Quote Originally Posted by hatidua View Post
Anyone considering going with a minimalist running shoe should thoroughly research that plan before doing so. A number of runners were over for dinner the other night and the topic of 'barely there' running shoes came up. Although many had adopted the Five Finger shoes early on, all of them have abandoned such shoes and some of the more serious running stores in town will no longer sell anything of that nature due to a larger number of injuries associated with such shoes. What worked for Zola Budd doesn't work for everyone.

Google for the various studies, but here is one to get started with: http://www.runnersworld.com/barefoot...ot-bone-injury
I've been running minimalist for 4 years now. They may not work for everyone, but for some of us they are the only way we can run. In traditional shoes, I could run 2 miles, twice a week. Between runs I had to use ice and Advil for the knee pain.

Up until just recently, I was running 18 miles a week with no pain. That was my weekly minimum, some weeks were 5-6 miles more. I still run minimalist, but I'm training for an event and am doing other things for exercise at the moment. I'll never be a true high mileage runner, there is still pain if I run too much. However, I wouldn't be a runner at all without the minimalist shoes.