3 minimalist shoes compared

I've been on the hunt for new minimalist running shoes and minimalist work shoes (full story). Thankfully my work shoes can be athletic shoes and I'm not restricted to dressier shoes.

For running shoes, I asked for the advice of an extreme runner friend of mine (who runs barefoot/minimally) and he suggested Soft Star DASH RunAmoc - a handmade extremely minimalist shoe. A year or so ago he let me try them on and I was impressed with how comfortable they were even compared to my Vibram FiveFingers, so it was a no-brainer to me to exclusively try these first (although I opted for the lite version with perforations since my feet generally stay pretty warm) . I ordered a size 12 as suggested by their sizing chart, but it turns out they were way too long. I called them up and they suggest I try a size 11. I'm still waiting on this exchange, but one thing is for certain they felt extremely comfortable.

Soft Star DASH RunAmoc Lite

Too big.

So I think my actual running shoe is decided (at least I hope).

Further from being decided are my work shoes. I have historically had a difficult time buying shoes, mostly because my foot is wide and stores usually don't carry wides in my size. Couple that with my new constraint that it must also be minimalist and this makes it even more difficult. I tried one store, but came up empty handed, so I went online.

I started doing some research to see what was out there. At first I checked out the bigger name brands like New Balance since I had been wearing their shoes and they have fit me well, but I found many smaller companies that were dedicated to minimalist shoes. My list ended up looking like this:

• Merrell Run Trail Glove
• New Balance Minimus Zero
• Vivobarefoot Aqua Lite (or other style)
• Feelmax Osma 2
• Inov-8 Bare-X 180
• Lems Primal 2
• Soft Star DASH RunAmoc with Leather Sole

At a minimum (no pun intended), I wanted zero drop (front and back of the shoe are the same height), thin flexible soles (the less cushion the better), no support, and of course wide enough for my wide feet. Of all of the shoes in the list, only the Merrell, New Balance, and Soft Star had wide options, but generally minimalist shoes are wide to begin to give room for the toes to spread naturally, so I didn't immediately rule any of the others out because of that. This was my process of elimination: 

1. The Trail Glove's are designed for trail running not sitting in an office, so I eliminated them
2. The Vivobarefoot's seemed to have mixed reviews regarding their durability. Due to their high cost and in my opinion pretty ugly styles, I opted to pass.
3. I think I would have liked trying the Feelmax shoe, but they are based out of Finland so getting them would have been difficult and potentially expensive if I had to return them.

I liked the looks of the Lems Primal 2s so I decided to give the a try first. In addition, since the Inov-8s were available on Zappo.com, I opted to also give them a try. At around the same time I placed the order for my running shoes as well, and after waiting impatiently all three arrived at around the same time:

From left to right: Inov-8 Bare-X 180, Soft Star DASH RunAmoc Lite,
Lems Primal 2

The short story is that unfortunately I will be shipping all of them back, but here are thoughts and comparisons of each of them:

Inov-8 Bare-X 180

I knew when I ordered these that they would likely not be wide enough. Not only did some reviews mention this, but they just don't look very wide in photos either, but since they were available on Zappos I didn't have much to lose in trying them so I went ahead. They weren't wide enough. It's difficult to get a good feel for other aspects of a shoe that isn't wide enough. They felt the most comfortable to me with the insoles removed - perhaps because they give a little extra room in the shoe, but also because it makes them thinner and lighter. They felt ok otherwise. In comparison to the Lems and Soft Stars they were the least comfortable to me. The quality of the shoe seemed good.

Lems Primal 2

I really tried to make these shoes work as I really like the style. Although they claim to have the "widest toe box on the market" they weren't quite wide enough for me. They were close, but my foot filled the entire width of the shoe with no room to spare. I could especially notice it when walking as my toes couldn't spread any further, but even when not walking my little toe especially just wasn't comfortable as it was ever so slightly being pushed inward by the edge of the shoe. I was disappointed. Again, the shoes were most comfortable to me with the insoles removed giving a more close to the ground feel. I will note that the shoe seemed to have a slight drop - it probably doesn't in reality, but there's just something about the sole design in the heel that made it seem like it did. The heel seemed more firm and thicker than the rest of the sole. Perhaps I'm just used to the FiveFingers. I found these shoes to be more comfortable than the Bare-X 180s, but less so than the Soft Stars. The quality seemed good. I sincerely hope that Lems produces a wider shoe in the future as I would definitely give them another try.

