Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best Selling in Athletic Shoes
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If you're not familiar with the Nike Free 5.0, you might want to be - depending on how you run. If you run a lot on the balls of your feet, these might be your best shoe. It's like wearing a heavy sock instead of a shoe. I believe it's based on a concept Nike called "barefoot running", where the heel doesn't want to touch the ground, and the foot is actually acting as a spring and shock absorber for the whole body. Sprinters would for sure run this way, but a lot of people hit the ground hard with their heels when they run. In that case you probably want a shoe with lots of cushioning and structure in the heel, which is not the Nike Free 5.0. The feel of wearing the shoe is absolutely amazing – depending on what you like. It feels sort of like a shoe, but allows the bottom of the foot to flex naturally, since the bottom of the shoe can easily flex in almost any direction. Even the top of the shoe reminds me of wearing a sock. This is almost the exact opposite of practically every other shoe out there. Something I don't get with Nike marketing is the number of different shoes they've made in the past that are not really like these shoes, but are still called Nike Free 5.0. A good example is the "new" Nike Free 5.0 which is so different from my version, it should be called a different shoe. There is one problem with the shoe. Because of the way they’re designed, they flex a lot – which is not the problem. The problem is they literally gobble up fine and very fine gravel in the groove flex channels. If you’re walking or running where there is a lot of small gravel or debris, expect to get stuff caught in the bottom of the shoe. If gravel doesn’t get cleaned out, it wears into the shoe and wears the bottom of the shoe prematurely. It’s easy to overlook this if you don’t check. I clean out the grooves with a very small flat-head screwdriver. The main benefit of the shoes is that even just walking in them feels like your foot is getting exercised. Not everyone will like this. I own three pairs of the shoes. The first pair I bought for running, but I ended up liking them so much, I wear them anytime I can when leaving the house. Read full review
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