Minimalist shoes from Merrell: Product review

For almost a year, I've been doing all my trail walks and hikes with my trusty pair of Teva sandals. They worked really well for walking, but lately I've been wanting to get back to running. I wore my old Nike trail runners on my last run and was shocked by how heavy and stiff they felt compared to my sandals.

Enter, the Merrell Pace Glove shoe. It is a minimal almost-barefoot trail running shoe with a Vibram sole. The footprint is narrow and tiny, with deep grooves on the sole. The foot bed feels even thinner than my sandals, and is more flexible too. Is that possible?! The toe box is roomy enough for slightly wide feet. I think the length is just shy of being small, but my size fits me well. Each shoe is about 4oz, making it a really lightweight experience,

Compared to running with traditional thick-soled sneakers, the impact on the body is definitely harder. I do smaller intervals to let my body get used to reduced shock absorption in my shoe. Hopefully, my body will figure out how to run correctly and not let my knees and hips get jarred.

For those of you not ready to go Five-Fingers or real barefoot, the minimal shoes are a great option. Even someone like me, who hates wearing shoes when sandals can be enough, would like wearing these. I'm hoping there is an added advantage that the thin fabric upper will protect me just a little bit more from rattlesnake bites than my sandals would have!

This is the shoe I have, and the best price I found was on Amazon via a 3rd party seller.