A matter of 1/4 inch

Couple weeks ago, when I used Shoe Goo to try to extend the life of my Nike Free, I noticed that the difference between the two sides of the right heel was around 1/4 inch. That difference has been affecting my form, which is not good. On my morning run a few days ago, I also got to thinking what that 1/4 inch actually meant, quantitatively. Now, with my normal training pace, which is about 1-1.5 minutes slower than my 5K/10K pace, I take about 200 paces each foot for each 1/4 mile or about 800 paces per mile. That works out to be, at my current weekly mileage, about 24,000 paces per week. That's about 6,000 inches or 500 ft. of extra vertical distance that side of the foot (Achilles tendon, calf) has to stretch each week! This got to be part of the reason my calves have not been their usual selves the past couple months. I suppose I should follow that rule of thumb of not putting more than 500 miles on a pair of running shoes!

Review of Merrell Trail Glove

My new pair, Merrell Trail Glove, on the way to barefoot running.

Well, that was a rather windy, 3-shirt run this morning, especially with the new Merrell Trail Glove (TG) shoes that felt so light on the feet (!). With wind chill in the teens, the windbreaking glove shell was definitely good to have on. My first impression of the TG was its lightness and small footprint (literally), even lighter than the Nike Free (NF) and which takes up less space in the suitcase. I was a bit concerned about the TG's narrow width and wondered if I should've bought the wider version. As it turned out, the shoes' firm lateral support took care of that concern. The wide toe box felt roomy and comfortable (why are they not all made that way?). The zero drop from heel to toe made the TG feel basically like the FiveFingers (FF), but without the fingers and with a bit more cushion; both the FF and TG result in a natural forefoot strike. The extra cushion makes the TG a good transitional shoe between something like the NF and FF. The cushion also makes for warmer feet during cold weather. I'm still transitioning to the FF and run in them about once a week. I think I can switch over to the TG within a fairly short period of time, during which I'll probably alternate between the TG and the (Shoe Goo'ed) NF.

Extending the life of my Nike Free (w/ Shoe Goo), before I got the Merrell Trail Glove.