The hunt for the perfect shoe... Salomon Sense

It's been aeons since I last blogged. 6 months to be exact. Mainly cos I didn't feel like talking about my "performance" in Singapore Aviva IM70.3 since I didn't exactly make it in the official swim cut off of 1 hour 10mins. Although I am satisfied that I did finish it below 8 hours.  7 hours 48 mins to be exact.  The run was the only card I had left since my swim sucks and my biking is dismal.

Anyhow this post is about the new Salomon Sense that I just bought and received yesterday.

I ordered them from www.racingtheplanet.com at USD195, got a discount as I'm a participant of Sabah Ultra: TMBT 2012 but in the end that discount amount was replaced by the cost of speedy shipping at USD30 as I wanted them delivered FAST.  Otherwise you only pay USD10 for standard shipping. Ordered on saturday. Delivered to malaysia on tuesday. But our customs held it back and as soon as I received the official letter from customs on saturday to go to Sepang and collect, I went. Had to pay another RM61.85 for the release. So yeah, in total it cost me about RM709.85 for this shoe alone.

In my previous three ultras, I had worn the Asics Kayano 16 for my first ultra, Sundown Ultra 2011 which gave me bad ass blisters this big.

Since then I have stopped wearing cushioned shoes and switched to the VFF and the NB Minimus MT10 (vibram soles). I wore the Minimus for the Sabah Ultra: TMBT 2011 and it really really really hurt alot on gravel.   I then bought a North Face Cyprus (also vibram soles) for the Vibram Hong Kong Ultra.  Those shoes helped me run better than the Minimus but it feels really hard when the terrain switches to tar road since it's primarily a hiking shoe.

Therefore, in anticipation of more gravel in Sabah Ultra: TMBT 2012's edition, I decided to hunt for yet another shoe.  I read about the Salomon Sense in Jeri's blog,  http://fatbirdgoesultra.blogspot.com/2012/07/salomon-sense-review.html and http://ultra168.com/tag/salomon-sense/  Watched the review on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF1pv1Bgtpo.  There and then I decided to give it a try.    I CANNOT wear cushioned shoes anymore, cos even when I tried to wear the Newtons for my runs lately,  the blisters came back.

Took the Salomon Sense's out for a run in FRIM this morning and goshhh. I was completely bowled over. Firstly, it's really soft and it didn't feel like I even needed to break in the shoe. It's also super duper blooper LIGHT, (210grams) I kid you not. Secondly, it fits like a glove even without socks.  And most importantly,  I didn't feel the edges of rocks, pebbles and gravel.  The protection is just right albeit being a minimalist trail shoe.   These have got to be the best Salomons they have produced thus far.

From left to right:  the NorthFace Cyprus, the NB Minimus MT10 and the new Salomon Sense.

Now. Salomons have been around for some time, but I never bought them as the other models have cushioning (which I am avoiding) and the heels are high.   I prefer the heels of my shoes to be as low as possible particularly when running trails as they make me feel more stable.   Have a look at the pic above.  The heel of the NorthFace Cyprus is still quite thick and high.  The heel of the Minimus is low.  Now the Salomon Sense's heels are abit higher than the Minimus but still less thick than the NorthFace Cyprus.

Okie don't get me wrong.  If you're running on terrain that is mostly earth, then the Minimus feels great.  I LOVE wearing them when I run in Kiara particularly running down that spiralling trail which leads to the Mont Kiara lookout point.  (I think you call it Magic Carpet?).   On tuesday this raya week, I wore the NorthFace Cyprus to Gunung Nuang and FRIM on the same day, (yeah trying my best to shove in as much training as possible),  they can handle the gravel but it rained so heavily that day, the shoes became heavy to run in. Plus the clay-like terrain made me skate in them in the rain.

I haven't run in heavy rain with the Sense yet. Let's see if it rains this weekend, then I can test them out. I did find them abit soggy from this morning's run and they're still wet right now since I sweat a tad too much. But for now, they feel really really adequate to tackle this kind of gravel and keep me going.

It's quite surprising since the sole isn't as fierce as the Speedcross's soles are. In fact, they look pretty normal to me.  

I felt quite stable and agile when I was running down the other side of the mountain bike terrain. My toes weren't hitting the front of the shoe. And just to be sure, I ran up and down that mountain bike terrain loop 3 times just to be sure that the grip feels just right and it does. So I know I won't be getting more black toe nails from this one. 

A forewarning first though.  Before you immediately click and purchase the Salomon Sense, note that

1. The front of the shoes are narrow.  If you're the type who needs a 2E or 4E or mak-kwai E, then it's going to cramp your toes.
2. As with all other minimalist shoes, you need to be fore front landing. If you are still heel striking, this shoe is not for you.
3. As with all racer shoes, there's a paragraph in this review http://ultra168.com/2012/06/18/gear-review-salomon-sense/  which says:

"Well, unless you are Kilian and can run a 100 mile trail race in around 15 hours, then this shoe would be ideal up to 100kms or around 12 hours of wear time. Why do I say that  ? Well I think as you run through the day and into the night during a 100 miler, comfort starts to take over from performance in my view, and with such a low heel drop and a super light weight construction, this must take its toll over the hours ?"

Essentially it means, they're not going to last long. But I'll take my chances.