A friend sent me a link to an interesting article in the Sunday Business section of the New York Times (see link below). The story is about the slow, but growing emergence of barefoot and barefoot-like running. Companies like Vibram, maker of FiveFingers (picture above), are causing established shoe giants to recognize this growing trend … popularized in the book “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall. Asics, Nike and others are either considering or have released minimalist running shoes to hedge their bets on whether the movement is a secular shift or a mere fad. As I crossed the line at the NYC Half, I noticed a runner next to me wearing the FiveFingers. He looked fine and smiled as I pointed towards his feet. My current shoes of choice are New Balance 903 (races) and 826 (training), both of which are lightweight and lack unnecessary heel cushioning. I don’t have any current plans to make the switch to minimalist shoes, but do advocate that less is more when it comes to most things in life and especially cushioning, bells and whistles on running shoes.
Wiggling Their Toes at the Shoe Giants – NY Times.com