So I took the plunge, and shelled out big bucks for a pair of carbon plate runnings shoes.  I have been waiting for the release of the Asics Metaracer, and the shoes finally arrived this week.

I have always run in Asics shoes, so the decision to try the Metaracer, was the obvious choice.  The first thing you see when you get these shoes out of the box is the color.  These are the brightest colored shoes, I have ever owned.  I have the Tokyo edition and the color is called Sunrise Red.  

When you pick the shoes up however, you notice something even more impressive; they weigh practically next to nothing.  They weigh 190g (6.7 ounces).  This is 15% lighter than my go to race shoe, the Asics DS Trainer.

I went for my first run in the shoes today.  They felt a little strange to walk in and also as I jogged from the parking lot to get to where I was going to run.  The carbon plate definitely makes them stiff and to me, it felt like I was walking a little on the outside of my foot.  As soon as you start running however, the feeling of the shoe changes significantly.

I loved running in them.  They were comfortable and they were so light.  As I ran, I realized that I was running faster than I had planned.  I was having fun however, so decided to run at a pace that just felt right for today.  I certainly wasn’t pushing the pace up into tempo range, but I was running what I would consider, high Zone 2.  It was one of my best runs in a good while.

So, do I think these shoes are faster than other shoes?  To be honest I have no idea.  I did run faster today, but was that because it was first run outside this week?  Was it a placebo effect; these shoes are supposed to be fast, so I ran fast? Who knows?

What I do know is that today’s run was a lot of fun and felt effortless.  If that was only a psychological effect from the shoes, then that is fine.  A few extra bucks, to feel like I did today, is well worth it.