On Cloudracer

About a month ago I was at Brown's Shoe Fit Company in Fort Dodge and noticed they had an advertisement for an event called "Third Thursday Fit Night".  The idea is to promote a healthy lifestyle for people n the area by getting them out to run 2-5 miles and provide them with healthy food courtesy of HyVee Drugstore.  When I arrived I was surprised to see a shoe representative there who was willing to let people try the shoes he was selling and take them for a jog to test them out.  This weeks company was On, a Swiss shoe company.

I decided to try the On Cloudracers which are On's closest thing to a minimalist shoe.  I ran 5 miles in them and was very happy with the decision to try them on.  On the bottom of each On shoe they have these cushion supports, that the company has named "clouds."  These provide a cushioned ride where the cloud slips back and propels forward.  You can see them in action on there website here: https://www.on-running.com/en-us.  The shoe was very lightweight and was not overbearing on my fore foot strike.  The company itself markets the Cloudracer as a competition shoe, but for a minimalist runner like myself I could see myself using it to train in.

The price is a little steep at 130 dollars, but the shoe itself seems durable enough to last a while, since all of the impact is distributed onto the clouds, which promote a lighter step, or at least for me it did.  You can buy these shoes in Fort Dodge, IA at Brown's Shoe Fit or order them online.

After I finished my run, my only complaint was that I liked them so much I wanted to buy them, but had recently purchased my New Balance Minimus shoes and could not justify spending another 130 dollars in the same week on shoes.  I would definitely recommend this shoe to anyone.  I have spoken with others who use their shoes as trainers for Cross Fit or just working out in general.  I think the Racer makes an excellent light weight running shoe and would be great for a minimalist/barefoot runner to use as a recovery shoe.