Terra Plana surprised me with the Achilles today. They're pretty interested in what their test runners have to say about this unique running sandal. Yep, you read right; it's a SANDAL. First off, the Achilles is fully molded and seems to be made out of some soft plastic compound. It's comfortable to the foot and fairly flexible; more so than the Evo. It's not clear if it shares the same Kevlar sole of its older and more fashionable cousin, but I'd be concerned less with something puncturing the sole vs. small and sharp particles making their way under your feet since like any typical sandal, you really can't keep anything out.
Trying them on over my lunch break, I think the bit that will take some getting used to is the split-toe configuration. By design, a small pocket tucks your big toe in - barely. Then there are the removable straps which do an elegant job of anchoring foot and sandal. It still feels like a day at the beach for me though, but a couple of short runs will probably change my mind. Overall, I have to admit that the Achilles feels closer to real barefoot running than the FiveFingers KSO. No suprises there since it was reportedly inspired by the Tarahumara huaraches from "Born to Run".
The question is, can you actually run in these things on urban terrain? We'll see. I plan to use the Achilles for the HSBC 135 10k run in Bonifacio on November 6. I'll give my impressions after the race.
UPDATE: images removed for now. The Achilles prototype I used isn't final so the retail version will likely incorporate improvements based on feedback from Terra Plana's test runners.
