Vibram FiveFingers

7 Miles, 8:34 pace

Back in January I did some research about the benefits of barefoot running. I learned that it can help your form, reducing injury and strengthening your lower legs and feet. While looking at Barefoot Ted’s website I saw that he had completed the Angel Crest 100 in these things called Vibram FiveFingers. They are foot wear created to mimic being barefoot while giving you grip and a thin layer of protection from pebbles, broken glass, sticks, ect. This is something that really appealed to me so I ordered a pair. This was right before Old Man Winter decided to drop the hammer on the Midwest. It has been so cold that I haven’t gotten a chance to try the Vibrams, until today! I just got back from a 7 mile run with them. It was great! My feet felt so light, and I could feel the ground with every step. It really makes you aware of your foot strike, causing you to strike first with your ball or mid-foot instead of your heel which causes stress on the knee, and just plain hurts. My strides felt very comfortable and smooth. Because these “shoes” have no support, it will take sometime for my feet to strengthen to where I can go on longer runs with them. Around mile four I started to feel the pounding on the balls of my feet, but I had no real discomfort throughout the entire run. I bought the Vibrams with the intent of making them a big part of my training and possible racing in them. After today that seems like a real possibility. If everything goes as planned I hope to run the Flying Pig with them this year. I will have to see if my feet are able to build up to running that far without support and whether my improved foot strike from running barefoot is good enough to make up for the lack of padding normal shoes offer. To learn more about running barefoot go to Runningbarefoot.org.

Weekly Mileage: 40


"I don't think jogging is healthy, especially morning jogging. If morning joggers knew how tempting they looked to morning motorists, they would stay home and do sit-ups." ~Rita Rudner

I would like to see her try to stop in the middle of my cross walk.