Running candy

The lovely Brooks Pure Connect. Photo: Fredrik Ö

While switching shoes during a muddy mixed trail run, my friend Dan calls. He had found the running photos from the past summer’s journeys in Canary Islands and Swedish West Coast. I’m telling him about Brooks Pure Connect(208g), the praised minimalist running shoe. The PureConnect was named “Best Debut” in Runner’s World’s Winter 2012 Shoe Guide in the December issue. The editors said the PureConnect “strikes a balance between barefoot-inspired minimalism and cushioning-required training. It has a lightweight, barely there feel yet is substantive enough to handle long tempo runs.”). I shouted to Dan in the phone “They are like sex! It’s a bliss to wear them and a bliss to run with them. The fit and running feel is incredible!”

Smooth operator. Brooks Pure Grit. Photo: Fredrik Ö

Being a trail runner however I prefer a more agressive outsole, enter Brooks Pure Grit, which is the somewhat more stabile and wider trail version, with a 4 mm drop (15 mm to 11 mm).

It’s not fair to judge the Pure Connect next to a pair of sturdy semi-trail shoes like Salomon’s new Mission (335g) door-to-trail shoe, but I also brought another lovely minimalist ultra lightweight shoe, the Vertical K from La Sportiva, which doesn’t hug the foot like the nimble Pure Connect but it’s a shoe you barely notice on the foot. Made for uphill racing the Vertical K doesn’t provide any stability but it’s very light (185g). Measured size: US 9.

New Balance Minimus Zero Trail. Sample colors. Photo: Fredrik Ö

Talking about lightweight: New Balance brings us Minimus Zero, ultra minimalist shoes: zero drop and 128g for the trail shoe and 177g for the road shoe. I have tested both and I can assure you I had plenty of fun. If you’re about to pick your minimalist running shoe for 2012 I would say that there are plenty of running candy to chose from, like the upcoming adidas adipure concept, with a serie of minimalist / barefoot shoes for running and training. I will write more about it here in a future post, which also includes some of the shoe reviews. Merry Christmas & Happy New Running Year!

Advertisement