The Show Down - Vibrams vs. New Balance and the Rest...

After four months of hard running I have decided to move on from the Vibram Five Fingers. There were a few reasons, but mainly because they were not totally conducive to running on the rocky trails here in Fort Collins.

To start, I loved the Five fingers (VFF's), they were comfortable right out of the box, I never had any hot spots or rubbing, and they were extremely fun to run in. Unlike some reviews of the VFF's that mentioned product defects, mine never saw any tearing and after 4 months looked and performed like new. One sweet thing to mention about these shoes is that you can just throw them in the wash with your clothes and they come out looking and smelling great, a definite plus for the folks at Vibram to think about that! All in all they were a great way to transition to the minimalist school of thought and running technique. My calves and achilles burned at first, but my muscles have gotten used to the forward foot strike and long gone are the days of stressed legs.

Needless to reiterate, I did really like the shoes, but a vast majority of my runs are on the loose rocky trails we have here and I kept bruising the bottoms of my feet by accidentally stepping on sharp rocks. Big and small rocks were not the problem, but ones about the size of a golf ball wrecked havoc on my feet. Most of these incidences happened while I was running downhill and trying to carry speed, so I admit that I was less cautious, but occasionally I would find one under the ball of my foot at other times throughout my runs. The pain was never from landing on rocks with my heels or toes, but usually just in front of the arch or to the outside edge of my foot. A few times I found myself with sore spots that would last for a few days or longer, and it got old having to be so cautious. Part of the problem I think is that the thicker rubber on the bottoms of the VFF's, I had the Bikila's, does not cover the whole foot and rock strikes, as I'll call them, seemed to find their way into the voids where extra padding could have been. I considered that the model of VFF's I had was part of the reason since the Bikila's are billed as the road version, but I have since checked out the Treksport's and although I have not worn them on a run, I feel they may have the same problem.

Another problem I had was, that every once and a while I would stub my pinky toe on something, a rock or a tree root, a problem I have never had in other shoes. I could have been more careful as I ran, even though I was very conscious about foot placement and technique, but honestly who wants the extra stress of having to be so conscience. I feel that as I get into longer and longer trail runs, and energy is depleted, focusing on just continuing will take over and putting energy into perfect foot placement will fall of the radar.

Overall, after running cautiously and still finding myself with bruised feet I have decided I want to try out some of the newer minimalist shoes. I do need to thank the VFF's though for teaching and forcing me to run more naturally, and over the past 4 months I have had no other running injuries. I feel much more efficient, the long miles are cruising by with ease, and running has become fun again, something that to me seemed near impossible 6 months ago.

Well so off to the store I went! I have been keeping up on what's new, I have to say when I get into a new sport I get obsessed and read anything I can get my hands on, research new products, technique, diet, blah blah blah, and of course I had a few products I wanted to try out.

New Balance's have always been my go to shoe company since I was young, they fit my flat wide feet well, so I figured I would start there and see what I could find. Enter stage left: New Balance MT101's.

Now these are a far cry from the minimalist ideal, with plenty of foam, an 11mm heel to toe drop, and something called RockStop. But they do have hints of minimalist DNA and I figured I would try something in the middle ground again and see where it took me. A buddy actually told me that Famous Footwear had some, and believe it or not, they did! Plus right now they are on sale, 30% off, and they have a 15% off coupon online that brings the shoes down to 54 bucks out the door! I figured they were cheap, they are comfortable and have a lot of the minimalist styling so I wanted to give them a spin.

Although the 101's are not a true minimalist shoe, these babies are a far cry from your typical runner. I felt a bit like I was regressing however when I bought them since they are not a zero drop, floppy, barefoot type of shoe. Right off the bat I thought about how they are, or would be a great transition shoe for those wanting to get to the true minimalist shoe without taking the jump all at once, which from personal experience is a rough route.

Anyway, I took them out and ran my normal 6 mile run from the house which is about 2.5 miles on the road and the rest on some pretty rocky and hilly trails. The shoes felt great, I was cruising over obstacles and through rock gardens with ease and confidence, words that have been missing from my vocabulary since sporting the VFF's. One thing I did like was the stiff piece of plastic New Balance put in the footbed which they call "Rock Stop." It works like a gem, rocks and debris were stopped, and I feared no more those pesky bruisers.

