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December 26, 2011

Masai Treadmilling

By Glenn Fleishman

As I’ve tweeted about, I followed the lead of my friend Lex Friedman and bought a TreadDesk treadmill a few weeks ago. I’ve walked about 40 miles on it in the month since I set it up, and am generally satisfied with how it works and the notion of writing or researching and walking at the same time. (I’m writing this while treading!) It takes getting used to, and I haven’t figure out the perfect mix of standing, sitting, and walking, but I definitely feel weird now just sitting down. Most days, I mostly stand, and walk from 1 to 4 hours. Four miles seems to be about the maximum.

Somewhere in my tweeting, a marketing person from MBT (Masai Barefoot Technology) got in touch and offered me a pair of shoes to try in exchange for writing about it if I felt it was a good fit. There were no other strings attached, and I reserved the right to return them (and say nothing) if I didn’t think they worked.

As a reporter, I don’t accept products, but this was offered to me personally, and I don’t report on shoewear. (This is the officially mandated FTC blogger product acceptance disclosure, by the way!)

I’ve walked at least 20 miles in the shoes, and quite like them, but will need to walk a bit more before I can deliver a verdict. I’m using the Sport2 Men’s shoe, which amazingly accommodates my 9 1/2 EEEE foot with very little compression (and no discomfort) new out of the box. I can rarely wear normal 9 1/2 anythings.

Walking in the shoes feels a bit like walking over curved surface—like walking on a solid orange-sized cushion. I can go for hours with the shoes without feeling worn out, which is great. I’m alternating with Tevas, which seem to have the right support to not stress my arch, which my New Balance shoes with custom orthotics do.

I have kept the MBTs as inside shoes, and haven’t taken any long “real” walks in them yet. I’ll write more as I have more experience with them.

Posted by Glennf at 2:51 PM