Keep Running: A Company in Search of the Finish Line

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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.

Abshire, speaking at the Newton headquarters, told me his shoes can shave up to half an hour off a marathon time. That's attractive to me -- extremely attractive -- as I aspire to someday qualify for the Boston Marathon, and a 30-minute reduction in my time would get me there, easily. Yet that 30-minute-improvement claim is hard to swallow. I noticed that the Gadget Guy columnist who ranked the Newtons No. 1 in his gear-of-the-year column said the shoes kept him "feeling faster" in the Twin Cities Marathon. And then I saw that his finishing time of four hours and 36 minutes was 46 minutes slower than his time in the same race two years earlier. And Natascha Badmann, the triathlete who was wearing Newtons when she set a world record? I have looked at photos and video clips of her. In every instance I have seen, she is a pronounced heel striker, just like me. It doesn't appear that Newton's patented forefoot propulsion technology is what got her across the finish line in record time. Badmann admitted as much when I spoke to her via telephone in her native Switzerland. "They are incredibly light; for people like you and me who are heel strikers, they still are very comfortable," she said. "I ran an entire Ironman without blisters, which is a great thing. Before, I had eight toenails fall out."

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