I bought some K-Swiss Kona-C's recently. I liked them because their light weight and cool design. However I've only done 12km in them. Not much for a proper review and so I've waited until I actually used them in combat.


It was a bit dangerous to use them in the Energizer Night Marathon. 12km of training is not really enough to allow them to settle in and figure out what problems if any I'd have.


One of the things that made me worry is that although the Kona-C's are stability there isn't quite enough stability for me and my feet tend to fall in a bit more than I'm used to. One question was whether to use orthotics in them or use the existing insoles. Using orthotics with a stability shoe is dangerous - I've been crippled by ITB before by having stability shoes to combat my pronation AND orthotics.  Not something I'll do willingly again and so I decided to run in the Kona-C's as is.


On my previous run I'd also felt that the padding was very thin and that the balls of me feet get very sore quite quickly - 10km+. Would this lead to an agonising marathon?


Everything went really well on the foot basis. From about 15km  - 18km I had a hotspot under my right big toe but that then went away. I also have a blister on the front of my right big toe just by the toenail - didn't realise until Senay checked my feet at home. That was originally cause by the crap Nike trainers and is probably not to do with the K-Swiss.


I suffered quite a lot of foot compression as my arches didn't have the support that they were used to and this resulted in feet that ached and felt a bit unnatural at the end of the race - think of Chinese footbinding . . . However there was no real impact on the race itself. 


Equally my ankles suffered from the under stability that I needed and were sore from providing the additional support as were my knees. However my legs had sufficient strength to compensate for this and it's a reasonable cost for racing in a pair of untested shoes. 


I am a heavy sweater and one of the reasons why I like the Kona-C's is the drainage channels in the bottom of the shoe. I've no evidence that sweat was squirting out the bottom of the sole through the race - but I never noticed the shoes once I started running. They felt really light and compared to most of my other shoes they STAYED light. 


Compared to many shoes there is not a lot of water absorbing fabric and I've found that with other shoes the combination of sweat and ice sponges can really make it a chore of lifting your feet up. No problem here. This made my high cadence strategy workable. 


I think that I will probably buy another pair but with neutral support so that I can use my orthotics in them. 


So all in all I'm pleased with the shoes and will make them a permanent part of my race repertoire. 

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I've been having a bit of trouble with my shoes recently. As most of you know I totally love my Vibram Five Fingers and run in then religiously. Well almost.

The problem is that running long distances on road or on hot tarmac becomes painful. Afternoon 10km+ runs invariably lead to blisters and after about 15km in the mornings I don't feel that I have anything - rubber or flesh -  between me and the road. Trails they are superb at though and that's what they're made for.

With the aim of doing lots of marathons this year they aren't going to let me go the distance and so I needed a new pair of shoes. My trusty New Balance shoes are quite heavy and I want to try and maintain as much of the minimalist feel as possible. So after reading a bit about them I end up going shopping for some Nike Free 3.0.

Two problems - totally uneducated shop assistants and and no Nike Free 3.0's around. So I decided for the first time in my life to believe the Nike hype and try a pair. Bad mistake. A 12km early morning run left me with a huge blister on the front of my right toe where I have never had a blister before. Not nice. I put it down to the old socks I was wearing (still have to throw them out) and tried again for a 2 hour run on Sunday. The rubbing was really noticeable and I gave up after less than 500m took the shoes off and headed home barefoot. Bliss

Paul Lee and Keat Song suggested a few alternatives and I ended up speaking to Frank who distributes K-Swiss in Malaysia. So at Burger King at lunchtime I tried a pair on. The pair I tried and bought were the K-Ona C.

Apparently they're all the rage with famous triathletes and are designed specifically for triathlons.

One of the things I was mindful of is the fact that I tend to lose toenails after marathons - probably because my feet swell a bit and the toe front bangs and bangs and bangs. So I needed enough space. The first pair felt really comfortable but I( wasn't sure about the space available. The second pair was much better.

My first feeling was that they were very light and comfortable. The second that they were really cool. I could feel the air on my toes. Looking closely I could see lots of air vents at the toe and the heel. Then when I turned them over there were a number of bottom air vents. You can just see them on the last photo - to the right and left of the K-Swiss logo and then 8 more on the fore foot.

This was a bit of a wow moment for me. One of the problems I have as a westerner in Malaysia is that I sweat buckets which means I run in wet shoes and wet socks. Apart from the blister hazard it means that shoes get somewhat heavier during a run. So these bottom holes - together with the ventilation should help my feet stay drier, cooler and more comfortable on long runs.

I've yet to try them in combat and they may go the same way as the Nike's - we'll see. If you're interested in buying a pair have a look at his website 

By the way if anyone wants a pair of Nike Lunarlite + size 42 with only 12km on the clock I'll be happy to pass them on for a small fee.

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