Running shoes

[ooeei]

You could always make huaraches.  Basically running sandals. 

One thing to be careful with minimalist shoes in general is to start slow.  That's one reason barefoot running is good, your skin on the bottom of your feet will hurt before you injure yourself.  It's sort of a self limiter. Look around online for advice on how much to run per session starting out if you're wearing shoes.  With shoes like vibrams you don't have that limiting factor, so some people go out and run 4 miles their first time wearing them.  Had a friend who did that and got a stress fracture, he was in a brace for a month or two, blamed it on the shoes.

[big_owl]

I'm a little torn on the concept of forefoot strike running.  History's most successful of all two-legged walkers/runner are, of course, theropod dinosaurs - now birds.  They have a digitigrade stance and their foot looks nothing like our plantigrade feet.  Later, more advanced theropods had an even more advanced condition known as arctometatarsalia where the metatarsals were laterally compressed.  They certainly don't have a heel like us. 

I suspect humans are/were in the early evolutionary transition period between plantigrade and digitigrade.  If we continued to evolve like bushmen then we probably would have gone down a different path, though I have no idea how our feet would evolve now given the changes in evolutionary pressures in the past couple hundred years.

This of course has nothing to do with running shoes but is still interesting.  I like forefoot running for short distances because it makes me feel more like a fast predatory dinosaur hunting down prey.  But I got this big old heavy heel hanging out there slowing me down just waiting to be used...it's such a temptation.

[The Happy Philosopher]

I did spend $100 on my last pair of running shoes, but they have lasted me two years.  I don't run high mileage though, maybe 10-12 miles a week on average.

My rule is to run on my shoes until something either hurts or my feet start feeling more tired. I know people that count miles and such but I'm way to lazy for that!

Shoes can last quite a while at 10-12 miles a week, and in my experience the more expensive shoes just last longer - especially the trail shoes.

I  have heard some say that you should stop running on shoes after a year or so because the elastic properties change over time - don't know if this is true or not.

Also as someone mentioned, they make good regular shoes after they have lost their usefulness for running. I always have 2 or 3 "retired" running shoes lying around. I even have a specific  pair that I use for mowing the lawn that are very grass stained and horrible looking.

After they have outlived any usefulness call your local running store to see if they recycle them :)

[onlykelsey]

I'd recommend starting with a minimalist-leaning shoe, especially if you're brand new to running, and then phase in barefoot or more barefoot-style running as you go.  I used to be a pretty serious 50+ mile a week runner, and I would recommend last season's Saucony Kinvara or something in that direction to start.  If you don't mind ridiculous colors, you can get them for 40 bucks.  If you're transitioning from traditional running, or wear dress shoes generally, it will be a rough enough start.  I wouldn't start up with anything less minimalistic.

If you do go more minimalist later, I've had great luck with NB100 (they have several diferent versions), again quite cheap online.  But the last thing you want to do is cut your running career short before it starts.  I'd take a close look at what your foot is used to now (do you wear hard-soled shoes mostly?) and just go a step or two below that to start.

[EOS]

Recommended reading for minimal/barefoot running - Born To Run by Christopher McDougall

[MonkeyJenga]

I'll need to replace my sneakers sometime this year, so I'm posting here as a reference for myself.

(But MJ, why don't you just save the page as a bookmark and come back to it then? Well, if I could be that disciplined with bookmarks, I would be a very fancy person who didn't have hundreds of bookmarks scattered across my laptop and phone, and life would be glorious.)