Newton Kismet

Last week I was trying on shoes in an effort to find a stability shoe that still lets me mid/forefoot strike. Recently I learned I should be in a stability shoe, my right ankle overpronates a bit too much and it's probably the cause of some ankle and foot pain I've been feeling. I heard about the Newtons and how they are supposed to promote foot striking. So I tried them on.

Newton shoes have "lugs" on the bottom.    ...................

My first thoughts from just standing in the shoes were that the lugs made the shoe feel really weird. Standing around and walking in them felt very strange. But as soon as I started my little trial run around the room I instantly loved them. It feels like the lugs help "spring" my foot forward. Pushing off feels easier. The shoe itself is also really comfy. The upper is a soft, breathable mesh like material. No uncomfortable hard plastics or stitching. I got a half size up, so 9.5 regular width. I am inbetween a regular and a wide so I often have trouble with shoes feeling too narrow, but not these. They feel perfect. That said, I would ONLY use these for running. I don't think they are meant to be walked in because of the lugs. It's certainly not a comfortable shoe for walking.

Also I love the way these shoes look - always a plus!

Run #1

Starting off I noticed some looseness in the heels, but this is a very common problem for me. I have wide feet yet narrow heels at the same time... heel slippage and blistering has always been an issue. No worries, if it continues I can most likely solve it with a lace lock as I have done before. In the first mile my feet felt a bit tingly where the lugs are, I think this is just a matter of adjusting to them because I have not worn any shoe like this before. Running in them felt great. The lugs really seem to aid in the push off. I feel "faster" in them. Unfortunately this was not a good test run because we still have patches of ice on the trails and I had to stop several times. This run was only 3 miles and I planned on it being 4. 

Run #2
Did the lace lock before even heading out the door to see if it felt better around my heels - and it did. No worries though as I have to do this with about 50% of my shoes. This run felt really good, except once again about 1.5 miles in my feet started to go numb where the lugs are. But then the numbness went away after 5 minutes or so. At this point I'm still hesitant to take these out on a run longer than 3-4 miles.

Run #3
This was a 5k tempo run. My feet felt fine, I feel like I'm getting more and more used to these shoes each time I use them. Noticed the numbness again but it was for like 1 minute tops and then it went away.

I think these shoes will be a keeper. At this point I'm gonna use them for my 3-4 mile runs. This is more of a performance shoe, but if I end up with good results I may start using them for longer distances.