"In a sense I was squeezed out," Russell told me when I visited him at his home. "It's not quite as friendly as it sounds."
After dropping Russell, Abshire completely redesigned the shoes, by himself. The five rubber lugs in the forefoot, one for each metatarsal, were pared down to four. A springy disk in the heel was sliced off and replaced by narrow, flat foam that made the heel look like the heel on most running shoes -- a cosmetic choice. Abshire managed to further liposuction 7 ounces from the Gravity model trainers, leaving each shoe at around 10 ounces, very light. Once the prototypes were refined and the blueprints digitized, the consultant in Portland hooked up Abshire and Lee with a factory in China where the shoes could be built.
The Newton name came from TDA, a local branding shop that has worked with the Denver Nuggets basketball team and Celestial Seasonings, the tea company also based in Boulder. The first prototypes Abshire and Lee brought around still had thick layers of glue, recalls Thomas Dooley, TDA's founder and co-creative director.
"I must have gone through a thousand names until I came to Newton," Dooley says. "We wanted something simple and basic, a fundamental law of physics that's easily understandable: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."
The name implies motion, which resonates with runners. It also implies science, people in lab coats testing and retesting. Dooley's shop unified the branding, designing not only the website but also the company logo and the shoe boxes and even helping style the shoes themselves. Everything looks professional. It's hard to believe Newton is basically a mom-and-pop start-up with only a handful of employees.
"That was something we very much did on purpose," Lee tells me. "We realized we only have one chance to make a first impression. We wanted to look like we were serious players from the very beginning."
The marketing of the shoes is effective, as I can attest. Whether the shoes are as good as advertised is a tricky question.
I discovered Newton organically. I had been training for my first marathon and had cycled through half a dozen pairs of shoes without finding a model I liked. The Newton Stability racer, which I found while surfing a running chat room, appeared to be unbelievably light yet still suitable for my vulnerable knees. Bingo! Clicking onto the Newton website -- at the time the only place outside of Boulder where the shoes could be purchased -- I saw that all Newtons come with "patented Newton Active Membrane Technology," which gives "propulsion properties." I have no problems with a technological assist. I do indeed want to be pushed forward. I want to run faster. That's the whole point.
Without the Internet, there probably wouldn't be a Newton story. When Phil Knight, the founder of Nike, first tried to push his shoes into the marketplace, he had to drive from running store to running store with boxes of prototypes stockpiled in the trunk of his car. Thanks to the Internet, runners were able to find Newtons on their own. The reviews from the first adopters, posted on blogs and in running chat rooms, prompted the second wave of sales, which I fell into.
Only after I bought my Newtons did I notice the many negative (or at least skeptical) online posts about the shoes. A lot of the skepticism and disapproval has to do with Newton's commitment to forefoot running. If you don't land on your forefoot, Newton says, you should. (Heel strikers apply the brakes with every step, is the thinking.) But look around -- most runners land on their heels. I certainly do. More than a few posters in chat rooms warned that trying to change a natural running style could lead to serious injury. Plus, if one has to "break into" a pair of Newtons, as the company advises, what would happen if the company stopped making the shoes? Do Newtons foster a very expensive dependence? The language on the Newton website is inclusive. Just pulling on a pair of Newtons will "promote a change in running form," the website states. "Right away you won't feel the need to land on your heel." They seemed to be for everybody. Yet, in further Web surfing, I came across a YouTube video in which Abshire says the shoes are specifically not for people with my running style: "No heel striking with Newtons, please."
Changing a natural running style is possible, I know. Mark Rouse, who was the first retailer to sell Newtons out of a store, Runner's High 'n Tri in Arlington Heights, Illinois, switched to the brand and to a forefoot running style after 30 years of marathons left his legs feeling worn out. "I got rid of my aches and pains," he says of the switch, which he approached slowly. "I feel like I'm starting my running career over again." I've flipped through books on "Chi Running," which advocates a midfoot strike, and on "the Pose Method," which pushes forefoot striking. Changing a running style is hard, though, and the merits of any change are debatable; though a chronically injured runner might benefit from a style switch, a healthy runner could wind up with a brand-new chronic injury.
For a full week, I wore my new shoes only around my apartment, afraid to take them outside and burn my chances of returning them. I noticed for the first time that the soles were marked, which indicated someone had likely already returned them after a treadmill run or a few laps on an indoor track. (Even later, pulling out the insole, I found strips of duct tape hand-applied to the bottom surface.) At my regular Wednesday-morning group run, one member showed up in Newtons, to much mocking. "The injury shoes!" taunted a friend of mine. The injury shoes? I didn't say a word about my own new pair.
I still wanted to wear them. They are as light and as comfortable as slippers. They look cool. I know people who rave about them. Also, and significantly to my mind, one runner posting online claimed not to notice much difference between his Newtons and other shoes. That reassured me enough to finally try them out. I wore them on three light runs in a row, without incident. I did not suddenly become a forefoot striker. The Newtons did not make running any easier, as far as I could tell, but they didn't seem to cause damage, either. After each run, I monitored my knees for the rest of the day. Is that pain I feel? Am I injured? How about now? Am I in pain now? I never was.
