glaukos wrote:
There has to be a line drawn somewhere unless you think it's okay for people to run in roller-blades or on pogo-stilts. Where the line should be drawn is going to largely be a matter of personal opinion. Whether the VF's cross the line or don't cross the line or exist in a gray area is a matter of personal opinion. There is no definitive right or wrong answer here.
For me personally, what I love about running is the simplicity and minimalism and relative purity of it. Anyone can just put on a pair of shorts and shoes and go run. No expensive or maintenance-intensive equipment or preparations required. While small variations in pre-VF shoes exist, everyone is more or less on a relatively level playing no matter what shoes they can afford.
Obviously there's a lot of debate about exactly how much performance advantage the VF's have over other shoes, so I won't bother to make any arguments tied to that specific point. But for me personally, I think the 4%'s may be in a gray area as far as what I personally am okay with. However, the Next%'s and Pink%'s and Kipchoge%'s do cross a line to the point where it clearly seems to violate the spirit of what running means to me (simplicity, equality, etc.). The stack height is absurd and seems more like running on pogo-stilts than anything I would recognize as running shoes. Obviously this is just my personal opinion. There is no absolutely objective right or wrong answer here, but I personally don't want to see running continue in this direction. I don't want running to be all about what kind of shoes you can afford or about wearing ridiculously absurd-looking, highly specialized "shoes."
And for everyone who dismisses every criticism with the retort, "I bet you're just upset cuz you can't afford them," I assure you, I could afford to buy a new pair of VF's every week if I wanted to, but I am currently choosing not to buy any Nike products at all because I personally do not like the direction they are taking running. I would prefer to keep running simple and minimal and egalitarian.
Amen.
Save the sport.
Fvck Nike.