New Balance M895SB Review

I hate these shoes. These are probably the worst running shoes I will ever own. I was going to give them to goodwill, but I feel bad doing so, knowing that some down-on-his-luck simple man will buy them and torture his knees until he throws them in the trash. I should burn them and then bury the ashes hundreds of miles from civilization in an air-tight ammo box. I hate these shoes. It amazes me that New Balance can make these and one of my favorite pairs of shoes-the M870OR (review coming). It's like Matisyahu's albums. Or a box of chocolates. You really just don't know what you're going to get.

I bought these at the New Balance Warehouse in Ontario, CA when I made a resolve to run a marathon a few years back. They were "irregular" and on sale. I said, "hey, I need a new pair of shoes to start training with if I'm really going to do this marathon." I was a fool. What followed were the darkest days of my running career (unpaid career that is). Excruciating pain and heelstriking, "'cause I've got a big old heel to soften the impact!" Never again my friends. I. Hate. These shoes.

"Well maybe you shouldn't have got the irregular ones."

Fair enough. But there's one problem. I can't find anything cosmetically wrong with them. They are even, flawlessly stitched. Unless there's some ingenious device implanted in the Frankenstein-boot sole, these shoes are just inherently bad.

After I scrapped them for running and made the switch to Vibrams, I figured I'd cut my losses and use them for work. I work in a pharmacy and am on my feet for extended periods of time. Nope. Still garbage. They hurt my knees so bad I took the insoles out to make them less cushy. Still nothing. I resorted to removing them and working in my socks because they aggravated my knees so much. Never again.

I almost gave up running altogether because of how I felt when I ran in these. There is a serious problem with how shoes have been made for the past few decades. Do yourself a favor-if your current running shoes look anything like these, go for a run with no shoes and note the difference. I did, and my running experiences have been enjoyable ever since.

Energy Gel$

Earlier this year, I started experimenting with energy gels on my longer runs. The first experience was with an expired Gu "Lemon Sublime" packet on a 9 mile run without any water. I'm learning. Miraculously, I didn't get crippling diarrhea and I didn't perish from thirst. I can't say it gave me all that much energy either. I wasn't in great shape at this point, early into more serious training.

I purchased some Powerbar gels because they were cheap and started taking them with a fair amount of water, which made them more palatable, but equally non-efficacious.

I've also tried Clif Shot gel. Still nothing.

As I mentioned in last week's report I had a successful experience on an empty stomach morning run after plodding along for 3 miles. I felt the burst of energy and really picked up the pace to end my run well.

So it seems a few things are required to feel the effects of energy gels:

1. Low blood sugar
2. A good level of baseline fitness
3. Water

I'm excited about this new arrow in my quiver. I'm thinking about races where I have felt heavy and how energy gel would have potentially helped significantly. Not excited about paying mucho lettuce for gross sugar, though.

I can make gross sugar for free, thank you very much. I will experiment with homemade gel consisting of:

• Honey
• Molasses
• Sea Salt

The results will follow...

Vibram FiveFingers Sprint Review

Running barefoot is problematic for the following reasons:

1-sometimes it's too cold
2-sometimes it's too dangerous
3-it takes time to develop calluses adequately thick to run long distances

For the above reasons, I looked to the most readily available source of minimalist footwear, Vibram for solutions. At the time, the only other minimalist shoe was Feelmax, not easily found. Vibram essentially has a monopoly of the US market for truly barefoot-style shoes. I went to Half Moon Outfitters and tried on a few sprints, classics, and KSOs to see what I liked and what non-conventional size fit me right. The classics felt the best, so I went to the Internet to find a better price. I settled on a mismatched pair on eBay for a slight discount. I loved them, and still mostly love them, but I have some reservations.

FiveFingers are problematic for the following reasons:

1-They are excruciatingly ugly. Why does this matter? Normally it wouldn't and in fact, as I mentioned before,  looking ridiculous is an integral part of my running philosophy. But these are beyond ugly. Ugly to the point that it's not fun or entertaining. It's shameful. It would be a suitable punishment to force thieves to wear these in public.

2-They smell like excrement after wearing them a few times. It's bad enough to necessitate keeping them outside. Injinji socks alleviate this problem somewhat. I hear washing them in the laundry helps. It's a bit of a pain to stay on top of the funk, though.

3-They are expensive. $80 or more for shoes? Come on. I'll pay for a valuable product, but I'm still going to complain about it.

4-They dig into the heel. Probably varies on the person, but mine dig in pretty deep. They seem to have stretched some.

5-They cause blisters of their own. On extended runs (5K+) socks are a necessity to prevent this.

6-The strap rips the top of my foot up. This won't be an issue with any model other than Sprint. Again, socks solve this one easily.

7-One major issue with FiveFingers is that I feel like I have to be a sales rep for Vibram whenever I wear them. If I'm not answering an onslaught of questions about them, I'm fearing for my well-being, as was the case at a truck stop in Alabama. I've never liked being the center of attention and for people like me, this is a significant issue.

That being said, I still love them! FiveFingers are great for the following reasons:

1-They separate the toes. After 27 years, it feels good to reverse the effects of foot binding.

2-They allow you to feel the ground. As close to barefoot as you'll currently find.

3-They protect your feet. Somethings I don't want to feel.

4-They are light. They don't weigh you down. Still feel springy as a gazelle.

5-They are durable. Sole is tough as nails. I anticipate wearing out the upper first.

Overall, they are an excellent step in the right direction (pun intended). Understandably, there is widespread fanaticism associated with them at sites such as birthdayshoes.com. We're excited to have an option that maintains the barefoot experience. However, this obsession often borders on religiosity heralding the infallibility of all things Vibram. There is still room for improvement. I'm dreading 10-20 years from now when annoying purists will be singing the praises of "the good ol days" when original FiveFingers came out and selling vintage pairs to each other online.

The good news is that more companies will inevitably push into the market and improve on the FiveFingers' weaknesses. Terra Plana's Evo is already on the market, and while ludicrously overpriced, appears promising. Skora Footwear is scheduled to launch this year. I'm excited for capitalism to do what it does best-stimulate production of better products for less money.