When I help people find new running shoes, I like
to offer up this phrase as a guiding philosophy: âForm follows function.â In other words, how the shoe looks should always be secondary to how it feels. Unlike shoes worn by Michael Jordan or LeBron James or Stephen Curry, running shoes are usually not bought to garner comments of praise, though the designs continue to get better and more colorful. They are purchased to be beaten down on the roads and trashed on the trails. And then the process repeats again and again. Form follows function.Over the past several years the Nike Free 5.0 has consistently been one of the best selling athletic shoes in the United States. Go to any school and youâre likely to see many kids sporting the flexible and colorful 5.0s. When I was in Disney World earlier this year the Free was probably among the most common shoes that I saw on folks at Nike Free 5.0 Femme the parks.
The majority of the sole is exposed midsole cushion, so you can barely hear your footfalls while running in them â I love a silent shoe! The tradeoff to this design is that there is minimal outsole coverage â rubber pods are only present at the back outer heel and under the big toe. As such, sole durability is something to keep an eye on if you tend to be a scuffer. Interestingly, my wear pattern only seems to be from the anteriormost heel pod forward through the midfoot â much more of a midfoot landing wear pattern than I tend to observe in most other shoes that I run in.
The Flyknit upper of the Free 4.0 is minimally structured. No overlays, no heel counter, just a stretchy woven mesh with a few Flywire bands on either side of the lace rows to lock the foot down. It feels like a sock, and it hugs my foot in all of the right ways. Not too tight, not too loose. Just perfect. The heel and midfoot are snugged in tightly, and the forefoot opens up so that the tight weave does not constrict or squeeze the toes. The entire upper flexes and moves with the foot in a way I have rarely experienced in a running shoe.
Internally, Nike Free 5.0 Homme the Wildhorse upper is almost completely seamless from the midfoot forward â there is just a bit of stitching at the junction of the midfoot and forefoot on each side. The interior lining is a soft, sock-like mesh and seems like it could handle sockless running without too much issue (have not tried this myself yet â too cold up here). One issue I did have initially was some friction at the back of the heel associated with heel slippage. I was worried that I might get some blistering, bu Pas Cher Nike Free 5.0 t the problem seemed to resolve itself after a few runs.