My love affair with the Altra shoes
began a little over a year ago. When I
first came across this shoe, I was intrigued to say the least. It looked like a shoe should look like. It was natural, and sleek, and looked ready
for competition. The heel had been
shaved off, and the toe box widened. It
looked like minimal shoe, but not. It
had been a while since I saw a shoe that begged to be ran in. This shoe was obviously a runner’s shoe. Or was it?
After slipping the shoe on and experiencing the wide toe box (I can
finally wiggle my toes!) and the zero toe drop feel, I decided these shoes were
built for much more than just running!
I laced
these shoes up, just the way I liked it-a runners knot at the top, and threw on
my headphones. At the time, I was living
in Charleston, South Carolina, and it was a hot and humid night, so I decided
to go sock-less. As I began the six mile
run across the bridge, I couldn't help, but to notice the responsiveness. For having zero toe drop, there was a
surprising amount of cushion and responsiveness. I found it interesting how the shoe felt like
it was promoting a mid-foot strike. I
found myself running more efficiently from the first mile, though the very last. It’s an amazing feeling to feel so free while
running! I wanted to wear these shoes
all the time afterwards. In fact, that’s
exactly what I did. I wore them during
12 hour shifts at the hospital, I wore them while working at the local running
store, and I wore them for runs of every distance. The Provision quickly became my marathon
training shoe, and the shoe I wore for two marathons that year.
I had
spent hundreds of miles running in the Provisions, but was even more impressed
by the 3SUM. They were super
lightweight, flashy, and fast! I could
even use the insert from the Provision in them.
Track workouts became breeze, and for the first time ever, I could feel
comfortable taking them into the gym for leg work outs. Squats felt more natural, box jumps felt
safer, and they had superior performance when flipping tires. I quickly realized these were the most versatile
shoes I ever owned. Not only were they
designed for triathlons, but could withstand a beating in the gym, and out on
the track!
That
wasn't the end of these amazing shoes though. In May, I moved to Washington
State for the fire academy. Every
morning we were required to attend physical fitness for an hour. Of course the 3SUM was my shoe of
choice! They had no problem in the cross
fit style PT, and the five mile, hilly runs.
Traditional lace-up shoes tend to get in the way when putting on all of
the firefighting gear. I found that the
lacing, and ease of putting them on and taking them off took seconds off of my
time when putting on my gear. In the
fire service seconds is the difference between life and death.
Altras
are not only the most versatile shoe I have worn, but they are designed the way
a shoe should have been. Our toes are
not supposed to be crunched into a narrow toe box, and our bodies are not
designed to run with our heels elevated up to twelve millimeters above the
ground. The shoe takes us back to our
primitive form of running, the way we were designed to run, and provides us with
ultimate protection while on the track or the trails. They are made for speed and efficiency, and
comfort while keeping the human anatomy in mind, something all other shoes have
failed to do These shoes really are limitless.
#zerolimits #rethinkrunning
#zerolimits #rethinkrunning