The shoes are light, just shy of 8 ounces, fit well, have a roomy toe box, and a great tread pattern. Within one run in these babies I could tell the days of rocks hurting my feet were a thing of the past. Until I bought the VFF's, I had never paid much attention to how shoes felt and performed other than if they hurt or not, and I have to say I had a hoot running in these things. But with the elevated heel it was a bit more work than I am now used to, to stay on the balls of my feet, and at one point I almost rolled an ankle, another thing I thought was in the past. With further introspection, I think the ankle roll incident is because the relatively minimalist upper part of the shoe is attached to the stiff somewhat narrow sole, causing a bit of instability. I talked to friend who has these shoes as well, and she felt the same tipsiness in the shoe. Lastly, I was wearing socks and I think I needed a half size bigger, my toes were rubbing the front of the shoe a bit. I got them in 9's and although I normally wear 9's, they seem to run a touch small. I am going to run sans socks next time and see if that helps, the interior of the shoe mimics the minimalist shoes and I think will be smooth and comfy.

I also picked up a pair of New Balance Minimus's, or MT10's. These are New Balance's full minimalist shoe and just looking at them I was drawn to them. They are a sexy shoe, and feel even better on my foot then they look. They have quite a bit more stiffness than the VFF's, but are nowhere near the 101's, they truly are for the barefoot minded aficionado. I slipped them on, and right away I was starting to fall in love. The shoes hug your feet and are smooth and soft on the inside. Unfortunately these are still not a zero drop show like the VFF's, they have a minimal 4mm drop from heel to toe, but that's pretty small so I ignored that after I laid my eyes and hands on them. The toe box is huge, the tongue doesn't get bunched up, and the lace system tightens down much better than the Velcro of the VFF's. I got these a half size smaller than the 101's because I don't plan on wearing sock ever, and even after run number one in them I feel like the 8.5's were the right call.

I took them for a 3 mile spin right after I got back from the run in the 101's so the comparison would be fresh in my mind. Most of this run was on the road, but I did find a couple hundred yards of rocky trail and they blew my mind. I could feel the ground which is part of the point of a minimalist shoe, at least in my mind, my toes had plenty of room to splay out and flex, and although the shoes are designed for the minimalist at heart, the rocks didn't hurt my feet one bit. they felt stable, snug, and I have to say again I loved them from the first few strides. The shoes promoted a natural gait, they are light, just over 7 ounces, and ran fast. They are everything the VFF's are plus everything I think I needed that they weren't. I am excited to run these dogs into the dirt, but mostly I am excited about having a shoe that is similar to the VFF's but won't scare me away from the rocky trails I love. I feel for now, my bruised feet will thank me once I get rolling in these, and geeze they look good!

Lastly I tried on some other shoes as well, I went into this process with an open mind, although there may have been a touch of NB biased....

Anyway I have always dug Merrell's for their comfort of hiking shoes and boots, which is important to me since my left foot has 17 pieces of titanium holding it together, so I figured I would try out the Merrell Trail Gloves. Once I tried them on though they felt too roomy and clunky. Plus the hard part of the sole was really thin under foot and I felt I would have the same problems as I did with the VFF's, stepping on rocks where the sole was deficient. Merrell has a whole line up of these barefoot type of shoes, but after trying on the Trail Glove, I felt I didn't need to see anymore.

I also checked out the Nike Free's, but Nike's don't fit my wide feet, so right off the bat I knew they wouldn't work unfortunately.

Next were the Newton's but I didn't even bother trying them on, those crazy Boulderites have a nutty idea to get runners on the balls of their feet. They have large lugs under the forefoot that apparently keep you off your heels, looked like a new age Seinfeld jumping shoe...

Keen has a shoe out too, but the graphics turned me off so I didn't even take them off the shelf, and I not a big Keen fan anyway. This is all getting pretty pointless I know, I guess now that I have run in the New Balance's I am biased for sure. They have been a shoe that has fit my wide flat foot since I was a kid, and they have been in the running business for a long time, so if you like New Balance's already, these two shoes the MT101 and MT10 are where you should start in my opinion.

Anyway, I think the Minimus's are the final choice for me, they embody the minimalist ideals and have enough protection to keep the foot bruises at bay. I may keep the 101's for fun, but focus more of my running on the flatter MT10 since I am already used to that type of shoe. Going back to the 101's seems backwards to me, but they will be a great second shoe for other activities and light hiking.

Well that was long winded but I have been frustrated with the reviews of the shoes in this category, so I felt the need to try a few of them out for myself. I think I made a good choice and I hope you all do as well. If you want to ask questions I will try to give an honest opinion, and either way I say go minimalist, if you have to transition slowly with the help of the 101's or a like shoe than so be it. But since switching over to a flatter softer shoe my running has improved drastically, and in 5 months of what to me is serious running, I have had little to no injuries except stepping on rocks.... Well good luck, and get out there!!

I even liked the quote in the bottom of the MT10's, "LSS is MOR!"