Zetetical Society Meeting Notes

I took the FiveFingers out for a quick three mile spin tonight. They’re a lot less shoe than they seemed to be in the apartment. You really feel the pavement and every surface you step on. (I’m looking at you, Episcopal Church on Fifth Avenue, time for some new sidewalk). They’re basically like socks, but feel safer. I would not want to hit rocks in them though.

My running form isn’t the worst in the world, so for about the first two and a half miles, they didn’t feel different than regular shoes. After that, my tight middle toes began to feel the stress of the forefoot strike moving the vibram against them and the middle of the right forefoot started to feel pretty raw. I may actually have webbed toes. I’m afraid to look. It wasn’t tough to finish, but I think I’d probably chat with a podiatrist before going beyond the occasional short run in them. I have a pretty messed up foot to begin with, and this wouldn’t concern me if it weren’t for that. In other words, if you have good form and good feet, these would probably be a fun way to do almost barefoot running.

They plug chi running a few times on their website, and chi running is all about a midfoot strike. I tried that a bit, but honestly, where is the midfoot when you don’t have a shoe on? The middle of the arch? The back of the forefoot? It’s tough to figure out what to land on. There’s nothing there.

Trickiness at the end of the run aside, I love walking around in them. I’d definitely use them for lifting or even just as basic gym shoes. I’d love to be able to commute in these and leave the shoes at work. They feel great. I’m going to get a summer pair as well.

When I stress fracture a smaller toe in two weeks, remind me of my initial near-total enthusiasm for my new Vibram Five Fingers.

I got the model suitable for winter running and will probably take them out only on some shorter recovery runs and errands. They’d probably be pretty good for lifting as well. If I get used to them, I’ll get another pair for that.

I’m working against two chronic injuries here: a tendency to stress the ligament or tendons in two middle toes which haunted my marathon prep early this year and a generally crappy mid-foot, so this is a near certain path to disaster. But we’ll see….

Somewhere, my podiatrist is shuddering for a second and then buying himself a second boat….