Have you heard of OOFOs?
At the beginning of July, I was sent a pair of OOFOS to try out.
I’d not heard of them before, but OOFOS are described as ‘footwear recovery specialists’. I was initially sceptical about the product, but after reading that OOFOS recovery footwear was awarded ‘Gear of the Year 2015’ by Runner’s World USA I thought there might be something to them.
What shoes do Oofos make?
Other versions of OOFOS are available, including the OOlala Slide:
I was tempted to try the slides as I don’t often wear flip-flops and I figured that (as long as I didn’t have to appear in public wearing socks and sandals), I could wear them with compression socks at home after events. However, I thought I’d be bold and push my comfort zone!
I had a good look at all of the options available to women in the UK. Although black seemed like a sensible colour, I fancied something more exciting. I went for seafoam green.
According to the website, all of the shoes feature recovery benefits as the soles absorb 37% more impact than ordinary shoes and the footbeds are designed to cradle your arches.
Trying out the shoes
Initially, I tried out the OOFOS when I went open water swimming as I prefer to wear flip-flops lakeside. For many years, I refused to wear any kind of open-toed shoes as I have partial syndactyly (webbed feet). As I never wore flip-flops when I was a child, my feet have never toughened up and I find many pairs of flip-flops uncomfortable. The soft foamy material didn’t aggravate my feet. Another advantage of these shoes is that they are moulded from a single piece of foam. This meant that although they got muddy by the lake, it was easy for me to rinse them off in the shower.
Post-run recovery
Trying out the shoes after open water swimming didn’t really give me a chance to find out whether they would help with recovery as swimming isn’t exactly a load-bearing sport! A couple of weeks ago, I had the perfect opportunity to really test my OOFOS. I took part in Thunder Run a 24-hour relay race.
As part of the event, I ran 4 x 10k, which would be challenging enough for most people, but I had the added challenge of being 7 months pregnant. By the end of the event, I felt really tired and my feet and ankles were in pain. As soon as I could, I removed my trainers and put on my OOFOS. We walked around for a bit and then had a long drive home. My feet and ankles still felt achy when I went to bed, but I was amazed to find that the next day I didn’t feel any pain at all. In previous years, I’ve run 40-50k and have spent the next day or two hobbling around. I was especially surprised as I hadn’t really trained adequately for this event!
My overall thoughts
The soles of the shoes seem to have a gentle roll to them that feels natural and comfortable when you walk. Several of the other ladies at Thunder Run tried on my OOFOS. They all commented on how surprisingly comfortable they are.
I’ll be honest that I didn’t expect to like these shoes, but I’m a convert – I LOVE THEM! 🙂
OOFOS are available from specialist running retailers across the UK and direct from www.oofos.co.uk.
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Sounds like you should leave them on for the remainder of the pregnancy! Now that would be a decent test.
Sounds like a good plan. I do tend to put them on when I get home from work… but I’m not sure I fancy wearing them for my cycle commute 😉
A continued inspiration 😉
Thunder running whilst 7 1/2 months pregnant? That’s hardcore, wow!
Thank you… but not really. I’ve only put on 2kg (4.5lbs) so far, despite eating at least as much as usual (and perhaps a few more treats). It would probably be much harder if I’d grown as much as most people!
I’d seen them and as a flip flop aficionado – great for recovery – would love to try them at some point. Good to see they’re becoming easier to find in the UK too!
There are now quite a few stockists, but I don’t think there are any in Wales yet: https://www.oofos.co.uk/pages/store-locator
It is amazing how expensive flip flops are. Not just these either.
Yes, they definitely have got more expensive than the cheap ones we used to pick up in teh beach shop when I was a child… but there have also been some great improvements, so they are more comfortable to wear. The old ones used to fall apart very quickly and weren’t very comfortable.
Wowe, I’m so far behind in reading blogs I had no idea that you were pregnant! Congratulations! 🙂
Oh, and I LOVE my OOFOS! I got them when I had plantar fasciitis–best recovery sandals ever!
Thank you! I didn’t say anything for quite a long time – partly out of paranoia, but mainly because people can be so judgemental about pregnant women doing sport. It’s often forgotten that women from my Grandma’s generation often had to do heavy/manual labour throughout their pregnancies (or do lots of housework without modern appliances).
A few of my American friends have commented on Facebook about how much they love their OOFOS, so I think they must be much better known on your side of the pond – they’re very new here 🙂
Well congratulations! I have the pink love them!
FYI: How do you get companies to send you stuff like this!
I’ve been lucky, I think. I get quite a few messages via my ‘Contact Me’ page, but I think the two national blog awards that I won must have helped – I’ve never directly contacted a PR agency or company about their product.
That’s awesome!