Nike Free 5 gear reviews

I used to be a couch potato two years ago: 6'1" tall, 200lb, 48 years old, flat feet, bad problems with lower back, high blood pressure. On the New Year 2008 I told myself: "get in shape" and started some running. First in some kind of cheap Adidas and then I got to a good running store, had my feet and gait examined and got fitted with NB 767W with some weather protection for the nasty winter in Canada. After a few months of winter running I have learned that a daughter of our good friends, Joanna got leukemia. I got a crazy idea that I will do an olympic triathlon for her on June 22 of the same year. I did some swimming in the past (brest stroke only) and had a cheap $150 road bicycle. I started to do some more swimming, re-fitted my cheap bike with Ultegra components and decent Shimano wheels and started to put some miles. As the winter went away I have changed my NB shoes to ASICS Kayano gel 13. In June I did my first ever triathlon and first ever race of any kind in my life. I did the olympic distance in 3h05m. I was defintely much fitter then 6 months ago and 16lb lighter. Joanna was hanging tough and I decided to run a marathon for her in September 08. It was a bit crazy - from a 200 lb couch potato to marathon in 9 months. All the time from the spring I was running in my ASICS Kayanos. I trained a lot and trimmed my weight down to 174lb and did the Toronto marathon in September 08 in 4h24m. It took me a couple weeks to recuperate somehow after the marathon and start again some training. With my feet still sore I went shopping for new shoes, did some extensive testing and finally settled on NIKE air max moto +6. All the time I had a feeling that both the NB and Kayanos give me too much support for my flat arches resulting in some arch pain and achilles tendon problems. The Air Max Moto was just a cushion shoe - theoreticaly not good for an over-pronator with flat feet, but it felt much better. I had a number of problems with my feet during the first year of my running: pain under the arches, achilles tendon pain, blisters and black nails. Somehow, carfully selected quality shoes did not protect my feet. I did not get much running right after marathon, then was busy at work, then the early winter came in and I have gained a few pounds. Joanna was on a way to full recovery from leukemia :) and did not need more help. But I needed help: I started to gain some weight again so I made a pledge to myself: do half iron in September 2009. I did some running in the winter and building up training in the spring, but contstant pain in my feet was a warning sign, that something is wrong. I kept the running milage down, doing more bike and swimming, but I knew I am not getting ready for HI. The "Chi Running" book helped a bit, but it was still no good. In June 09 I went to a store, just to buy some good walking shoes (my old started to fall appart). Browsing through the shelves I took in my hand Nike Free 5.0 and was just amaized how light they were. I have put them on and ran on the store floor. I decided to make my old Kayanos the new walking shoes and get the Nike Free as an alternate trainer to my Max Mottos. Started to love the Nike Free from the first training. No more arch pain, no more achilles tendon problems and the lower weight made me even faster. No more blisters and no more black nails even on 20 mile runs without socks. They are the only shoes I run in. I did my first HI in September 09 running in Nike Free 5.0 without socks. No blisters, no foot pain, 2h12min for the run. Today I did a 10 miles run in my Nike Free, on the side of a hilly road (we have too much snow anywhere else now). After I came back home I decided to take my dog for a short run. Since there is much snow on the sidewalks and I can not run with a dog on the road, I decided to change the Nike Free to my winter NB 767. I ran for a mile with the dog and came back more tired then after 10 miles in Nike Free. The regular running shoes felt like made of wood and I starteed to feel some pain in my feet again. I know Nike Free saved my feet and my sport. From my experince the soft shoe with a posture running is the safest combination for an injury prone age grouper like myself.

Overall a great shoe, I will never go back to "regular" running shoes again. Hope I can replace these with 3.0s sooner than it took to replace my 7.0s...but that's a good thing.

I wear these for races and low mileage runs.
I had 2.0's that felt more like slippers/bare feet, but they also fell apart quickly. These are still lightweight and flexible, but they will never feel as minimalist. However, they are also still together.

Good trainer overall