Last night I was over at the running store for a clinic on minimalist shoes and running. The local Merrell rep was there with all of his barefoot and minimalist shoes laid out all nice. Warren Greene, brand editor at Runner’s World, more commonly known as the shoe editor, was also there to talk. I was there to cover the event and add some content to my website with the information that was presented.

Turns out no one showed up. So, we all sat around drinking beer and chatting about running, sneakers, the economy, and the minimalist trend, among other things. Not a bad way to spend an evening.

I had forgotten to take some shoe recycle boxes with me last night, left for me by an organization called Reuse Your Shoes. This company, still in it’s infancy, has had tremendous success at collecting and donating gently used shoes to need people around the city of Philadelphia. I am taking one of these boxes over to the running club’s clubhouse tonight and the rest are for my trail race this summer.

Back to the minimalist shoes … I have been eyeballing this New Balance shoe (above) for the past month when the LRS owner first placed it in his storefront window. This afternoon, when I went to pick up my boxes, I decided to slip this shoe on to see how it compared to the Merrell minimalist shoes I had tried on last night. I liked this one much better. My intention is to wear it as my every day shoe. I didn’t even know what the shoe was made for since I hadn’t intended to actually use it to run in.

Curious, I looked it up. Turns out it’s a minimalist trail shoe. Interesting. Actually, it’s a trail racer.

I think that if I were to get a minimalist shoe to RUN in, I would like the one pictured below. It’s the NB 890, a lightweight trainer.

Don’t you just love those unintended purchases? And, who doesn’t love new running shoes! I’ve been wearing the NB 101 around the house all afternoon and it is quite comfy. Perhaps I’ll eventually wear it out on a trail nearby but for now, they’re a pretty decent kick around shoe.