Well I first saw these shoes almost 2 years ago and decided to buy a pair for the Vineman Ironman I was planning on running in the summer of 2011. My friend Chris and my wife also decided to buy a pair and Chris and I thought it would be a cool way to show our Canadian pride while racing in the US (plus they matched out teams uniforms colours). I tried them on at Running Free in Newmarket and did some runs in the store with them and found that I had to go a full size up with these to a size 11 now. So I did a few training runs in them and found them to be very light with just enough toe room and they felt great on the feet. Also considering that I wear orthotics when I run they still felt very light with enough room once I took out the insole.
During training the shoes stood up to every style of my training: treadmill, road, trail and even in the rain. I am very impressed by the shoes and their make and how I can just put them on an go and I don’t have to worry about getting any blisters or rubbing at all. The only addition I made to the shoe was the lock laces which is a must for triathlons. During the training and the race the shoes were very good and held up well in the triathlon.
I recently purchased a 2nd pair of these when they went on sale for 50% off at Running Free Newmarket as well, I didn’t need them at the time but I figured for the price it was a great deal, since I liked them so much. I recently did the Hamilton Marathon in the same shoes, and they did well in all of my training for that and in the race as well. For the look, the price and the performance I give these shoes a 10 out of 10 in my books. I haven’t stuck with a pair of shoes this long in my running/triathlon career yet. But as long as these are still available I will continue to use them in my training and races no matter what the distance is.
An added bonus that my wife likes is that now we both have matching shoes, so the odd time when we do run together out shoes match, and I will admit it, it does look good!
Nice shoe. I did the Endurrun marathon in them and found the last 10k a bit footsore. But that is likely just me.
These are a stability shoe. Orthotics are usually meant for neutral shoes, so be careful you are not getting over corrected. Watch out for tight IT bands.