Minimus Vs. Zems

These are too tight with a thicker sock now that the colder weather has arrived. Time to say goodbye to the Minimus until next spring. This caused a bit of panic as I didn't want to go back to the old running shoes. I did that last year and found I reverted back to my old stride when it came time to change shoes in the Spring.

These are the zems from last year. Not impressed that the bottoms wore through after a few outside runs. These were made to be used in the sand so I shouldn't have been surprised.

Here is the newer running version. It accomodated a thicker sock without any discomfort. The bottom has a durable rubber so I took them for a run....



..and HOLY GEEZ WOW these are great! The tops provide much more freedom and this led to an all together better running experience. I did not realize how confined my feet were until wearing these. Zems are not going to cut it when the weather gets even colder but for now I am having much fun discovering the freedom of movement again!

Note: I have feet that get cold easily. Some of you more hearty footed people may not have to switch footwear for awhile yet. Especially Bob as I expect he will be running 'naked' until Decemer!

Zemgear footwear review

It has now been two weeks of wearing the Zemgear footwear, also know as booties. I have very much enjoyed them as it is nice to find an alternative to regular shoes, especially for working in. Over the past two weeks I have worn my zem’s for errands, going to the gym, working and of course outdoor running. These have been the closest and most natural experience to being barefoot I have found yet, giving me a really great feel of the ground, whatever surface I have been on as they are light and feel like they are not quite there. These surfaces include tile, hardwood, laminate, vinyl, treadmill, concrete, asphalt, gravel, grass, and dirt.

The flexibility of these booties is suppler than I have worn in previous minimalist footwear. The bands give a great fit to your foot, whether you have a narrow or a wide foot, they will conform to you. Which leads me to the obvious, there is no support, but that is just what I’m going for in my footwear these days. The grip of the sole has been efficient so far, I have not found then to be slippery on any particular surface yet, although mud is always slippery after a rain, and it is not here yet, but snow and ice will be here soon. They breathe well and wash very well, and they take a day to air dry. I did find that with their breathe ability it can be cold. With the split toe I have been wearing my toe socks in them because of the wind. Out on a long run I found that I did get a bit cold, but we are looking at a temperature of -4C, so I was expecting that. I am looking forward to an order of the round toe where I can use my thermal socks for those cool temperatures.

In total there are 7 styles to choose from. An ankle high version in either a split toe or a round toe, a crew sock height in either a split toe or a round toe, an indoor pair which is a split toe in the lower ankle height, a comfort pair which come down on the foot lower and provide a more sandal look, as well as a junior style which comes in a rounded toe. Currently I have been wearing the split toe original Zem bootie. There is also a variety of colors for the tech bands, pink, aqua, silver, dove blue, and of course black. From their website they sell for a reasonable $29.90 US.

Being a hairstylist I find that it is not really practical to cut hair while I’m barefoot. As much as I enjoy being without footwear, especially inside, I do not enjoy digging out hair slivers from the bottom of my feet. Yes, they hurt, and they are difficult to get to. I have been having a problem this season finding appropriate work footwear for my ever changing feet, but no longer. The Zem booties are perfect, as they look like a shoe, will protect my feet from the hair, and they seem to wash well. I would recommend these as well for indoor use where someone might like a slipper, those of us who get cold feet.
Just a bit of back ground on my feet, shoe sizing has always been a problem for me as I have a long and very narrow foot. Then there is the ever changing nature of my feet which is something else entirely. Mostly the changing feet evolved around the time of my children, and many things happened. At the end of each pregnancy I found my feet had changed and I was required to find new footwear again, but nothing as drastic as to what has happened over this past year of using minimalist shoes. My hammer toes have been correcting themselves! I now have straighter toes, which is how it is suppose to be, although it leaves me with the issue of once again realizing that my foot now has a new size, again. This is where I had the problem of finding a shoe for work that 1. Was not a heal 2. Was long enough 3. Was minimalist 4. Looked great 5. Was narrow enough. Now I have found it in the Zem bootie! It really is quite exciting for me as it is not every day you’ll find a triple A or even a double A on the shelf of a shoe store. A friend of mine who has a triple E width tried them on as well and was very surprised to find that the bootie did not cut into her foot, as she has the opposite problem as I do in finding footwear. The tech bands are very nice to both the narrow as well as the wide foot.

With all this back ground on my changing feet I must mention that I have been trying a pair that are a bit small, but am waiting for my order to arrive for my next larger pair. With this pair I do feel the seam under my heal and have noticed that I have stressed the seam where the sole meets the upper, and after a long run Sunday morning found I had caused a hole here. I have very much been enjoying the booties and decided that with the stretch material it would be fine to take them out finally on an outdoor long run, as I had been keeping them to indoor use and shorter runs outdoors. Even with a hole in them at the stress point where the seam sits under my foot, they washed up very nicely.

I have really enjoyed my Zem booties and am very much looking forward to my next order to arrive; I will need some new colors for work this season! Of course there is also the snow and ice to try them out on.

Nicole

Nuu-Muu Review

 I like pretty things.  Pretty running things.  Well, up until recently just pretty running skirts.  Shorts have a tendency to bunch up in an area you don't want them to. Skirts are nearly perfect except they don't do anything to hide the belly area if the shirt rides up which tends to happen to me, especially when wearing a backpack.

 I contacted Christine, Founder and Creative Director and Enid, Designer and Maker of Magic at Nuu-Muu.com  and they sent me one to try out for Vulture Bait.  It arrived a few days prior to my departure date and I confess to wearing it constantly before even running in it because it is that comfortable and cute.  Luckily I remembered to wash it in time and throw it in the suitcase  on my way to London, Ontario for the race.  The dress came out  of the suitcase wrinkle free and on race day I wore it over a long sleeve technical shirt as it was  a chilly 3C in the early part of the morning.

The dress is an A-Line design made from a polyester and spandex blend  and fits true to size. I suspect there aren't too many  running dresses around even in Ontario as I had quite a few runners ask me about it ( now I know how Bob feels).  I am happy to report the dress did not ride up at all during my run and remained comfortable throughout. Unfortunately I did not get to test the dress to its potential as I decided ahead of time to only run 1/4 of the race due to  having a bout of pneumonia.  However, I did manage one good wipe out on the course.  The dress was unscathed, although my knee was not. I found the dress to be the right length and plan to wear short spankies underneath when running in warmer weather.  This leads to another bonus of wearing a dress for us trail  distance runners who need to use the ahem,  washroom from time to time when there is none around.  I won't go into detail for our more sensitive readers.  Lets just say it will be much easier to manage these awkward situations in a dress.

 I have never seen these dresses before, there are a a variety of patterns to choose from and yet I came across another runner wearing the exact same dress!    We had both heard rumours of   someone else wearing "our" dress but we only spotted each other after the race.  Maryka ordered hers at the beginning of the summer and  says she has worn it to every race since receiving it.  I believe she recently finished a 100 miler.  You can't tell by the photo  but she has mud on her pants and dried mud (in true Vulture Bait fashion) all up the side of one arm and again her dress has come out unscathed.  She said she bought hers because she doesn't like her belly showing either.   I have a feeling we're going to see a lot more of these dresses in the future.

 I love the dress.  I knew I would.  Thanks Christine and Enid.  Happy Trails!