^^ this guy right here, im in complete agreement with him
if your a forefoot or a midfoot striker youll get a ton more mileage out of the kinvaras, but even if ur not the heel to toe ratio helps to promote that.
i used kinvara this summer for buildup to XC and didnt have a single problem with them, probably the best shoe ive ever worn, absolutely loved it. i wasnt a forefoot stiker then, but wearing the shoes helped me so much that when i finally changed my footstrike i didnt have any negative side effects from doing so (i would normally get calf pains when i tried before). i didnt have any issues wearing the shoes and im going to try to pick up another pair as soon as my current shoe (newtons) wear out. only reason i switched is becuase i needed a shoe that would last longer while running with a heel strike and on pavement in order to save money
in regards to the frees, ive heard theyre ok but they arent as good as the 5.0 or 3.0, kind of sucky compared to them and have an odd heel on them. kinvaras beat any of the free series though, i only use frees as walk around shoes