Adidas Micropacer Running Shoes Reissued

Adidas has re-released the "Micropacer," a running show with a built-in pedometer first released in 1984. Newsweek wrote up the original Micropacer in '85:

The Micropacer computer running shoe, made by Adidas, of West Germany, is a self-contained model with a microprocessor fitted over the laces of the left shoe. The face of the computer resembles a digital LCD watch face and connects by a wire to a sensor built into the sole of the shoe underneath the big toe. A runner programs stride length and body weight using two buttons on the readout face. After a run, the readout displays distance, time, average speed and caloric expenditure. The Micropacer should reach the market in the early fall and will sell for about $ 125.

Karmaloop is selling the new Micropacers for $250.

Puma also put out a pair of high-tech running shoes around the same time called the "RS Computer Shoe." It could offload captured data through a cable to an Apple II Plus or IIe. It cost $200 at the time—a princely sum for the '80s. At least they were ugly!

Of course the better option these days would be something like the Nike + iPod kit or a GPS watch like the Garmin Forerunner.