Let's give it a try

Yes, that's what I said to myself when I had the chance to try a pair of minimal running shoes "let's give it a try".

Although I've been aware of the minimal/barefoot running thing for long I would say I have ignored this trend, not because I'm reluctant or something, no, it is just because I was ok with the running shoes I'm faithful to, i.e, Nike Pegasus, Mizuno Wave Riders and New Balances eventually, and I had no need to try anything new.

I won't explain what the minimal running is about. There are tons of info over the web from many different sources. If you need some info let me know by dropping a comment.

In the meantime, the minimal running trend has grown exponentially and some well reputed trail runners have become the spokesmen of the minimal sole shoes.  Anton, Killian, and many other fly over the paths and trails with under 200gr running shoes with almost no drop.
As a consequence of the marketing machinery and due to the experiences shared by many anonymous runners all the brands have models in their offerings claiming the advantages of the minimal shoes trying to run as barefooted as possible.

The Tarahumara (an indian mexican tribe famous by running long distances on their hand made "huaraches") are now trendy. Many studies claim their superhuman ability to run hundreds of miles are, in part,  due to running barefoot and the energy saved by running on your naked forefoot.

But if you find one article, paper, video claiming how incredible it is to run barefoot or with minimal shoes and that you have been and idiot using your good old fashioned cushioned shoes, you can find the same amount of studies claiming just the reverse.

Well, now I have the chance to prove that for myself as a pair of minimal shoes were available for me to be tested.  To have an credible opinion on something, well, you should have experienced it before.

Will they be good enough to run a marathon or 20kms under a heavy former semi-fast runner? or will be just be relegated to be used with jeans on the weekends?

Don't know, I'll try to find the answer over the next months as I decrease my running mileage on summer and the timing is perfect for experiments.

Previous experience on "light" shoes was on using exclusively 300 gr-ish shoes for long periods of time some years ago. Yeah, I know, that's not "light", but I'm a 75kg runner and used to run at paces close to 4'/km, and that's light given those standars.

Injuries... well my left knee is starting to complain after many years of abuse and my right hip has given me problems in the last year.

And at last but not for least the shoes. A brand new pair of innov8 f-lite 195. You can find a lot of reviews of these shoes over the web, for example follow this link. Innov8 is not as well known as other brands, they focus on the minimal running. You'll find a lot of info in their web site

Disclaimer: Innov8 is not sponsoring this blog at all. Just had the chance to test this model in particular and thought it would be interesting to share the experience.