Skechers GOrun

I won myself a pair of Skechers GOrun running shoes during the Men Health Shape Night Run recently. I was quite excited when I saw the prize voucher as I have always been curious about the shoes ever since I saw them in the Boston Marathon Expo with Meb Keflezighi.  So, I happily redeemed them last week at 1 Utama Skechers outlet.

The first thing I noticed (and liked) is the smooth internal lining and uppers which makes them look and feel like a pair comfortable walking shoes. They also seems to be pretty wide, compare to most of my racing flats and because of all these, I almost had the idea of getting the female version since the female cut offers a much narrower fit. But after fastening the shoe lace this issue soon disappeared and so I brought home the bright Red pair.

Look and feel - good as leisure shoes too, this will save space for oversea marathons :)

I did a training run on them during the weekend. At first, I wasn't quite used to the ‘rocking’ feeling of the shoes.   But since I am trying out the Skechers for the first time, I just told myself to keep a positive thought until I finished at least couple of runs on them.  But I must admit, I kinda liked the comfortable supporting feeling that came in the form of a soft pressure at the arch of the feet.

The cushioning of the shoes was pretty comfortable. It is a firm and responsive pair of shoes, which to me are important features if you want speed in your racing shoes. In fact, I don’t really like running shoes that are too soft, because I personally find there is a loss of energy between landing and lifting off on softer shoes.

I find lifting off with the ‘rockered' profile in front is pretty neat.

There is this strange feeling during the landing cycle though.  I don't feel my heel touching the ground at any time of the run. The ‘rockered’ sole of the shoes permanently ensures that my heels does not touch the ground. Landing pressures are mostly felt at the mid foot level and effortlessly I can roll forward to the fore foot for a smooth lift off.

The rockered sole stops your heels from touching the ground.

I have ran twice with the GOrun, and it seems to be very pleasant so far.  I am not sure how it will  perform in races and will need to run more on them before I can decide. But meantime, the GOrun will make a good pair of speed training shoes.

And here's a sneak peek on what Meb Keflezighi might be wearing  during the 2012 Olympic Marathon.