I was talking with a Skora representative on Twitter last week and was offered the opportunity to review the Skora Base running shoes.
They arrived this morning and I couldn’t wait to try them on (disclaimer: they were provided at no cost to me and what I write about them are my opinions about the shoe).
As TheWife would say they look like “Harold” shoes. The Base are slip-ons, that have a Velcro strap to tighten them if you need to. I really like the looks of the Base and couldn’t wait to try them on.
Before I did, I looked them over very closely and found that the construction and the quality of the fit and materials was all great. When I tried them on they fit like a glove, but with plenty of room in the toe box, which can be a problem with a lot of shoes for me.
I took them on a 3.0 mile walk in the rain 
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The walk went great, they had great grip on wet tar and on wet dirt road with a little slimy mud here and there. The Base were very comfortable while walking and I did change my stride a little, to what felt comfortable for this shoe. My experience is that most shoes will slightly change how you walk and you need to find the “right way” of walking for that shoe. I noticed a while after I got back that my calves were a little tighter than usual.
Make no mistake about it, the Skora Base are a minimalist running shoe and will require a period of readjustment to being able to use them as your everyday running shoes or even long-walk shoe. I thought where I had been running in zero drop shoes for a while that I wouldn’t need a long transition and planned on doing 1-3 miles in them after my walk.
I got out and started running in them and quickly realized that there was no way, that I was going to even run 1.0 mile in them right off the bat. I ended up doing about a 1/2 mile in them and was glad that I turned around when I did! If I hadn’t my calves would have definitely complained to the management about what I was doing to them.
So I plan to go very slow and transition correctly to get used to these minimalist shoes.
Unfortunately, this means that I won’t be running very far in them any time soon. So for now, I will use the Skora Base as my primary walking shoes, gradually building up to running more in them by running in them after my primary run and doing a lot of running form work. I have a feeling running in these shoes will strengthen my legs and feet, as well as force me to improve my form.
Also, because of their design, I think that they would make fantastic shoes to use at the gym or during crossfit workouts! When I get used to the shoe, I have a feeling that they will be really good for racing (they are light and have great ground feel).
Will I ever completely switch over to minimalist shoes for running?
I really don’t know, according to a lot of things that I have read it has a lot of advantages if you can do it, but when I get tired on longer runs my form deteriorates badly and I still need the cushioning provided by more traditional running shoes to keep running comfortably. Time will tell on this one.
Personally, I found them so comfortable, that I am fairly certain that they are the shoes that I will be wearing most of the time for casual wear. They after all – according to TheWife, “Harold” shoes 
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Harold Being Harold 
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