I'm Free, Baby...

I should mention at the beginning of this post that I have a love/hate relationship with Nike. Nike reminds me of a guy I went to college with. While I wouldn't normally mention names, Tim Jones is hardly Google-able. Anyway, I hated Tim Jones. Why? A. He was handsome. Gorgeous handsome. Like, make me think-gay-might-not-be-the-worst-thing handsome. B. He was captain of the soccer team.... leading scorer on a team that won the national championship, mind you.

So, he had it all going for him. Needless to say, I HATED him muchly. And then one day I had to train him to be a DJ at the campus radio station. Guess what? He was one of the nicest SOB's I ever meant. Try as I might, I couldn't hate him anymore.

That's how I feel about Nike. I hate the cult. I hate the cache. I hate the fact that their shoes cost four dollars to make and cost $100. But here's the thing: Some of their stuff is really good. When I take business trips to Chicago, I almost always allow time to swing through Niketown. For clothing. See, shoe-wise I don't run in Nikes. I'm an Asics guy on the roads and an Inov-8 guy on the trails.

That being said, I've been curious about the "Nike Free" concept - minimalist shoes that train your feet to work like they should. Problem was, I couldn't justify spending $80 on a brand that I hate. Particularly for a shoe engineered specifically to "do nothing." I work in marketing, mind you, but I'm not a moron. But then my buddy Dave scoped some out at a close-out rack in York for $39.99.

I can justify $40 for pretty much anything.

I've been in them two weeks now. I don't have the guts to run in them much, though I have been wearing them for up to two miles during my runs w/ Allie. Also, I wear them pretty much all the time when I'm not running. It's a very interesting concept. I can tell my feet and legs are working harder - getting stronger from actually bending and stretching, as the Nike Free is designed to make them do.

Dammit, Nike. Must you torment me so?

Comments

  1. Bill9:26 AM

    I've also heard suggestions to wear racing flats since a lot of those have pretty minimal structure/padding.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Marcy6:10 PM

    I *heart* Nike and like you I want to barf all over myself every time I hit "confirm order" at Nike.com. That stuff racks up REALLY fast. But I know it works and I like it so I keep coming back. I mean couldn't they AT LEAST give a homegirl a coupon code for free shipping or something? Gawwwdd.

    Which Free ones are you using? Don't they number them? Like 10 being the most supportive down to 0 which is like wearing nothing . . or something like that? I'd probably be scared to run in those babies hehe

    ReplyDelete
  3. Run For Life11:23 PM

    I agree with the love/hate Nike dilemma!

    I'm with you on the shoes. I've tried about 5 pairs at the Nike Runner's Lounge and they just don't work for me besides brief runs. I haven't tried the Nike Free at all.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Unknown5:45 AM

    Thanks for the comments. I'm in the 5.0's currently and am annoyed that I like them so much. :)

    ReplyDelete

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