Korean Job Discussion Forums

[thomas pars]

Yeah I saw the 225K Won shoes. Crazy. I found out that a Sport Chain called INTERSPORT carries them. They have the strangest locations though. One in Seoul, almost towards the end of Bundang. And then places like, Daegu, Jeonju, Chongju.

Usually, I try something on in the store and then buy it on the internet and have my folks ship it over. The thing is that not all the stores have all the models. And of course they never have the sizes you need. Do Koreans have feet smaller than my little sister?

I'm not going to pay 200+ for a pair of 70 dollar shoes. So untill these things become more popular and available to try on in the stores, I guess I'll have to wait till I can pick up a pair in the States.

[Hyeon In]

If one's really into the minimalist style then there are more options:

(1) No shoes. Like.. no shoes.. at all..

(2) Huaraches. You can make your own. Or try the ones at theinvisibleshoe.com . I've not tried them. They're probably cool.

(3) Softstar running moccasins. This is what I intend to buy one day soon, when I decide to start running again. Right now I swim instead. But when I run again, it's gonna be these bad boys.

(4) Vibram.. fivefingers.. not tried 'em.. and I'm scared of looking weird. I'm weird. I don't need to look further weird. So I didn't try 'em yet. Or ever.

(5) Nike I'm-Cashing-In / Free . The barefoot shoe for the man who can afford to not be barefoot. Or wants to pretend like he's running barefoot, while not doing so. Because that's for peasants. Or sponsored runners.

[PatrickGHBusan]

Tried running with minimalist shoes and did not like it. Been a runner for years and I prefer my Brooks to those minimalist shoes.

A guy on our street uses minimalist shoes this winter (we live in Canada) he had some issues with them. Still, he swears by those shoes. Different people, different preferences I suppose!

[CanadaSteve]

I just bought a pair of the Adidas AdiPure Trainers. Reviews on birthdayshoes.com and other sites were solid. They are comfortable, but thick-feeling on the sole (not too bad but I don't know how think you want it... these are, I think 10mm). They feel very solid. Flexibility is pretty good.

I don't use these for running, and haven't run outside with them. I use them for the gym, specifically for squats, deadlifts and standing shoulder presses. In these movements, I definitely notice an advantage over other shoes, even the flat-soled shoes out there,

For running I still use a dedicated running shoe, but I'll test out the finger shoes when the weather stabilizes.

Oh, at 109k these won't break the bank

[Patrick Bateman]

[PatrickGHBusan]

[Patrick Bateman]

[PatrickGHBusan]

I try to run one marathon each year at least but with 2 kids, my job and the other projects that fill my life its not always possible. I also found I dislike racing! I far prefer running by myself with some light music. In fact this year I stopped timing my speed by Kilometer and instead just run for a set time or distance; whichever works best for me at that point.

I think for any runner the biggest thing is to find what works for YOU and not try to be like some other runner or to be what a running book tells you what you should be.

I knew a guy in Busan who ran in my area. We crossed paths a few times and exchanged info, chatted. That guy was a performance machine. He timed it all, had a nike pod in his shoe to clock his distance and time, bought all sorts of running gear and so on. It work for him, it would never work for me. I would be that guy you see running with very little running specific gear.

Happy running to you to!!

[12ax7]

It's a craze, I think. I'm not convinced they are all that comfortable. I think the attraction is that they make people feel like they are Kenyan marathon runners without actually having to develop the calluses.

[cdninkorea]

On a related note, I saw a foreign guy on line 6 of the subway on Sunday who was completely barefoot. I asked him about it, and he said he just doesn't like shoes. I expected everyone else on the train to be visibly weirded out by it, but surprisingly no one seemed to notice.

[dory]

I'm a fan of the shoes. Fila's skeletoes are also toe shoes and they also have that barefoot sole that's in the nike frees or adidas chill shoes. If they didn't only come in ugly color schemes, I might've bought a pair.

[The Cosmic Hum]

[PatrickGHBusan]

Cosmic, just curious here but why do you want to use such shoes to run?

Do you find "regular" running shoes to be unconfortable?

There is quite the debate in the running world on shoes right now....it is a micro and irrelevant debate in the grander scheme of things of course but some runners treat it like a religion!

Anyway, having tried those minimalist shoes and a few months (as I said earlier) and not having liked the experience I am curious to find out about why some people swear by these shoes.

Good luck anyway!

[The Cosmic Hum]

[Gorf]

Just don't wear them on the subway and around Seoul like one foreigner I knew... he looked like a huge dingus and made me embarrassed to be seen with him the way all the Koreans laughed at him.