Soft Star Run Amocs with leather sole... 100 kms later

I promised I would give a quick review of the Run Amoc Original Lite with leather sole after having done some more miles (kilometres in continental Europe) in them.

On the plus side, the leather sole is much lighter than the standard Vibram sole that comes as standard, as well as being much more flexible. The advertised downside of having less traction has been the least of my problems, as has the slightly reduced protection against treading on stones: the fact is that the sole is not as hard wearing as its Vibram counterpart. This wouldn't be such a problem were it not for the fact that the upper on my left foot tends to rub against the ground once the sole has worn down and, once the upper starts to tear, the life expectancy of the shoes has already been seriously compromised. After only 100 kilometres with my new pair of leather soled Run Amocs, the prognostic is not good: there is already a sizeable hole appearing.

My conclusion is that the extra flexibility and lightness is not worth the cost once you take into account longevity. Don't get me wrong, the Run Amoc Original Lites are still my favourite training shoe by far -   evidenced by the fact that I have just placed an order for a new pair (my original review can be found here). The leather sole experiment didn't work out so this time I am going to try going for a slightly wider fit. Hopefully this will mean I can eke out a couple of hundred kilometres more over and above the 1,000 kilometres I usually get out of a pair.