Are you looking at my monkey... feet?

Happy (early) Birthday to me! It's early but I got my birthday present from my lovely wife and daughter last night.  I got just what I tried on at a local store and then ordered from the ol' interweb.  A pair of Vibram Five Finger shoes.

As a disclaimer, I always try to order from local companies.  I believe in supporting the community even if it costs a couple extra dollars.  In this case, none of the local retailers had the style I wanted so I had to confirm proper sizing in the store and then I ordered online.

That said, my lovely wife and daughter hate them, but they're what I wanted so I got them anyway.   Thank you girls.

What are Five Finger Shoes?

I'm glad you asked.  Here's a picture.

Fit your foot like a glove.  The idea is we were made to not wear shoes and this is as much like bare foot as you can get but still protect your feet.  This model in particular is made fro running.

They make me look like this...

Obviously, I don't obsess about my appearance.

I did a lot of research before buying these shoes.  How to run in them etc.  All the books say start slowly and gradually add distance.  They say use the 10% rule.  No more than 10% of your weekly mileage should be run initially.  For me, that's 2 miles.

I was so excited I got up and did a 2 miler on my usual day off just to try them out.  It seemed to be a big success.  We'll see tomorrow I guess.

The usual problems people encounter are foot problems (too much reliance on cushy shoes), Achilles tendon problems (it natually shortens because of heeled shoes) and calf soreness ( back to the cushy shoes).  Several months ago I changed my stride because of achilles tendon and hip flexor issues I went from the typical running shoe heel striker to a more mid-foot strike.  Because of that change the Vibram were not much of an issue with the footstrike and while I have some calf tighness my foot and ankle feel fine.

If I can walk tomorrow I'll do another 2 miler with them Sunday.

I can say that my average pace was up a good bit.  I don't know if it was because I felt like I was running in socks or just the general feeling of freedom.  I was like the return to a simpler time when I was a kid and went barefoot all the time playing in the yard.  It felt good.

I know I won't wear these for every run.  My wife my not let me wear them in her presence.  So far though no buyer's remorse.

UPDATE: The day after using the new shoes my calves are really tight and kind of sore.  Still no buyers remorse but I'm glad I took the advice to go easy.