Invisible Shoes January Giveaway - Expires Sunday, January 8, at midnight

Let me win one pair of

Let me win one pair of huaraches! I usually use vivobarefoot and 5fingers to run but I reAlly wAnt to try the huaraches in the gym's trail.

 

I'm in.

I'm in.

 

I'll wear them just because I

I'll wear them just because I like to say "Huaraches!"

 

Oh, I want to join the party.

Oh, I want to join the party.

 

Wow!  Thank you so much to

Wow! Thank you so much to BRS and Invisible Shoes! =D



I'm off to spec my colour scheme etc. Let you know how they turn out in a month or so =)



Thank you!

 

 PS.  I went for 4mm

PS. I went for 4mm Connects with orange laces! =D

 

Just wanted to say that they

Just wanted to say that they arrived today and have been laced already... For the rest you'll have to wait for the review in a couple of weeks!



Thanks to BRS and Invisible Shoes!

 

Congrats to the

Congrats to the winner!



-GottaRUN

 

 So here's my Invisible

So here's my Invisible Shoes review:

(Scroll down for TLDR!!!)

They’ve arrived! Despite having to fly over the Atlantic, my pair of Invisible Shoes only took about 10 days to get to me in the UK. The packaging was ace; totally flat envelope and letterbox sized. I’m not any kind of earth loving hippie, but excess packaging is a pet peeve of mine, especially when it prevents items being put through my mailbox so I have to pick them up from the depot.

Tipping the contents out onto my desk, I’m met with the following:



On first inspection, I was pleasantly surprised. It looks like each size is from a totally separate mould as the logos, inscriptions and contours of the sole are perfectly placed. I simply sent Steven the length of my feet and he picked the most appropriate size from their selection of standard ‘blanks’ for me, but sticking my feet on them for the first time makes it look I’d sent him the outline of my foot to work with. I chose the 4mm “Connect” sole as I wanted something closer to BF than my VFFs and while they are mega thin and flexible, the subtle contouring helps them retain their shape and avoid feeling ‘floppy’. You could always cut them down a bit with a pair of scissors, but it doesn’t look necessary. Looking forward to lacing them later on!

...

I’ve had several concerns with huaraches, and one of them is the finality of the fitting/hole making. I’m usually either endlessly indecisive or hasty and mess stuff up in these situations. I started off placing my feet on the soles and found that the slight heel depression makes it easy to position your feet longitudinally and then it’s only a matter of marking a spot between your biggest toes and making a single hole. I think a leather punch would be best here, but all I had was a power drill and a sharp 3-4mm wood drill bit. I went slowly so as to remove the rubber rather than simply piercing it (as recommended by the website) and it worked perfectly. The IS website has detailed videos which are simple to follow and had me fully laced and ready to go within 5 minutes.

Another concern I had with huaraches was that it would take forever to find the correct tension and lacing pattern that would feel comfortable when stationary but without creating sores when I started running. I found it remarkably easy to find a tension which held the soles close to my feet without feeling tight when standing and jogging on the spot. I wrapped up the spare lace around my ankles as I’m not ready to cut it yet. Time will tell how this set up works out when go for my first test run tomorrow.



...

I’ve just got back from my first test run... I’m sold. Part of me wanted to find that these $25 flip-flops were no match for the $*cough, cough* VFFs I had at home. The first 20m out of my front door blew that out of the water. Exceptional ground feel which can only be compared to running in a pair of thick socks, combined with the protection of a rigid sole which takes the points/spike out of sharp gravel without removing the feeling completely.

It’s 5°C outside at the moment and has been raining for most of the day, so these are not conditions that I would normally run BF in and are definitely not the most favourable to try huaraches for the first time. I found that my feet were basically dry for the entire run. Of course I tried to avoid all major puddles, but even when I inadvertently found some, my feet barely got wet and dried immediately. My feet got a bit cold towards the end of my 5k run, but in fairness, I would usually wear Injinji socks and closed top VFFs in this weather. Even so, I can’t remember feeling this great during a run and would have carried on had my dinner not been waiting for me...! No rubbing or sore spots at the moment. My only thought is that I might try the double toe hole technique to bring the knot up above the sole, but I’ll give it some more time as is to see if I get use to it.

...

Just back from another run which has hammered home one fact: These are not shoes. Even my VFFs have an element of padding (including socks) and certainly more than just 4mm between your skin and the road. I can run +20km without problems in VFFs but I’ve developed a barefoot-esque blood blister on the ball of my right foot after just 10km in the Invisible Shoes. I’ll accept the blame here, because I wouldn’t dream of trying 10km fully BF at the moment (unconditioned winter feet). Anyway, it’s a point to note that you cannot swap to these from shoes and expect to keep up your mileage.

...

Now I haven’t been able to get the mileage that I really wanted to in this first month because of a couple of weeks off due to an Achilles issue. I tried to start off gently after my rest period in my VFFs but found that they aggravated the tendon at the back of my heel after just 1km to the extent that I had to turn around and walk home. I gave it another couple of days and I’ve just come in from a run in my Invisible Shoes. I did a simple 2km loop near my house and only had mild discomfort by the time I got back. I’m hopeful that this means I’ll be able to build my mileage with my IS in the coming weeks.



Conclusion: My initial impressions of the Invisible Shoes were great and assuaged all my fears of lacing/fitting issues. My first run reminded me of running BF for the first time... without the pain afterwards! I got stung by trying to do TMTS, thinking I was protected from the ground like in my VFFs. However, now I know my limits, I’m really looking forward to building up my mileage in them.



TLDR: I love these things and I’m a total huaraches convert. Thank you Invisible Shoes and thank you BRS!

 

Didn't realise we could do

Didn't realise we could do that ourselves!



Done! =D