Sounds dirty don't it? Well, it's not.
The Vibram Five Fingers shoes are what is passing for my latest running related fun. Vibram calls it barefooting. The shoes are essentially a thin, stretchy fabric with a tough, rubber compound sole. My Flows have a neoprene lining and EVA footbed.
They have individual toe compartments and are akin to running barefoot. The individual toes allow the foot (and toes) to spread at impact, as is natural. Gone is the heel strike promoted by the usual running shoe, as the Five Fingers are meant to encourage mid-foot striking.
The folks at Vibram say it might take a bit to adjust, but I wasn't much of a heel striker anyway. This is the way my feet want to run. I trail run for the most part and the sole is plenty to avoid pain from any random pointy things on the ground. The lightness is a joy and I have significantly reduced my tally of ankle turns - something I am intimately familiar with due to the combination of running terrain and my running partner and which was not helped in the least by my shoes.
I'll admit that putting them on out of the box, my initial reaction was "what the fuck is wrong with my toes" as it didn't seem like they wanted anything to do with the seemingly natural configuration of the Fingers. However, that went away quickly and I find no issue pulling them on since that initial try.
These things are fooking cool. I have no idea to what degree (literally) these will suffice in the Chicago winter, but I'm going to find out (the Injinji toe socks should help a little).
The Vibram Five Fingers shoes are what is passing for my latest running related fun. Vibram calls it barefooting. The shoes are essentially a thin, stretchy fabric with a tough, rubber compound sole. My Flows have a neoprene lining and EVA footbed.
They have individual toe compartments and are akin to running barefoot. The individual toes allow the foot (and toes) to spread at impact, as is natural. Gone is the heel strike promoted by the usual running shoe, as the Five Fingers are meant to encourage mid-foot striking.
The folks at Vibram say it might take a bit to adjust, but I wasn't much of a heel striker anyway. This is the way my feet want to run. I trail run for the most part and the sole is plenty to avoid pain from any random pointy things on the ground. The lightness is a joy and I have significantly reduced my tally of ankle turns - something I am intimately familiar with due to the combination of running terrain and my running partner and which was not helped in the least by my shoes.
I'll admit that putting them on out of the box, my initial reaction was "what the fuck is wrong with my toes" as it didn't seem like they wanted anything to do with the seemingly natural configuration of the Fingers. However, that went away quickly and I find no issue pulling them on since that initial try.
These things are fooking cool. I have no idea to what degree (literally) these will suffice in the Chicago winter, but I'm going to find out (the Injinji toe socks should help a little).
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