I must say New Balance customer service was excellent. They shipped the new pair to me right away and they were waiting for me when I got home. The new pair feels A LOT better. They are still snug, but the left foot does not have a hard stitching chunk jabbing into my foot! :)

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Strength. Determination. Merciless. Forever.
Live to win. Dare to fail.

What differences do you feel when running around (except for the missing David-Haye-toe-presenting effect)?

As light as VFF?

Faust

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roll with the punches

I really like these shoes. They are not AS light as the sprints, but it's not like they are going to be weighing you down. After using them they fit perfectly and are very comfortable to wear and run in. I wear them around casually too. They offer more protection on the trails I run too. With these you sacrifice some of the flatness and 'minimalistic' sole for a little bit more protection. IMO it's a nice balance.

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Strength. Determination. Merciless. Forever.
Live to win. Dare to fail.

I just got a set of the Minimus last week. I've only run in them two or three times now, but it sure is a change from my old "normal" running shoes. I'm slowly adapting to asphalt with these.

On a not-running note, has anyone here jumped rope on pavement with minimalist shoes, or barefoot? I'm afraid my rope form is rough enough that I'll pound my knees into powder if I don't do it on something padded, but I often use a rope to warm up to run. Seems silly to change shoes at that point...

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My homemade gear

I prefer to have a good pair of shoes when I jump rope. Mostly because I whack my toes and that's not fun!

Another update on the minimus is that they smell absolutely horrible! My VFF never smelled bad at all. These things just smell putrid. And it's not that great to get them wet, which I did all the time with the VFF. They suggest washing them with a toothbrush. I put them through the washing machine and let them air dry. The smell still didn't really go away.

_________________
Strength. Determination. Merciless. Forever.
Live to win. Dare to fail.

Good site for all things regarding minimalist shoes, including reviews: http://birthdayshoes.com/

What I learned is that there are a ton of options out there beyond the VFF's!

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"Victory is not repetitious but adapts its form endlessly" - Sun Tzu

I'm posting this under the assumption that we're talking about lightweight, unpadded shoes in general. If I'm wrong, sorry.

The lightest shoe I've seen (and that I'm looking to buy) is the Vivobarefoot Ultra. A pair of EUR 43/US 9 (Men) is 190 grams without the insole or tongue, compared to VFF's 301 grams. Might not seem like much, but I'm looking into buying these for two reasons: One being that I want the lightest shoe possible as I travel with carry-on luggage only and need to keep the weight down. Reason number two is that my toes are quite long and not a perfect fit for the Fivefingers.

The one problem I'm anticipating is that they're said to be a bit on the small side, and that you might want to buy one size up from what you normally would. Thing is I'm a EUR 47/US 13 and that's the biggest size I can get my hands on. Ideally I'd get a 48. Then again I think the +1 size recommendation is made with the insole and tongue in mind, and I won't be using them anyway, which'll buy me a bit of room, I'm sure.



Anyway, just thought I'd toss another alternative into the mix.