Gear Reviews

There are some things in life that I’m convinced are so great they deserve their own blog post. For some chics it’s those delicious Lululemon shorts, for me it’s my New Balance Minimus trail runners (which, oddly enough, costs the same price as those Lulu spanky shorts that barely cover my bum.)

It was feet love at first feel. They are so LIGHT it’s like I’m not wearing shoes. (If only I could find a sports bra of the same caliber.) After a month of raving about them, Ryan was enticed to try a pair. He liked them so much, he wore them (and this is no exaggeration) every day for 3 months straight. Let me break it down: we wore our Minimus for sweat- inducing activities like CrossFit WODs, trailing running the canyons of Moab, and walking in the rain in the North Cascade National Park. Sweaty feet make for something fierce-smelling. I found Funky Town, it’s in my Minimus.

So when the kind folks at Nikwax heard of my first world girl problems via twitter, they sent me a sample care kit of washes to test out, one of which was a much-needed Sandal Wash. And I was, like, “Game on!”

Special thanks for "Prof. Nikwax" for sending over some Nikwax samples.

So I got to washing. The Pro’s:
- The Sandal Wash came with a spongey brush applicator so I didn’t have to fuss with scrubbers unless needed
- It smells good like a clean hint-of-lemon scent.
- It’s got just the right amount of lather that rinses off easily.
- The applicator wasn’t abrasive so the mesh material on my Minimus wasn’t destroyed.

The only con was that at the end of washing 4 shoes, I nearly destroyed the sponge applicator. It’s no biggie since the solution still dispenses and I have other brushes that are just as useful.

Aye, but DOES IT WORK??! You tell me:

As for the smell, let’s just say I stuck my nose WAAAY in that shoe and didn’t vomit from the smell so, yeah, I’m a fan. It’s like I’m wearing a new pair of Minimus and now I can get back to doing more:

Box Jumps!

CrossFit WODs with a mix of lifting and running:

Trail running and playing outside!

Go up some Class 3 scrambles!

Want to get the stench out of YOUR CrossFit shoes? (I know, I know… it doesn’t smell “bad,” it smells “Elite!”) Well, I’m so happy from my practically-new-so-I-can-save-my-moola-for-gas-to-go-snowboarding-instead NB Minimus that…

I’m GIVING AWAY a full size bottle of Nikwax Sandal Wash. Enter by dropping a comment below so you, too, can have WOD shoes that don’t smell like something died in it. Winner will be chosen on Monday, Oct 31 (because a contest giveaway is something I could look forward to on a Monday, in addition to Halloween candy.) And will be chosen by a random number generator (cause I’m fair like that.) Sorry but this contest is open to continental U.S. residents only because mailing a liquid through customs could be a PITA.

So, CrossFit has a way of intermingling barbell lifts with sprints, box jumps, burpees, and double unders.

And herein lies my problem with that: I can’t lift in running shoes and I can’t run/jump in my weighlifting shoes! Trying to do double unders in weighlifting shoes is not cool, man, not cool.

Enter my new CrossFit kicks: the new 2010 Vibram Five Finger Bikilas!

They are SOOO goofy-looking, I know! But, my husband swears by his pair of Vibram KSO’s. (He also swears by the power of CrossFit and is the one person I credit for getting me into CrossFit, so I tend to trust his opinion.)

These Five Fingers have no soles and tread measuring only 2mm-4mm thick. It’s basically like running/lifting barefoot but with some rubber protection under your feet. I needed the smallest size of these that Vibram produces so OF COURSE it was hard to locate a pair. I almost gave up. Then earlier this week, I came home to these all propped up on the counter:

For WODs like Linda or CrossFit Total, I’ll use only my weighlifting shoes. But for WOD’s with jumping around, burpees, and some barbell lifts, I’ll use my Bikilas. Even though these are Vibram’s premier barefoot running “shoe,” I’ll probably stick to my cush Saucony’s for running miles. The tread on the bottom is pretty cool, though. It’s slightly thicker around the balls of the foot, kind of a like a pod. It makes you want to rock back and forth just on the balls of the foot. I read that it’s like that so as to promote landing on the balls of the foot, as opposed to heel-striking.

Now that Ryan and I match, I’m sure we’ll get DOUBLE the questions regarding these “shoes.” We can’t walk from the gym back to our apartment without at least one question about it. Add to that the fact that mine are bright pink and orange! Oh, well. They’re just as funny looking as walking in 4″ stilettos, but way more functional.

How To Get The Stench Out Of Your Kicks

My New CrossFit Kicks

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