The Strangest Shoes I’ve Seen in a While

…okay, they’re not as strange as the Seinfeld strength shoe, but they’re not too far off. Anyway, when I raced the Mount Rainier duathlon in May, I won a free pair of Scott running shoes (not because I won my age group, but because they always give out random free stuff to the athletes and I just happened to get lucky). I only had a few pairs to choose from, but one shoe, the T2, stood out because it was described as the “ultimate triathlete shoe.” I wasn’t really planning on racing in them but figured they’d be worth a try because to me they looked similar to my Zoot racing flats that are in sore need of replacement. So I ordered a pair and promptly forgot about them…

…until the FedEx dude knocked on my door today and dropped off a package for me. Oh right, my free shoes! Yaay, free shoes free shoes free shoes. Who doesn’t love getting a new pair of kicks? I unwrapped the package, opened the box…and my brow furrowed. What’s this thingy in the back of the shoe? Is that Velcro? What happens when I — HOLY SHIT THIS SHOE IS INSANE.

Here’s a video of a low-level Bond villain explaining how they work, plus some pics of my shoes:

A bit shinier than I would prefer

Velcro/adjustment strap

The hatchback of the shoe world

The gist of it is that you can pull the entire back of the shoe away from the rest and slip your foot in quickly, then pull the back strap up to tighten it into place and secure it with Velcro. It’s odd, to say the least. I gotta admit though, as weird as these shoes are, they’re actually pretty comfy. The T2 was designed to be super light and come with a few drainage holes and a forefoot strike design. I don’t know if I’ll ever actually race in these (I’ve run into a plethora of running injuries lately and don’t want to risk another one), nor am I sure about how fast you can actually get into them (I’d probably get bungled up trying to tighten them, plus I always thought the Zoot racing flats were plenty fast to get into), but they seem fine for spectating or just hanging around. Plus they were free, so suck it.