"An Outer Covering For The Human Foot..."

This past week I've indulged in trying to find a "maintenance" training plan for my running and re-investing in my weight lifting.  I also spent a portion of this week's runs flirting with the whole minimalist running thing.  That debate over barefoot running has ebbed and flowed like the tides of the ocean with strong forces both for and against.  I'm sure that it will continue to rage long after my running shoes have been recycled for the last time.  Like many others I had read Christopher McDougall's Born to Run and raised a curious eyebrow at the seemingly magical properties of running "unshod".  I'm almost ashamed to admit that also went out and bought a bag of chia seeds which I began promptly ingesting.  Hey, look...anything to give me an edge over the Grim Reaper, you know?

So anyway, my initial outing was a 1.25 mile run (before I was interrupted by work).  The last 1/4 mile was done in just my socks.  Other than some minor friction on the big toe of each foot I felt like the run went well.  No residual soreness the next day, so on the following run I decided that I would crank up the intensity a few clicks over the same barefoot distance just to see what would happen.  This time around I left the socks behind too (blaming them for the friction).  I even had the 1/4 mile run recorded so that I could play it back to evaluate my foot strike.  Yes, I am a geek and I do over-analyze everything.  I cranked up the speed of the treadmill and ran on the balls of my feet like a good barefoot runner should; flying along at a 7:00 minute per mile pace.  Which is way faster than I normally run.

The good news?  After a little awkwardness the barefoot portion of my run felt pretty good.  I remained on a constant forefoot strike the entire way with little conscious effort, and my speed was much, much faster than I would have otherwise anticipated.  A mostly positive experience.

The bad news?  The socks only had a little to do with the big toe friction.  My tender feet, long protected by shoes and boots, were just out of their element.  There was still some 'belt burn' after the run.  My calves also took a beating, as did the arch of my left foot.  The residual aches and soreness that lingered days after this run were borderline injured; a result, I guess, of the super speed that I turned on.  Even though all the cautions against transition to minimalist running warned of increasing distance or speed too rapidly, I still made a silly miscalculation somewhere.  Oh well, back to the drawing board.

On Saturday I took a trip to one of the local running stores to find a pair of Vibram FiveFingers.  After perusing (does anyone use that word anymore?) the online selection of Vibram's, I elected the KSO.  It seemed to be the most versatile FiveFingers available.  On Vibram's website, no matter what activity you selected, the KSO was right there as a suggestion.  Running?  KSO.  Watersports?  KSO.  Hiking?  KSO.  Tactical entry on a barricaded subject?  Well, Vibram didn't have this category on their website.  But if they did I'm certain that the KSO would be one of the suggested models.

Anyway, the local running store I visited only had the KSO in what I would consider to be clown colors.  Orange and black, Kool-aid red, or some weird urban camouflage.  I mean, really?  I'm already going to be traipsing (another $5 word) around in shoes with toes for God's sake.  Did I really want to draw more attention to them by looking like a Ringling Brothers clown on his day off?  But I did decide to try them on to determine the size I needed.  The kid that was helping me seemed genuinely annoyed to be helping me, and I'm not sure that even if they had the right color that I wanted - black over black - that I would have purchased them there anyway.  Honestly, the whole attitude has put me off really going back to that particular LRS in the future.

I left the store and quickly consulted the Vibram website to determine if there was another local retailer close by.  Fortunately, Quest Outdoors was close and after a quick phone call I was assured they had the KSO in the size that I needed, and in black.  I won't go into details, but I will say that the experience that I had shopping at the Quest Outdoors store was phenomenal.  The staff was more than helpful and willing to spend the time with me that I needed.  At their suggestion, I even went up a size from what I had initially thought was a good fit and it turned out to be the right move.  The major difference I think is that the staff at Quest Outdoors were actually runners.  The kind of hardcore runners that you look at and know they have paid their dues and are doing what they love.  Not pimple faced kids who think running high school track makes them shoe experts.  And those same Quest folks, who by-the-way also own and run in Vibrams, spent some time talking to me about the transition to minimalist running and encouraging me to leave the road for trail running.  I will most definitely shop there again.

So here they are!  My Vibram KSOs.  I've spent some time in them over the course of the last two days and I can tell you that the experience is unique.  I've literally had to change the way that I walk to keep from feeling like I'm slamming into the ground with every stride.

Envy me, Fred Flintstone.

Webster's defines a shoe as: "an outer covering for the human foot typically having a thick or stiff sole with an attached heel and an upper part of lighter material (as leather)."  The Vibram's certainly aren't typical.  I'm not even certain that they meet the definition of a shoe.  Whatever the hell they are, I'm looking forward to my next run wearing these things.  Hopefully they will mitigate "friction toe".

At this stage I'm not certain that I will be a convert to the minimalist running set.  There are a lot of promises that the true believers make with regard to the benefits of running sans built up running shoes.  Some of the claims make me want to believe too.  However, I've never been one to follow the crowd, no matter how large or how small that crowd may be; or how adamant and convincing their arguments.  I've always followed my own path.  That is what works best for me.  But then, isn't that what this experiment is all about?