Soft Star DASH RunAmoc Lite

As mentioned above, these are for running not work, but I'll still compare them. Hands down these were the most comfortable shoe of the three. This is likely because they are also the widest and fit my width well, but they were also very light and had the best ventilation of the three as well. They also seemed to be well made.

I liked the Soft Stars so much that I decided to give the leather soled version a try next. Although I don't like the look of them quite as much for a work shoe, "form follows function" - I'd rather wear a comfortable shoe. I'll post my thoughts on them once I get them - I have high hopes!

Minimalist shoe story

For most of my life I've worn what I'd call a "typical" athletic shoe, usually running - shoes with large springy soles, arch support, and raised heels. I didn't think anything of it. That all changed in in August of 2011 when I purchased a pair of Vibram FiveFingers shoes (on this trip to Tennessee, actually) because I was intrigued by the natural aspect that the shoes claim - being barefoot-like. I tried on a slew of them at a outdoor store in Gatlinburg, TN and found only one style that fit my wide size 12 foot just about perfectly (the TrekSport). I bought them and proceeded to do plenty of walking and hiking in them during the trip. It certainly took some adjustment to get used to, but since then I have not gone back to "typical" shoes and I never will. I now have two pairs and wear them every chance I get, year round.

The only place I haven't been wearing them, until recently, is my workplace, which is an office job with a relaxed business casual dress code that allows athletic shoes. I had been wearing some New Balance running shoes, that is until they began greatly hurting my feet - just walking down the hall and back was painful. I couldn't continue wearing them. Likely stretching the dress code a bit, I've been wearing my FiveFingers until I find a new pair, and as expected the foot pain went away immediately.

I have also been running in them since mid-summer of 2012. This, too, took some getting used to. "Typical" shoes can cause you to run differently (heal first), but wearing these pretty much force you to run forefoot-first, otherwise your heels will be in some pain. It only took a few runs for me to get used to it. The only problem I've had running in them is that they give me blisters after a few miles. There is a fabric seam on the inside of the shoe that rubs against the side of my foot. I've used band-aids to help protect the area and this helps, but obviously isn't a great solution. I also purchased a pair of the Injinji toe socks to help keep my feet warm on colder days and have found that they fully alleviate the problem of the rubbing, but unfortunately cause me to get blisters in another area on the bottom of my feet near my big toe. They do help keep my feet plenty warm, though (so far the coldest I've run in is 16 degrees F), and also wick moisture very well. So while I have been able to run quite a bit on them without any serious issues, they haven't been quite ideal for me for running.

Speaking of wicking, these shoes aren't great in the rain or snow, but nonetheless I still wear them in both conditions. It takes only stepping in the shallowest of puddles for the water to seep into the toes, but I've been impressed with how quickly it seems to wick away - or maybe I just get used to it. It seems to take only a second or two, even when I step in a deeper puddle with or without the socks on.

One last "drawback" to wearing FiveFingers is that they draw attention. I get asked about them fairly often; most people are just intrigued and wonder if I like them. I'm happy to share that I do, but usually add that I had to try on a bunch of different styles before I found one that fit my foot.

That's my story so far. I'm 100% sold on natural, minimalist shoes (or no shoes at all!), and will never go back to wearing "typical" shoes ever again. It seems like there is a movement in the industry and many companies are beginning to offer "barefoot/minimalist" lines. This is great! However, it's worth keep in mind that some of them are more or less marketing fluff and not all minimalist shoes are created equal, but I like the trend and hope it continues!

I've been researching for my next work shoes and running shoes and will hopefully have some more posts on this soon.

Blog topic expansion

I am expanding the topic of this blog from just birding to anything nature-related. I'll continue to post stuff about birds, but will also include other posts on things such as sunsets, interesting bugs that I come across, pretty leaves in the fall, interesting weather, hiking, etc. I've also been interested in running lately, more specifically "minimalist"/barefoot running, so I plan to include some posts on my experiences with that, shoes in particular, or lack thereof.

So I've changed the name of the blog and have updated the URL accordingly.

What kind of hawk is this?

Saw this hawk today - not sure what kind it is:

We see a lot of coopers hawks, but my best guess is a Red Shouldered Hawk.

Tennessee Birding V

This is my final Tennessee birding series post - another morning walk along the driveway. I saw many of the same birds as seen previously - perhaps the same birds as other days in some cases, but also some new ones. It was sad to have the vacation come to an end, but the nice thing is that there are birds to see at home, too!

