At least partial success. 

I tried to sleep early but to no avail.  I am just a night owl.  This is actually when I usually do most of my running and bike riding.  I like that the streets taht were only a few hours earlier immobile with traffic are suddenly empty at night.  It makes me feel free when I ride or run on them.  Back to my test: I fell asleep early for me (1:00am) and woke up early for me (8:00) am.  I ate a litttle baby bowl of cereal and had a banana.  I went to the trail at the south side of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and ran the trail along the inside of the Arroyo Canyon to where it hits Monterey Rd right by the mini-golf course.

I’m not sure how long that is, I stopped worrying about time and distance a long time ago.  I’m guessing it’s around 5 or 6 miles maybe.  The trail travels through some of the most beautiful parts of Pasadena, It goes underneath some amazing bridges and along side the horse stables.  There are also baseball diamonds and soccer fields along the way where I saw families out playing in the beautiful Saturday morning light.  Such a great feeling to be in a city yet away from all the normal hustle and bustle.

The new shoes were incredible!  I was a bit worried that there was not nearly enough for the run I wanted to do.  I specifically chose this run because every mile or so there is a path that leads up out of the canyon to the road where I could turn back at essentially any time just in case the shoes didn’t agree with me.  I am happy to report this did not need to happen they worked way better that I expected.  Even with the minimalist approach to the shoe there was plenty of cushioning and the stiffer part of the sole on the ball of my feet really did protect me from all of the rocks.  It even got to a point where I was steering toward the more rocky areas to see if they could hold up and protect over those, low and behold they did!  Taking into consideration that I have never run in minimalist shoes, I have not run trails in a long time, and this was my first run in these shoes so they are no where near broken in, they were super responsive, super light, and incredibly flexible.  Maybe there is something to this minimalist running idea.  I’m even thinking about going out and getting a pair of the New Balance Minumus.  I know that Anton Krupicka, the man who designed the shoes I ran today, the New Balance 101′s also designed the Minimus so that for me is a + taking into consideration how well the run went today.  I would love for a pair of road shoes to work as well as the trail shoes did.  I have, however, been looking into other shoes as well like the Zoot Ultra Speed, the Saucony Hattori, the Vibobarefoot (these I’m super curious about) and the Nike Free.  I’m not sure that I am ready to go all the way to the Vibrams yet.  I wear a pair of the Nike Free 3.0 pretty much every day when I work so I know just how incredibly comfortable they are, and I’m on my feet essentially 7 hours a day at work.  This actially leads me to my last point…


The big question I have about the minimalist shoes:  How will my legs and body feel later today and tomorrow?  Are these shoes build specifically for the competitive runner who can relax and get a weekly message or two when they are not running or are they build tor the average joe like myself who is on his feet 7 out of the 8 hours of each shift at work 5 days a week.  Will I be able to run in the minimalist shoes before a shift and feel good at work or will I be able to put down some realitively serious miles in the shoes after a full day’s work?  The answer to this I will bring to you either tonight or tomorrow.  


Until then, eat well and be well.