Nike Free it ain't

Received my Nike Frees today. Argh I had to pay a brokerage fee of $40.
Ugh. What a way to begin. On top of that, when I opened the box, Bonnie noticed an advertisement for the Nike free for Women on the flip side of the lid. Seeing the flashy green shoes, she thought that they had shipped the women's version to me. Fortunately that wasn't the case.

Very light in my hands (it's listed at 8.4 ounces) compared with my Asics Nimbus (12.9). The sole of the shoe is very malleable and the slits if the forefoot of the sole provide me with a greater range of motion never experienced with the Nimbus. The shoe last is very supple. I found the sole to be uneven; I have low arches and the way in which the heel tapers off toward the forefoot left a feeling of the sole in my arch.

I experienced less elasticity when my foot would hit the gournd and bounce back than I did with the Asics. I thought that switching to a ligter shoe, would enable to the, "bounce back" to be quicker. I'm not sure what material the sole is made of but it holds less elasticity than the Asics shoe.

The inelasticity made technical drills tougher. I guess I wasn't as strong as I thought. I never realised how much difference a shoe makes.

I ran for 10 min on the shoes and they felt fine. Seeing these green shoes floating in the air from the reflection in the mirroir looked stange. The only good thing from having these shoes is that because they are so flashy, I can only wear them if I'm able to meet my performance targets.

Mind you, they are comfy and they'll make a great after race shoe. My dance buddy, Bonnie, drew certain parallels between her dance shoes and the Free.

Oh la la, will a running flat and training shoe as well?

All in all, a neat little shoe. Definitely different that what I am used to. I'll continue to use it in speed training. However I realise that there is always a price to pay when it comes to using a different type of shoe.