The following post was written by Marilyn Cox from Cincinatti, OH, the winner of our website contest to win a trip to the Newton Headquarters in Boulder to be coached by Danny Abshire, Newton founder and Chief Technical Officer at Newton.

Thwap, hu, thwap, hu, thwap, hu. At one time, the rhythmic pounding of a run created a hypnotic trance. The foot-strike created a dependable cadence to measure strength and speed. This beat carried me through 20 years of running. Last weekend 20 years of thwap, hu, thwap, hu, thwap, hu were silenced.

Every Islamic faithful makes a pilgrimage to Mecca. The same holds true for endurance athletes—only our Mecca is Boulder, Colorado. Muslims must visit the Holy Mosque, and athletes must patron the Newton Running Lab. I had the opportunity to visit the Newton Running Lab after winning a sweepstakes. (It pays to follow @sirisaac, which alerted me that the contest was going on.) Along with the trip, I received a pair of Newton running shoes and valuable training with Danny Abshire, the brains behind the Newton operations.

When I arrived at the Newton Running Lab, Danny and his wife Jennifer offered a very warm welcome and went right to work. Danny evaluated my feet and stride. I over-pronate, strike with my toe, and my strides are too long. Danny and Jennifer explained the Newton Running Shoe’s ability to correct your foot position and stride. With the right shoe and a lesson in proper running form, they could fix me right up.

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Dear Danny,

I’ve been a runner since July 2, 1979. This past summer, with my 67th birthday looming on the horizon, I began increasing my mileage, with the objective of making my 1,200 mile annual goal (which I haven’t achieved in more years than I care to talk about). When I began picking up my weekly mileage my knee pain increased in direct proportion to the increase in distance. I found some relief in various inserts but it was always temporary and I was constantly looking for some new and better inserts.

In the midst of one of those searches I stumbled upon newtonrunning.com. I knew after only a couple of minutes of reading and watching that it was what I had been looking for. I checked for dealers, found none in Alabama, but one in Clarksville, TN where my wife and I would be working in the coming week. A call to the store let me know they were out of my size but had my wife’s so I ordered mine off your site and two days later, at the store in Clarksville, we purchased a pair for my wife Christina, and another for our business and running partner Adrienne Wall.

I completed my first run in Newtons the night of September 24th and I’ve not run in anything else since. I’ve thrown out all my inserts along with my Asics, but, most important, my knee pain is gone and both my distance and speed are up. I look forward to every run like a kid anticipating cake and ice cream and for a 67 year old with 30+ year of running behind me, that is saying a lot.

The truth is there aren’t words to convey what I feel. A line from a 60’s pop song states my dilemma, “How do you thank someone who has taken you from crayons to perfume?” Thanks to the shoe you designed and built, I’ve now logged over 1,200 miles for the year and I should easily exceed 1,500; next year I’ll go over 2,000, something I’ve not done in over 20 years.

“Thanks” isn’t nearly enough to say to you but it’s the best I can come up with. If I can ever assist you in promoting Newton Running, don’t hesistate to let me know how.

Your to count on,

Bert Carson

Huntsville, Alabama

Longtime members of the Newton tribe have likely come across IronBrandon, aka Brandon Wood. Brandon is an opera singer living in NYC. He was a competitive swimmer in high school who then discovered running as a way to stay in shape while on the road for his job. Brandon has gone on to become a marathoner, a triathlete and he’s soon to be an Ironman. We met Brandon in Central Park this spring at our informal running clinic and he’s a terrific guy. On his website, Brandon is a huge proponent of proper running form, regularly posting fun stuff like this:

Anyway, Brandon bought his first pair of Newtons last year and he’s been a convert ever since. He just posted a really thoughtful, three part entry on his blog entitled “Why I Wear Newtons.” Here’s an excerpt:

But, WHY did I switch? The answer to that question has a few layers. First, as I said earlier, I was blissfully unaware of what running actually was. For me it was something where I just went out and did it to lose weight or to look better, but now I was doing it because it was fun! Yes some of the long, boring mile remained long and boring, but they were not so laborious as before. Keep in mind that I did not all of a sudden get my Newtons and begin forefoot/midfoot striking, I had been doing it for a while in my existing shoes. Newtons, due to their minimal heel-toe drop (about 1/6 of an inch), allowed me to use a much more “piston-like” (up and down) action with my legs rather than having to force my toes down to overcome the giant wedge of my Nike’s.

