New Balance did an excellent job of letting runners know that their shoes were coming and that they had been working on them with the right people for a long time (with video's like this one). They also managed to create interest by getting the shoes to popular bloggers months before the release date (see reviews here and here). Whether New Balance intended to get me hooked on these shoes months before I had even tried them on I don't know, but they managed to do it anyway. I couldn't wait for them to be released!
I had been impatiently waiting for them to arrive at the New Balance store when I saw a Facebook post from my local running store saying that not only did they have them, they were giving a $20 gift certificate away with their purchase. I won't name the store here as I am not even sure they should have been selling them before the official release date, but I rushed down and bought myself a pair on Saturday February 19.
I tried them on in the store and was amazed at how low to the ground and flat they are. They have a Vibram sole that looks like it would last hundreds of miles which is 9mm thick at the heel and 5mm thick at the midfoot, which is much thinner than my Nike Free's and Saucony Kinvaras. The 4mm drop is the same as the Saucony's, but with the thinner sole it felt smaller.
I rushed home from the store, did a quick warm up and went out to run on the trails at the Nature Park. I quickly noticed that the shoes were very comfortable (tight around the heel but with plenty of toe box space for my toes to spread out) and didn't seem out of place on the asphalt of the Greenway as I ran the 1.5 miles to the trails. When I got off-road and on to the trails I could feel that I had plenty of grip and protection on all of the different surfaces that I ran on (packed mud, shingle, rock, wooden bridges) and that was something I hadn't felt when I had been running on the trails in my non-trail shoes. I had a great 2.2 mile run around the Nature Park and then I headed back home on the Greenway, wondering when I could schedule another trail run in to my training plan - I had had so much fun, I couldn't wait to do it again!
The following day I had a track workout scheduled and by the end of that run my calves were very tired indeed (I did that workout in my other new shoes) so I decided to hold off on running on the trails again until the next Saturday. It was well worth the wait and I had another great run in the Nature Park - I really do love trail running and more importantly, trail running in these shoes!
I have noticed that my calves and my left Achilles tendon (the one I hurt last year) are a little tired and tight after I run in these shoes, but I am not really surprised as they are lower to the ground and it will take me some time to get used to running in them. For now, I am going to use them once or twice a week and give my body time to adjust...
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