“You're the one that I want, Oo-oo-oo, honey, The one that I want” (Olivia Newton-John)
Ever since Saucony stopped producing its ‘Hattori’ minimal shoes late last year I have ardently been on a quest to find a new ‘everyday trainer’ with a little more protection (honestly, it’s nice to have some cushioning sometimes). Months later, I finally settled on trying the relatively new offering from the relatively unknown brand; Altra.
The shoes had the promise of everything I was looking for;
they’re light, they’ve a nice wide toe box (to prevent blistering when the
wearers toes naturally splay outward on foot contact), slightly structured
construction, without compromising its minimal nature, and they’re gawdy and
brightly coloured that they practically scream “Look at these super rad shoes!
Cowabunga!!!!*”
(*or something thereabouts).
I also figured, with the market flooded with already
established companies, who in the last decade have chosen to push the
boundaries of shoemaking in practically every direction, for a new shoe to be
making such a presence on the market, they would need to be bringing an ‘A
Game’!
“One step ahead of you, Stay in motion, keep an open mind, Love is a race won by two, Your emotion, my solitude…” Split Enz
I’ll be completely honest, my first experience test-wearing
‘The One’ was unusual. Not in the fact that I wasallowed to jog/run in them outside the store (a nice bonus from buying your shoes from a reputable dealer and not the ‘faceless Interwebs’) but moreso in the shoe performance themselves.
Firstly, I was expecting to notice the 100gms of extra
weight in each shoe (from my previous Sauconys),
however they felt just as
light. For most other runners or for a runner transitioning into minimal shoes
these will likely feel like feathers (Kayano wearers will feel like they’ve
been in a tree lopping accident and have lost the bottom ¼ of each leg).
Secondly, the extra room in the toe-box (of which I spoke) feels large enough to fit a Circ-De-Soilel performance! It would definitely take some getting used to, but overall the sensation was pleasant.
Finally without predetermined grooves into the soul of the
shoe the foot was left to flex naturally. This is a feature in the design of
Altra, which boasts of each model of shoe being biometrically engineered to
suit males or females. Even better, they
had a ‘male’ pair in my size! Top work!
“So get out, get
out, get out of my head, And fall into my arms instead. I don't, I don't, don't
know what it is, But I need that one thing, And you've got that one thing” One
Direction
So I walked out of the store with an arm full of Altra-box and a heart full of anticipation! I can’t remember for sure, but there may have been a twinkle in my eye and a heel click or two.
A few co-runners even commented on the colour!
All in all, in spite of some of the logo-print-stickering on
the side of the shoes peeling (before a week was out) it was a fairly
successful debut.
“Because you’re not the one but you’re the only one, Who can make me feel like this, You’re not the one but you’re the only one, Who can make me feel like sh*t” The Foo Fighters
Things continued in this manner and my relationship with the shoes blossomed…until another slow training run later something remarkable started to happen.
I will preface this by letting you know that I was most
certainly the catalyst for this, by making the ‘rookie mistake’ of having socks
that were too short, but I soon received a rather nasty rubbing blister along
the back of the shoe.
“Now the World Is Gone I'm Just One, Oh God,help Me Hold My Breath as I Wish for Death, Oh Please God Help Me” Metallica
Things were so bad that pretty soon, the neat fluorescent
green inner lining was stained blood red, and I was left hobbling sore and
aimlessly like a pensioner after walking into a glass door.
Although it was entirely my undoing, but the shoes certainly
were unforgiving in their merciless punishment (around the 16km mark).
Otherwise, the shoes tread remained as thick as new and the
ride was still silky and unchanged (100km’s in).
“One night with you, Is what Im now praying for, The things that we two could plan, Would make my dreams come true” Elvis Presley
It was fast becoming apparent that a new partnership for the ages could’ve been forming! Whilst I wouldn’t consider racing over ANY distance in these shoes (I’m a racing-flats man and little would ever change that) I do concede that for many keen runners these may be the answer for most races and distances, even a consideration on forgiving trail runs!
I found the freedom of the open fitting liberating, and
whilst the flex was limited in the shoes it made them perfect for runs where a
slow and controlled stride was preferred.
In terms of analogy at this point (for me) they were my
Combi van; PERFECT for weekend holidays to the beach, but I would never enter a
Formula One race in them.
“You say; One love, One life, When it's one need, In the night. It's one love, We get to share it, It leaves you baby, If you don't care for it” U2
The only REAL problem with these shoes comes for me now.
Whilst coming off a marathon and running slowly, rarely and
purely for the joy of socialising and floating these shoes filled a much needed
hole amongst a wardrobe literally FULL of minimal, flexible and ‘barely there’
racing shoes.
They allowed me to run, recover from injury (when I had the
good sense to wear decent socks) and kept me safe and smiling.
But then I started to become stronger, fitter and faster.
“One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do, Two can be as bad as one, It's the loneliest number since the number one.” Three Dog Night
Suddenly the Combi began to become dusty, in favour of the Ferraris I preferred to take out the garage, and the Altra’s began to feel more like gumboots.
“1, here comes the 2 to the 3 to the 4, Everybody drunk out on the dance floor, Babygirl ass jiggle like she want more,Like she a groupie and I aint even on tour.” J-Kwon
But that’s the nature of our sport right? There will always been a need for those shoes in our wardrobe that make us feel like ‘The Flash’.
But we can’t run every run like that. There has to be a
time, and a shoe, for those runs that are slower…otherwise it’s probably best
you update your health insurance.
So in short, the Altra’s have so many great features:
PROS:
- The Option of a Ninja Turtle Green colouring
- The freedom of an open Toe-box
- A smooth uninterrupted ride from heel to forefoot if
required, whilst promoting mid foot striking
- Lightweight, yet still comforting and well structured.
CONS:
- Ridiculously long laces (are we expecting to break out of
prison Altra?!)
- Can feel cumbersome at times (at the cost of structure is
this really a con?)
Summation:
Say what you will about these shoes, but like a good remix
or Ipod Playlist, the Altra ‘One’ takes elements
from the minimalist camp, as
well as the traditional structured trainer to create a pleasantly happy medium.
Whilst they won’t collectively blow the mind of everyone in
the community, they will garner a heap of praise, make some lifelong friends,
turn some heads, strip some heels, and share some awesome running journeys.
My advice, give them a try – take them for a spin! They
might complement your shoe collection well…
…Probably better than those acid-wash cutoffs in fact!
