Running barefoot below 60 degrees - not for me.
To make a short story even shorter: although I had a fun barefoot summer last year, now I'm into minimalist footwear, because it enables me to run everywere. After trying self-made huaraches, VFF, different Vivo Barefoots and water shoes, I finally found some water shoes with a wide toe box and a rubber sole: the Softy from Hiko, a Czech company (unfortunately, in the mean time they made some changes to the shoes: no wide toe boxes anymore
). I run them with the sockliner from my old clunky Brooks Beast, so in the end it's good for something.
I am a male runner from Germany.
I started running in 2008 as a heel-striker in one of the clunkiest "motion-control" shoes available, the Brooks Beast. I have flat feet and pronate heavily - so these shoes were ideal for me.
After making the typical newbie mistakes (too much too soon), experiencing different sorts of foot and knee pain, reading in forums discussions about motion-control shoes really being a useless crutch, I tried to change my heel strike to midfoot strike and bought lighter and lighter shoes, ending up with Mizuno Mushas.
But I still had a knee pain issue which wouldn't go away. One day I took my shoes off on a small grassy trail... It was like an epiphany. So I started running barefoot last year in spring, changed from heel/midfoot to forefoot strike. BUT - I ran exclusively on grassy trail. Running barefoot on asphalt was and is no fun for me, especially not on cold and wet asphalt, which sucks tremendously. Running on stony trails is impossible. Running barefoot below 60 degrees - not for me.
To make a short story even shorter: although I had a fun barefoot summer last year, now I'm into minimalist footwear, because it enables me to run everywere. After trying self-made huaraches, VFF, different Vivo Barefoots and water shoes, I finally found some water shoes with a wide toe box and a rubber sole: the Softy from Hiko, a Czech company (unfortunately, in the mean time they made some changes to the shoes: no wide toe boxes anymore