#1
You can clearly see the long beak on this hairy woodpecker that is nearly as long as its head.

Hairy Woodpecker & Indigo Bunting (juvenile?)

#2
This bird almost looks cartoonish with how large its eyes are.

Indigo Bunting (juvenile?)

And another one (there were many them again):

Indigo Bunting (juvenile?)

#3

Ruby-throated Hummingbird (female)

#4
Hard to say on this one.

Tennessee Warbler?

#5
Still trying to learn the differences between the Carolina and Black-capped Chickadee, but one tip from All About Birds that Carolina Chickadees have less white-edging in the wings is starting to give me more confidence that this is in fact a Carolina Chickadee (and also the one from post II).

Carolina Chickadee

#6
And the last bird I saw was another blue bird, but not an indigo bunting this time!

Blue Jay

That's it. I look forward to going back again someday!

Tennessee Birding IV

This is part four of my Tennessee birding series and this was another walk along the driveway of our cabin. I started to learn where the birds tended to hang out after a while and this dead tree is one of the hot spots. When I arrived, it had many different kinds of birds perched on it all taking in the morning sun:

Seven perched birds (3 or 4 different kinds)

I'll show individual photos of them below.

#1
This was one of the ones in the group.

Northern Flicker

#2
This was another one in the photo above, and I'm not exactly sure what it is. Perhaps it's a female or immature Summer Tanager? Or a female Scarlet Tanager? I'm not sure if it is a warbler due to the fairly large orange beak. I need help on this one.

A yellow bird - I need help with identification

#3

There are at least four of these in the above photo.

Indigo Bunting

I'm fairly certain that they are indigo buntings because they have some blue feathers that are visible such as in this shot:

Three Indigo Buntings

I'm guessing that these might be immature Indigo Buntings, but I'm not certain.

#4

White-breasted Nuthatch

#5
This bird also appears to be a White-breasted Nuthatch, but I'm not sure if it's a juvenile or what. The feathers appear to be more fluffy.

White-breasted Nuthatch (juvenile?)

White-breasted Nuthatch (juvenile?) showing the black streak on its head

#6

This guy eventually joined the others on the tree (not pictured above).

Hairy Woodpecker

#7
This bird was sitting atop a row of trees along the driveway singing so beautifully and also so frequently that it was difficult for me to get a photo of it not singing.

Eastern Towhee (male) singing

Eastern Towhee (male)

I also saw the female, but I wasn't able to get a photo before she flew away.

#8

Mourning Dove in-flight silhouette

#9

Northern Cardinal

#10

This guy sat pretty for me as I slowly inched my way as close as I could get.

Indigo Bunting

#11

Then he flew over to whom I presume was his beautiful mate.

Indigo Buntings (male & female)

This was a great ending to my walk!

Tennessee Birding III

Our hikes in Great Smoky Mountains National Park weren't really focused on birding per-say, however, that doesn't mean I didn't keep an eye out and occasionally snap a few photos of them every so often. In this post I'll show some that I managed to take while not on a exclusive birding walks.

#1
We saw this bird perched when nearly to the top of the Chimney Tops peak. It was looking out over the vast valley below (just like we were doing) and never turned around for me (or at least we didn't stick around long enough to see). I'm not sure, but I'm thinking it was a Dark-eyed Junko.

Dark-eyed Junko

#2
On another hike to Andrew's Bald just as we were arriving to the clearing, a hawk flew out in front of us as we approached. We only got a quick glace at it, but I quickly grabbed the camera and went to see if I could spot it again. I'm not sure if it was the one, but I did see several birds soaring in the distance. I thought at first that they were Turkey Vultures since they were soaring together, but I soon found that they were actually hawks of some kind. Later one flew more overhead and I managed to snap a few photos. It's possible that they were two different birds. I wasn't paying super close attention as the latter bird caught me by surprise as it flew over.

Here's some shots from the grouping of birds in the distance:

And then the one that flew overhead:

I'm thinking that they were Red-shouldered Hawks, but I'm not certain. Reasons:

1. Dark wing tips
2. Transparent patch near wing tips
3. Some reddish is visible

The one that flew over (latter two photos) may have been a juvenile since it appears to have a more spotted feathers on the body and not very much reddish coloring.

#3

I saw another hawk in the distance when at our cabin as well. Unfortunately, it was even further away, but it looks similar and was likely another Red-shouldered Hawk.