New Primal RunAmocs Put to the Test in Canada's National Parks
We hope you're as excited as we are about the release of our brand new Primal RunAmocs! Our skilled shoe designers have been hard at work on this style to give you the most natural toe-spreading foot shape possible.
For several months now, we've been testing prototypes of this new shoe by putting them through the roughest, most brutal trials we can muster. This mostly involves passing them off to ultrarunners to see how many mountains they can cross before showing signs of wear. Due to my outrageously large size 14 feet, however, I was granted the privilege of trying out a pair to make sure there were no surprises when they were scaled to the larger extreme of our size range. I was lucky enough to have the third pair of Primal RunAmocs ever made of the final design, and their arrival coincided with my summer hiking trip through some of Canada's most beautiful national parks. After trying them out first on a few trail runs, I felt confident wearing the shoes on my adventure... and decided to record the process.
Check out the video above to see the results! Overall, I hiked about 70 miles, plus added another 30–40 miles of trail runs before and after the trip. By the time the end result was recorded, my shoes had over 100 miles of trail use.
Not only did they hold up great, but they also came with a few pleasant surprises. Spoiler alert... these are the features I liked most:
- No Break-In Period Needed! My feet have a natural shape and are widest at the toes, not the ball of the foot, so it usually takes a while for shoes to break-in and for toe boxes to stretch out before they feel comfortable. Primal RunAmocs fit like a glove the day they were made... at least for me.
- Toe Cap. Always working to be sustainable, Softstar repurposed bicycle inner tubes collected from local bike repair shops to make the rubber toe cap of this shoe, and they were fantastic on my rocky trails. Hikers tend to stump and scrape their toes frequently on rocks and tree roots... and I do it extra often just for being clumsy and having weirdly long feet. I definitely did it a lot on this trip, but hardly saw any damage to the toe caps afterwards.
- Padded Tongue. To give you a good barefoot experience, Softstar doesn't add cushioning to the thin, flexible soles of their shoes, but this shoe has a thin layer of Breathe-o-Prene stitched under the tongue. This breathable neoprene-like material held the shoe very snugly to my foot on even the roughest trails.
- Very Adjustable Fit. Not mentioned in the video, but the extra lace loops added to the Primal RunAmoc (compared to 3 sets of grommets on the Dash RunAmoc) gave me many more options for adjusting which parts of the shoe I wanted to be tighter or looser. We know other shoes have done this for a long time, but it's actually difficult to add lots of lace loops work to a very minimal shoe without resulting in an awkward or constricting fit, and our shoe designers nailed it.
If you're looking for a shoe that will allow your feet to move and develop naturally, then we hope you'll check out the new Primal RunAmocs.
Martin is a lifelong runner who began wearing minimalist shoes over 10 years ago when he found they alleviated his chronic foot pain, which eventually disappeared completely. He further studied proper running form through a series of workshops taught by Correct Toes inventor, Dr. Ray McClanahan DPM. Martin has collaborated with several health care professionals to collect and share peer-reviewed studies that show the benefits of minimalist footwear. In his personal life, Martin loves living in the Pacific Northwest because it allows him to enjoy a variety of outdoor activities year-round, including hiking, cycling, rock climbing, surfing and snowboarding.
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