Progress pictures & minimalist running

I decided about a month ago I was going to give minimalist running a try, that's running with the least amount of shoe as possible some people are crazy enough to go barefoot. It took me a month to decide on what shoe I wanted to wear. Luckily I had the foot agility and leg strength to pass all the tests everyone said you should be able to before starting on minimalist running.



For the past few weeks I've been doing my warm ups (5 minutes brisk walk or slow jog) completely barefoot. My calves hated me for the first few days but now no issues. Today I decided to up my game, I did my warm up and first 15 @ 10 min/mile with my shoes on. I took my shoes off and did 3 mins @ 6 min/mile.

I've been loving my New Balance 610 trail runners. They fit my feet well, I don't have any leg pain running in them, and they are just awesome. I decided to try New Balance's (I love their shoes, I have fat feet and they fit well and make a wide size) minimalist 1010v2 trail runners.

I tried on the regular minimalist runners and they were, odd. I love walking around barefoot, but these felt like I had something stuck to the bottom of my foot, I actually felt like I was walking on my heels almost reverse high heels. They also pinched weird around the ball of my foot, it was like the middle of shoe was made for a smaller size.

The 1010v2 trail runners felt like the running flats\spikes I used to wear back in high school cross country. I was in love when I took the first step. The shoe has a high amount of agility, what do you expect with 4mm drop and half a lbs for the pair. The rock shield in the front felt a little awkward standing still but gave plenty of support when standing on my toes. The sales guy told me they are really designed to be worn without socks, we will see how that goes, I hate shows without socks but I'm willing to give it a try.

I'll have to see how these do for longer runs but I think I'm going to love them for short runs. I can wear the 610's all day so hopefully these will work for the Tower of Terror 10-miler at Disney World in October.

And now my progress pictures. I've come a long way and now its time to work on my muscle definition. I know most runners are very ripped but I'm going to attempt it.

The first two pictures are from Nov 30 2013

These pictures are from Feb 25, 2014 just over 14 weeks of change.