Super thin shoes!

Morning all.

I'm looking for a pair of lightweight running shoes which will basically protect the soles of my feet from the pavement.

I find I run better and suffer fewer aches and pains when I run with nothing on my feet, but need something with a thin sole to protect my delicate toes!

I'm not keen on vibrams, just a pair of ordinary shoes with a very thin sole.

Any recommendations?

I've just bought a pair of Merrell Trail Gloves, which are really thin, flexible, ultra lightweight, but have a bit of tread on them if you ever want to head off the pavement and onto trails.

I really like them, particularly that they are suitable for different surfaces. Recommended.

RR, the Trail Gloves are pretty unforgiving, so I'm being really careful about distances.  I've looked at the True Gloves, and beneath all the talk about "all-terrain" suitability, I'm not really sure how they differ from the Trail Glove!

EDIT: having looked around a bit more, it sems like Merrell says the True Glove is an all purpose shoe, so walking, running, lifestyle. I think the Trail Glove is their specialist running shoe in the range

Adam Binnie wrote (see)

I'm not keen on vibrams, just a pair of ordinary shoes with a very thin sole.

Any recommendations?

Thanks everyone there are lots of shoes here for me to have a look at!

paulj48 wrote (see)

Adam Binnie wrote (see)

I'm not keen on vibrams, just a pair of ordinary shoes with a very thin sole.

Any recommendations?

How about old fashined plimsols? probably cost you less than £10 as well.

That's an interesting though, there are lots on the net for under a tenner...

Toni Malone 2 wrote (see)

how about a pair of socks?

I have done a fair bit of road running in a thick pair of socks and found it to be the most comforable running I've ever done. The problem comes when I go "off-road" such as a 10k I ran on the weekend which was all on rocky footpaths.

New Balance has just released it's new Minimus range which I've heard good things about. It's worth looking on their site (the US one though, they haven't been released in the UK yet for some annoying reason). The MT10 looks more like a aqua sock than a shoe and it's in orange so it'll make you look faster. Although they do come with a price tag.

 I've recently bought a pair of plimsoles. Works a treat.

I was holding out for the NB Minimus, but just got bored of waiting as well! My new shoe fix couldn't wait.... but they are doing road and trail versions so might be a good option when they are out.

The Saucony Hattori looks like being ultra lightweight, with zero heel drop as well, but again that's not out for a couple of months. There was a thread on this forum a couple of weeks ago, which Saucony gave some more info on.. worth having a look.

The trouble with saucony is that what they call a shoe with minimal padding still tends to be pretty supportive. I have a pair of Saucony fastswitches which are their racing flat but they still had something like a 14 mm drop from heel to toe.

I took a kitchen knife to the heel though and now they're pretty decent. running a marathon in them in 3 weeks.

Robert Crussell wrote (see)

The trouble with saucony is that what they call a shoe with minimal padding still tends to be pretty supportive. I have a pair of Saucony fastswitches which are their racing flat but they still had something like a 14 mm drop from heel to toe.

I took a kitchen knife to the heel though and now they're pretty decent. running a marathon in them in 3 weeks.

DoogieHowserMD wrote (see)

Hi Robert, to be fair, the Hattoris do look genuinely minimal... 0mm drop , and the upper looks like a sock!

I've just looked at them and you're right they do look good. When did they come out?

Sadly I have a feeling that my local runner's need won't be stocking them. The manager is strictly anti-minimalist and makes a point of reminding me every time i need to pop in!

Agree about the Terra Plana Neo being great but my new shoe of choice is the Terra Plana Ultra!

Best shoe I have ever had the pleasure to run in.

Robert Crussell wrote (see)

DoogieHowserMD wrote (see)

Hi Robert, to be fair, the Hattoris do look genuinely minimal... 0mm drop , and the upper looks like a sock!

I've just looked at them and you're right they do look good. When did they come out?

Sadly I have a feeling that my local runner's need won't be stocking them. The manager is strictly anti-minimalist and makes a point of reminding me every time i need to pop in!

Robert,

Mr Saucony said the following whe I asked about the Hattoris.

"The Hattori are due in around the third week of June, although we did have an early delivery available on our London Marathon expo stand (and they were our top seller!)."

Interesting attitude from the Runner's Need manager. Fairly bold to rule out a whole potential customer base (which might be small at the mo, but looks likely to grow fast). The one near me (Camden) sells 5 Fingers, so obviously the anti minimalist view isn't company policy!

Camden is my local too! I've seen the five fingers there aswell but other than that the most minimal shoe is a racing flat. The VFF is a big seller though so I'd be surprised if most places didn't stock it.

I might look into a pair of the Hattori if the NB don't make their UK appearance soon. 

It's tipping it down outisde and I'm meant to seeing barefoot Ted give a talk later. Nothing like an hours walk in the rain to focus the mind!