I know that they're all the rage, but I'm on the fence. I own a pair of VFFs and I'll take them out for shorter jogs, but I don't wear them on the trail because they don't provide enough protection. It looks like there will be many options for minimalist runners in 2011. I didn't even know that Merrell was making some, but they look pretty cool. Check em out. The website calls them birthday shoes - a dumb play on 'birthday suit'? But at the high price of $100, I'll wait until I give them a run at BRC.
I've been thinking a lot about shoes lately and whether I should be rotating different pairs. Since early last summer I've been wearing La Sportiva Crosslites exclusively. I've also had a little bit of pain in my foot from a combination of different problems that probably isn't related to my footwear. Should I be rotating shoes? Does footwear make that much of a different, or is the most important aspect form?
I tend to think that footwear can help get proper form but if you have good form (and are healthy) then it probably doesn't matter what you've got on your feet. Whether this minimalist/barefoot running this is just a trend or not, I like it because the market is responding to (perceived) consumer demands. This means that we're now getting lighter trail shoes. Think back just a few years to those clunky running boots. But I wonder if these new, lighter trail shoes will last very long. Some of them don't have much more of an upper of mesh. Will that last over 500 miles of rugged trails? What do you think?