Friday, March 25, 2011

Merrell barefoot shoe- tough glove

Taking a break from daily diet and running post to say a few words about the Merrel "Tough Glove" barefoot shoes I've been wearing for about 3 weeks.

I bought them for work, black leather upper with a "0" drop forefoot to heel shoe. In a word they are "comfortable"...By the end of the day they fit your foot like a "glove". I love the feel w/o socks but I wear socks for work. They do take and are taking getting used to. You have to change your normal walk stride from heel to forefoot to a lighter flat foot stride or you will bruise your heels. They make you s..l..o..w..down in walking. You can not walk for long until you figure this out. My feet are getting a nice therapeutic workout thru-out the day...( as a side note: a nice ice water soak in the evenings can help cure those aches and pains real quick)

I've walked a little on grass fields walking our dogs and that feels great. They make a great shoe to transition to "real" barefoot walking. The forefoot is very wide to accommodate a more natural toe spread. I was actually able to wear a 10.5 size instead of a 12 because of this.

Today I ran on the treadmill for the first time in them for 30 mins. They felt GREAT!! Makes me want to get a pair of the "trail" glove for hiking and running.

I talked my wife into getting a pair and she is loving them from the first time she put them on. She also discovered the heel issue as she noticed after a mile into her 2+ mile walk her heel was abit sore.

I, like many people these days, (see my running buddy Chris's blog)
like the barefoot feel and these shoes allow that feel as one transitions down to the ultimate in barefooting, your actual "bare" foot.
I look forward to continuing my left foot rehabilitation as I ran/walk/hike in less and less shoe, and the Merrell is the best I've worn so far.

3 comments:

  1. Glad you like the Merrell tough gloves. You may really enjoy the trail glove for running. They are great minimalist shoes with just a bit of protection. The trail glove mesh upper will be cooler once warmer weather arrives. I plan on using them for my Thursday tempo runs all year.

    Next time you mention my blog, you can actually link to it too!

    http://chrisultra.blogspot.com/

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  2. Thanks for this review !
    I'd like to buy a pair of Tough Glove too, but I have a problem with the size : size 10 is just a bit too short because some of my toes (slightly) touch the end of the shoe ; with a 10,5 my toes have much more space but the other parts of the shoe (the heel for example) does not fit as well as 10 does - it's (slightly) too large. So my question is : how does these shoes evolve with the time , and should I choose the "small" ones or the "big" ones ?
    Thank you very much !!

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