Second; I wanted to go farther and longer. This part is less about Newtons, “the shoe” and more about the technique which they use and promote. Over time, I had come to discover, through trial, that forefoot running, with a shorter, more efficient stride, allowed me to go longer with minimal fatigue. It also allowed me to get up hills, where before I had to walk, I could now run up no problem. I know that this, again, may sound like a bit of, “hey mom! look how I can run faster and jump higher in my new shoes!!” syndrome, but again, this is NOT about the shoe, but about the technique that they promote. As I said before, I am not a small, lanky runner type of guy. I am tall and big and can bench-press about 275 lbs. (or could before I began trying to lean out for my Ironman). I have not had a single injury, save for ITBS which was existing, since running in Newtons. Not shinsplints, not plantar fasciitis, not knee pain, nothing.

I would highly recommend Brandon’s website where he not only posts about his training, gear and races but he also posts a “Recipe of the Week.” Grilled yellowfin tuna with pineapple salsa this week….when is lunch!?

We just came across this terrific post from Johnny Hammond, a 43-year-old age-grouper triathlete and runner in the UK. It’s an interesting story about his nagging running injuries and how his transition to forefoot running and Newtons has dramatically helped.

“At the beginning of my winter training this year, I started training with a new Triathlon Coach who wanted me to change my running style from heel striker to forefoot running. He said it would increase my speed and running efficency, and reduce my risk of injury. I was apprehensive at first and questioned his judgement. I’d struggled with a left shin splint injury for the past 3 years and had gone to a lot of expense to get special orthotics and the right running trainers to try and ward off this recurring injury. But, I was still finding it hard to run longer distances without my shin splint (left tib post to be precise) flaring up, so I decided to give forefoot running a go.

At first, I found it really hard to run on my forefoot without my heels dropping so my coach suggested that I invest in pair of Newtons, initially as a training aid. He told me that the Newtons would ‘put me up’ onto my forefoot and help me to progress from heel striker to forefoot runner. I’d also heard the buzz about Newtons on the Triathlon circuit and decided to find out what all the fuss was about. £120 later and I was sporting a pair of lightweight orange and white Newton Distance S trainers, a far cry from my bulky motion control Asics running shoes (also £100 plus shoes).”

Read the rest of Johnny’s post here:

Not everyone believes what they read in magazines or on major media websites…especially when it comes to product reviews. So, here at The Running Front we’re going to republish some Newton shoe reviews that we find around the blogosphere-reviews written by real people without bias from sponsors or advertisers.

Here are two cool first impression reviews.

An excerpt from Robert at Psyrixx Blog:

“I don’t know if it was just my high expectations or if the shoes actually accomplished what they were designed to do but I ran my entire forty minute set without any hint of pain.  It was, as in Oceanside when I first tested the shoes, very obvious where my foot needed to be landing and the fact that the heel of the shoe isn’t super thick like most cross-trainers meant that I wasn’t over compensating to make sure I landed on the front half of my foot and in so doing straining my peronius brevis.  I was able to keep a nice fast cadence with light foot-fall, landing properly on my midfoot keeping my feet underneath my hips and I was surprised at how quickly the forty minutes flew by.  I guess without any leg pain running doesn’t seem so tedious.  ” Read more here.

And another review from amateur runner Andrea Hill.

“The shoes are built up on the midfoot so I do feel naturally propelled forward, even just standing still. When running, it feels awkward to let your heel touch down, so it wasn’t something I had to necessarily concentrate on: I naturally gravitated to running on my midfoot. I had met someone in Boston who had Newtons, and she warned me they were rough on the calves. I can see how this is, they’re much more engaged. This will definitely take some getting used to. I did notice that hills were much easier to approach, as I was already landing appropriately on my feet.” Read more here.