According to the website, Airia One is:

a new running shoe designed like nothing you have seen – or felt – before. Solid tests reveal that runners wearing Airia shave their running times by 1-2 percent (and some of them up to 7 percent), regardless of ability or running style. Perhaps more importantly, it provides a stronger running feel. Airia is the result of more than two decades of development, over 5,000 test runs, and a persistent will to create a running shoe that unleashes the natural power of the human body.

I received an e-mail several months asking me if I wanted to try these shoes made in Sweden.  I responded “Of course.”  Who doesn’t want to run faster and who doesn’t want free shoes?

Well, they finally arrived.

I’ll give them an A+ on marketing.

The box says all the right things:

But they aren’t very good-looking. How long will this shoe stay white? Especially in the winter.

And the toe curls up so they look very strange.

I tried them on and the toe box felt very wide.  But that’s a good thing for me.

They also felt big.  I wear a 7 shoe and 8.5 running shoe because I like them big (and I have not yet lost a toenail!).  These shoes felt bigger than my others.

They have a weird sensation when walking. You can feel a hard lump under the front.

I do pronate a little and this shoe gave me no support in that area. In fact, they seem to make me pronate even more.

I was a little nervous about a shoe with not a lot of support.  I have tried Newtons and loved them until I turned my ankle & broke my foot. (I stopped wearing them and when back to a more supportive shoe.)

However, I was willing to give them a shot.

In all fairness to the shoe, wintertime is not the best time for me to test these shoes.  I am not running any short races and my weekday runs are slow due to the wintery conditions on the roads and  sidewalks. Plus I am training for a January half marathon.

But I did take them out on a 4 mile run before work last week.

The awkward feeling eventually did go away.  It was impossible to land anywhere but on your forefoot when running.  However, this isn’t a problem for me because I am not a heel striker. (If you are, these shoes may be worth a try.)

I didn’t feel faster but then again, I am never fast on my runs unless I’m in a race.

I wore them again on several short runs.

The biggest problem comes from my fear of these lighter shoes causing injury. I would hesitate to run often and anything longer than a 5K wearing them.

Am I running faster in them?  I couldn’t really say until I wear them in a race this summer or fall. And I am not sure that I trust these shoes enough to wear them to race.

But if you’re looking for a running shoe that is quite different from other running shoes available in the market today, and one that says that it will make you run faster, check out the Airia One. It retails for $190 and is available for online order for now.

 Happy Running! Have you tried Airia running shoes? If so, what did you think?

These shoes were provided by Airia Running, but all opinions are my own.