RunningPoint

When I heard that Somnio was introducing the Nada, a minimal shoe, to their line of footwear I was immediately perplexed. For those of you unfamiliar with Somnio, their claim to fame is producing a biomechanic running shoe with interchangeable footbeds, heel padding, and forefoot padding designed to allow each runner to customize the shoe and to put his/her body in perfect alignment so that stresses and injuries are reduced. The engineer side of me is completely fascinated by the science behind their design philosophy, but the minimal runner in me knows that my body responds amazingly to putting my two bare feet on the ground and just running pure.

So here's the question that popped in my mind when Somnio offered to send us a pair of their Nada's to test and review, “What are these guys doing making a minimal shoe?”. Answer: Somnio markets the Nada as “A supplemental training shoe that is meant for strengthening, tuning and stretching. The Nada is designed for a runner who wants to incorporate barefoot methodology into their routine.” With this fact in mind, I set out to view the Nada as if I were still transitioning from a traditional shoe to a more minimal shoe.