Skora Phase

It's that time of the year again for shoe testing!  I am getting 3 pairs of minimalist runnings shoes to try out from FITNESS magazine, and the first pair has arrived!  They are Skora Phase, which is due to come out in February next year.  The colorway I got is this deep purple, with yellow and blue sole.

So I like the look of these, and think the purple color is great.  I don't normally like this lime yellowish color, but I don't really mind them on the sole since you can't really see.  I am normally a size 6 or 6.5 in normal shoes and size up to a 7 in workout shoes to allow room for some swelling.  So these shoes came in size 7 as well.  But they actually fit very large and I have a good half an inch of extra room.  I wish I could have got them in a size 6.5.  However, the cup of the heel fits very tightly on top, so it digs into my feet.  I took these out on a 3 mile run with Whiskey the other day, and near the end of it my heel was very uncomfortable.  I knew it was going to be the case as soon as I put these shoes on actually.  That's why I wore my thick and higher Lululemon Ultimate running socks, thinking that the socks would serve as a layer and lessen the rubbing.  But my feet were still kind of red and raw afterwards.

That aside, the shoes have a nice feel to them.  They kind of remind me of my New Balance Minimus Road shoes, since they are both zero drop and very light.  These shoes weigh only 5.8 oz.  The material is very soft and flexible, and feels like rubber.  The sole has pretty good grip, they actually feel like track or trail shoes.  And before the heel cup really started bothering me, I was running pretty well in them.  I hope that it is an issue that will go away when I wear them in a bit.  Otherwise I guess these shoes will be weight training shoes for me.  We'll see!