Adidas Seeding Shoes: Test Run

Thanks to pmtey, I got this message to obtain Adidas seeding shoes for running bloggers. We'll have to test run for 30 days, and write an unprejudiced report on them. And yes, you do get to own it as well.

Here's the message:

Hello Guys ,

I have some good news for runners who blogs or having their own webpage.

adidas had brought in some very high performance technical running shoes
to be given away to runners to wear-test them & given us their very
frank & unprejudiced opinion  about the shoes after 30 days of usage.
The sizes are limited and I have them in size UK 5.5 , 7.5 , 8.5 & 10.5.

Those wishing to possess these shoes will have to comply with the
following terms & condition :

1 ) Come to the adidas office to fit the shoes.
2 ) Undertake to give comment about the shoes after 30 days of usage.
3 ) Must be a blogger or has his/her own website.

If you are interested pls make an appointment with me or my partners
Mori Hiroshi as detailed below :


Office address:
adidas Malaysia Sdn Bhd
Block B , Level 4,
Plaza Damansara
45 Media Setia 1
Bukit Damanasara
Kuala Lumpur

Tel Office : 03 - 20804843 / 20804876

Contact Person ( 1 )
Krishnan Karuppan
Mobile : 012 - 3503668
E-Mail : krishnan.karuppan @adidas.com

Contact Person ( 2 )
Mori Hiroshi
E-mail : Hiroshi.mori@adidas.com

This offer expires on 22nd February 2008

Best Regards
Krishnan Karuppan
Head of Running
adidas Malaysia 

So, I head to their office in Bukit Damansara to checkout. And this is what I got: Adidas Adistar 6th edition.

The meeting with Mr Krishnan was pretty informative. Here's a few things I found out. I am a flat footer, and the current Adidas shoes I am using are basic. They aren't even meant for my feet.

And here's what I found out about the Adidas Adistar:

1) At the sole of the shoe is a round piece of purple rubber which absorbs every step you take. Now to put into perspective, he showed me 2 rubber balls. One green, the other purple. The green one bounced when hitting the ground. The purple ball did not. It sort of stuck to the ground where it fell. This material in the purple ball is the same used for the cushioning. The logic is, every time your whole feet hits the ground, you want your feet to stay a bit longer on the ground, absorbing more of the shock of the landing. This reminds me of taking a golf ball and letting them bounced of dirt, and on the tarmac as a comparison. It won't bounce on dirt, but definitely will bounce on tarmac.

2) If you look at the soles of the shoe, they had made a cut at the outer side heel of the shoe. The whole sole is not one piece, but two. This part is prone to wear and tear. I remember my last pair was so bad, almost half of the piece was gone. The rationale of this design is to minimize the damage done to the soles.

3) There's no stitches under the cover of the shoe. So less abrasion to your feet.

4) There's a piece of gray piece of rubber at the front part of the sole. It's meant to propel your motion once you lift your feet of the ground.

5) Under the sole, pointing inwards, is a piece of hard material, labelled QS. This is suppose to help you when taking off from the ground.

6) There's also the common support arch. My current running shoes is devoid of this. So, I'll need to get use to this.

7) The shoe is design to sort of package your feet. I can attest to this. Both my previous Adidas were hugging my feet during running. The feeling is like the shoes are your feet.

Alright, this is a lot of technology build into a shoe. No wonder it costs so much. I am just used to buying shoes, which feels good, and not an idea on what they build into them. The reason I like Adidas was the cushioning. That's it.

But with all that, let the run tell the story. Even though it's a high performance shoe, I'll put some honest opinions on how it feels to run in them.


Looks great, notice the small holes in front. They are meant to cool the shoes.
And also notice the gray material as well.


Some arch support, but not enough according to Mr Krishnan.


This reminds me of Asics. Now you can really see the soles are actually 2 part.

And here is my first Adidas shoes. The soles eaten up a lot. But...this is the pair I ran all my ultras. And it's basic.