road review: skora phase

hotly anticipated, my first pair of skora shoes - the skora phase - arrived this past weekend.  there are so many things that i'm excited about in terms of these shoes that i can't begin to describe them all.

ok, well maybe i can.

and this is probably the place to do it. 

you can read up about the essential stats on the skora phase in numerous other online reviews (although i will highly recommend my friend stan's breakdown of his pair of the same), but let me tell you what appeals to me most about these kicks:

• zero-drop - this is characteristic of all of skora's shoes, since as a company they promote natural running biomechanics.  basically, the height of the heel relative to the ground is exactly the same as the height of the forefoot.
• lightweight - just over 7 oz. by my wife's kitchen scale.  this is in almost the perfect wheelhouse for me.
• low stack height - with 8mm in outsole (slash midsole - Skora's "injection blown rubber" composition means a single unit combining outsole and midsole) and 3mm of removable insole, there's a good amount of ground feel.
• wide forefoot - accommodating foot splay on impact for forefoot strikers like me.  no  crunched pinky toes here!
• flexibility - twist and turn these babies to your feet's delight!  they're nicely designed to move with your foot.
• asymmetrical lacing - no, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you.  the lacing runs diagonally down your foot toward the outside edge - this is intended to alleviate pressure on the top of the foot while still creating a snug fit.
• wrap/burrito tongue - another fit element to eliminate unnecessary pressure and edges against your foot.
• groovy colours - i'm not going to lie to you ... the red/black/yellow and reflective silver aesthetics got me excited.

so how have they worked out so far?  well, besides bonus points for a very cool accompanying shoebox design and distinctive new shoe smell (i swear that one of my coworkers had almost become addicted to it when she held them in her hands), i've only managed to long one workout in them - speed intervals on the track.  i was really happy with how they performed - nice and light as anticipated, and facilitated my foot strike pattern no problemo.  

i did experience one issue though - and whether or not it will turn out to be a major one is still to be determined.  what was it?  watch and find out!

my overall score for the skora phase is 4 out of 5 stars (or footprints) - with the potential to be amended for a higher rating if this minor problem works itself out.

disclaimer:  these shoes were provided at a special discount from skora - the opinions expressed however are totally mine.

JUNE 13-2013 UPDATE:  i've run another set of 1km track intervals in the skora phase, after taking kyle's advice of rubbing some vaseline into the heel collar.  it may have been that, or a second wear, or the fact that it was a post-rain morning with various puddles to splash through, but i had no irritation or blistering problems this time around.  woo hoo!

road review: skora phase