A year ago, I stood at the starting type of the Peninsula Athletic League (PAL) Cross-country Championship Finals and watched my daughter run as a Freshman for Hillsdale High. The PAL contain high schools from Aragon, Burlingame, Capuchino, Carlmont, El Camino, Half Moon Bay, Hillsdale, Jefferson, Menlo Atherton, Mills, Oceana, San Mateo, Sequoia, South Bay area, Terra Nova, Westmoor, and Woodside. The two.95 mile CSM/Crystal Spring Cross-country course is how It’s my job to test a lot of minimalist trail running shoes. But tomorrow, I scanned all the athletic shoes the high school girls are wearing and barely see half a dozen minimal shoes. Same for the five races to come. A sprinkling of Saucony Kinvara and something Vibram Five Fingers.
This afternoon, when I watched and took photos in the starting lines of four races, the vast majority these shoes are minimal shoes or cross-country flats. But dominated by Nike Free, Saucony, and New Balance. And that i was surprised to locate a few girls wearing Newton Distance. No Vibram Five Fingers around the corner. Although an unscientific observation, I’m glad more and much more high school kids are transitioning to minimalist athletic shoes before further harm to their body. My daughter started wearing minimal shoes this past year and raced in the Adidas adipure Gazelle. Her shoe rotation includes the adipure Motion and SKORA BASE.
Knock on wood, my daughter have not had any running related injuries since she started wearing minimal shoes for training and racing. A few of her team mates have various form of foot and ankle injuries this season. But I’m trying my favorite to convince these to changing their shoes and running form for sustainable running. The mother and father may be convinced but the kids have to take the initiative to change.
As for the Freshman/Sophomore races, both winners wore Asics minimal shoes. Freshman Zoe Barrie from Aragon High clocked in at 20:01 in her NB XC 900. The boy’s winner, Sophomore Michael Berket from Carlmont clocked in at 17:15 in the NB RC 5000. Maybe minimalist athletic shoes are finally replacing traditional heeled athletic shoes and results are starting to show. Most significantly, so long as the children run free of injuries, parents and coaches is going to be super happy. A minimum of I am. Onto Track & Field season next where minimalism has barely started but that’s another challenge…
For detailed reviews of minimalist shoes, check out Minimalist Athletic shoes for all shoes that we have wear tested.