If you haven't seen what the person in the picture is wearing, then be amazed to know that those are running shoes. These are the Vibram FiveFingers and they are the latest craze in running, i.e. the minimalist running movement.
I've been running for six years now and have generally kept up with what's going on in the running industry with respect to products and services. I got into running because I had a huge beer gut when I graduated from college and I decided that I should do something about it since I had a lot more time than I did as an undergrad. I had the attitude of someone who discovered religion again when I started running so I devoted much effort to reading the gospel of Runner's World and visiting the temple of the local specialty running shop.
About two years ago, I read a book called Born to Run, which is about an tribe of Mexican Indians that run ultra distances (50 miles or so) in thin sandals (and slightly inebriated). The central thesis of the book is that these Indians, the Raramuri, have the ability to do this because of the fact that they are effectively running barefoot. Christopher McDougal, who wrote this book, is a wonderful writer and leaves you with the thought that "yes, highly cushioned shoes are evil and now I need to go run barefoot everyday."
I noticed a surge in people wearing FiveFingers after the book was published and a Runner's World article suggests that the book did help create a lot of buzz about the FiveFingers and minimalist running in general. I was also living in Denver, an extremely health conscious city, at the time the book was written so I saw a quicker adoption of this trend.
Curious about this new trend, I decided to give it a try. I didn't go out and purchase the FiveFingers. I still can't get over how they look and the 90 dollar price point just doesn't seem worth it to me, so I started running in the shoes pictured below.
These are Asics' Onitsuka Tigers. They were popular in the 60s and 70s and the ones sold now are replicas and are definitely not marketed as running shoes. It's marketed as a lifestyle shoe that any good hipster should have. In full disclosure, I have four variations of these.
If it isn't apparent from the picture, these shoes have no support so running in them adheres to minimalist principles. I loved running in these and I still do. I love the feel of the ground on my feet when running in them. My foot strike response just feels more natural. I'm not really doing it justice with my weak description here, but wearing these shoes for me is akin to that feeling people get when they put on a pair or really comfortable jeans.
It was also really time for me to be running in minimalist shoes. When I experimented with these shoes, I had been running for five years and logged something like 1500 miles the year before. The reason I say it was "time" for me to run in shoes like this is because my running form changed so much. When I was first running I was really pudgy and suffered from severe overpronation. Basically, this means your ankles roll inward when you run and it causes loads of problems (shin splints, IT band issues). The shoe I most frequently ran in when I was first started running is pictured below.
This is the Brooks Beast. A very fitting name. These shoes had a lot of cushioning and medial arch support that helped me reduce my overpronation. They were also ridiculously heavy. Over time, I lost weight and I became much swifter. My foot strike changed and running in this type of shoe started feeling really awkward. I finally went to a running store and told them about my issues. They observed me walking and running and told me that while I overpronate when I walk, I no longer really did when I ran. They told me I could move on to something with a little less cushioning.
The moral of all this is that I eventually progressed to be a runner where I could deal with a minimalist shoe. At least, I think I did because I don't get any of the injuries that novice runners do when they go out and buy a pair of FiveFingers and think they can just jump right into it. Furthermore, the running community hasn't come to a consensus on whether minimalist running is really good for you. The Runner's World article I referenced pretty much makes it clear that there won't be a consensus coming for a while, but the minimalist running trend is going to remain strong in the short-term, at least.
Given all this, the question I want to address in my paper is: "How are specialty running stores going to deal with this new trend?"
Let me give a little bit more context so the question becomes more meaningful. For decades, the running shoe industry has evolved to give us extremely cushioned shoes with the belief that more cushioning prevents injury. The industry figured out every possible foot strike for a runner and made shoes that would correct any irregularities. Thus, the Brooks Beast I showed above was the solution to for the severe overpronator such as myself.
Furthermore, in the last blog topic we talked about customer experiences that were especially meaningful to us. Another one that I've had and that is relevant to my paper topic is the experience of going to a good specialty running shop. When you visit one of these places, the customer service is paramount. You get measured and tested as if you were in a doctor's office. You get to try on 10 different types of shoes and run around in them until you find one that is just perfect for you. In general, the MO of a good specialty running store is stocking all types of shoes for all types of runners. The minimalist movement is the antithesis to the MO of the running store: You don't need all these different running shoes nor do you need to be doing all this measurement and testing, all you need to offer a few, simple running shoes.
In summary, my paper will discuss how specialty running shops are going to respond to this new trend if they aren't already. I also want to address if this trend has any traction and figure out who really is the consumer for these shoes. Is it the experienced runner like myself, the novice, or a combination of both?
Hi Juan - Funny that this is your topic because, a day or two ago, I was walking behind a student who was wearing a fairly bright pair of the FiveFingers shoes (I had previously only seen them in neutral or dark colors) as just their shoe for the day (i.e., they were not in running attire). Much like the Crocs trend before, I am not a fan of this as street wear. Ok, with that off my chest, I am very interested to see what you determine as you write this paper. I run a bit (would really like to run more often) and have thought about these shoes, but they just seem trendy right now and most avid runners I see on the trail are not wearing them. Most of the people I see in them seem like the type who just decided to start running and have bought the most expensive gear to support their efforts (think people who have just taken up biking and buy some expensive Trek bike along with the full spandex outfit, shoes, helmet, etc.). Go for it! And let me know if you want to chat along the way.
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