First off, mad mad props to all of the marathoners this fall.  This year it did not work out for me for a fall marathon, had I tried it would have been a disaster.  But I take inspiration from those of you I know that ran and even those I don’t know.  You keep me motivated to continue training and see where the roads and trails take me.

All right, I meant to talk about this last week when these shoes were released.  But just didn’t get around to an update.  There has been an explosion of minimalist based shoes in the last three years.  Inspired by the wild success of “barefootin'” or the Vibram Five Fingers, most companies have come up with a style of shoe that gets rid of all the fluff so to speak.  I will do another post on the topic of barefoot running later on, this is for review purposes today.  I think a better way of putting it would be that most companies RUSHED to get something out and capitalize on the money to be made.  No doubt, most of these are decent pieces of footwear.  But to be honest most brands have had minimalist shoes out for years.  They are called racing flats.  Minimalist shoes by definition have a limited drop from heel to toe, in other words they are fairly flat-footed shoes.  Brooks (disclosure:  I run for a team sponsored by Brooks and also belong to their Inspire Daily program) waited until this fall to release their line called the Pure Series

Fortunately the wait was worth it.  These shoes rock.  I currently own a pair of the Pure Connect.  But there are three other styles of varying cushioning:  Pure Flow, Pure Cadence, Pure Grit.  On my first run, I took them out for a simple spin around the neighborhood.  Very different sensation in the first few strides.  Felt like I was forced to run mid-foot, which some people feel is the best to land when running.  It was a very supportive sensation though.  Much different from going out to a track and running repeats in spikes.

Bottom line is that Brooks put some serious research and engineering into this series of shoes.  Go check out a pair at your local specialty store.  Find out what the big deal is, but be careful.  Work into these shoes slowly, they are worth the wait.