Vibram 5 fingers
I got my
Vibram
5 Fingers KSOs yesterday, courtesy of
FootZone. I "ran" with them this
morning. I put "ran" in quotes because I really don't run. I'm too
fat and slow. I really jog, which plays into what I'm about to
write.
First a little back story. When I was a kid, my dad used to bitch
at me for "walking like a girl". I've always tended to walk on the
balls of my feet. I think I learned to do it because we had a 2
story house and I didn't ever want my dad, downstairs, to know when
I walked from room to room. So, I learned to walk on the balls of
my feet. That's just conjecture, though. I really have no idea why
I did it because I've always done it. If that makes me effeminate,
so be it. However, Ireally don't think it does. It came as a great
boon when I started martial arts training in middle school.
Similarly, I joined the band in middle school and played cornet.
So, naturally, when I went to high school, I was in the band (for 1
year [grin]). It was a marching band. I don't know how many people
realize this; but it's pretty damned hard to play the trumpet while
marching. Mind you, this is military style, not the smoother
"corps" style. So, if you march so that your feet land on your
heels, your lips bang pretty hard against your horn, not only
making you a sucky trumpet player (which I most definitely was);
but putting you at the constant risk of a fat lip. So, I remember
this very vividly. Our "first chair" trumpet player, who was also
the most talented musician we had at the time, used to say "You
have to walk like a fag." (Sorry, if that's offensive. I don't
think it is; but what do I know? This was Houston, Texas in the
early '80s.) He would constantly say that. Well, anyway, because I
already "walked like a fag", as so thoroughly pointed out by my
dad, it was pretty easy for me.
OK. One more story from high school. After they realized I sucked
as a trumpet player, they wanted me to be the "drum major" because
I marched very well. I quit the band and joined the cross country
team. Here, my tendency to walk (and run) on the balls of my feet
worked against me. My coach and the other people on the team would
constantly tell me that my stride was too short and I should stick
my legs out further in front of me. That never made much sense to
me; but being new to the whole thing, I figured I just sucked at
running, too, which I do, pretty much. So, I tried to increase my
stride; but it never worked. Whenever I wanted to go fast, my
stride shortened up so that I could land on the balls of my feet,
sort of. This is very difficult when you're wearing shoes with
humongous sponges glued to the heels. Everyone then bitched about
me "plodding", i.e. making a loud thumping noise every time my feet
landed because I was landing on the flat of the sole. But, again, I
didn't know any different. After about 1.5 years running, I quit
that, due mostly to a knee injury, and stuck with martial arts. I
continued to run by myself; but without other yahoos telling me how
to do it, I settled into my own pace.
So, a few weeks (months perhaps?) ago, a friend of mine tweeted
about barefoot running and some data that showed that many of the
very fast runners land mid-foot. It turns out that if you learn to
run as an adult in the West, you tend to land mid-foot. If you
learn to run as a child, guided by the shoes they convince you to
wear, you land on your heel. And in places where they run barefoot,
they land mid-foot, as well. (Side note, why are kids' feet "cute"
and adult feet "ugly"? Hmmm.)
This friend pointed me to a web log entry about a guy who was
re-learning to run in the Vibram 5 Fingers. Sorry I don't have the
link anymore. I thought PERFECT! So, I bought some and today was my
first run in them.
It went
FANTASTIC! For the first 2 miles, I
thought: "This is how the gods intended us to run". But then my
calves started tightening up. Running down hill is a bit of a
lesson. While on a flat surface or going up hill, I'm running
naturally, with little effort. In fact, it seemed like I went much
slower on this run. I only got out of breath once. But my actual
speed was the same as it was Monday. So, while I felt like I was
going slower, I wasn't. It was just plain
easier
...
Except for the down hill parts. Having run in regular shoes my
whole life, I suppose I land on my heel when running down hill. So,
I had to make an extra effort this morning to land mid-foot when
going down hill. That really put a strain on my calves. I foresee a
few night time charlie horses in my immediate future.
A few other notes are in order. 1) You can
feel
the surface you're running on! I happen to live in Portland, where
the sidewalks are kinda broken up from the trees. I don't run in
the street, even though the asphalt is softer, because the roads
slant for water run-off, which puts a damaging, constant, lean on
you. Plus, the broken up sidewalk reminds me of running in the
forest where you have to jump over things like roots and rocks and
such, anyway. It's better for all those tiny control muscles. But
it feels so decadent being able to feel every stick or mid-sized
stone you step on. And having the water splash over your feet when
you run through a puddle is fantastic!
2) Despite it being a bit chilly (45 deg F this morning), my feet
didn't get cold even once. In my Asics, which have a mesh top, but
otherwise complete coverage, my feet often get cold. I attribute
this to the idea that the muscles in my feet are actually working
in these shoes, unlike the others. Your toes are moving, gripping
the pavement, wrapping themselves around every bump in the road. At
several points, it felt like I was going to pull a muscle on the
bottom of my foot as it flexed with every step. Anyway, for
whatever reason, my feet weren't cold.
3) My right foot is much wider than my left, and my left is pretty
damn wide. I have duck feet. I have to wear shoes that are about
1.5 US sizes too large in order to get shoes that are wide enough
for my right foot. And even then, my right shoe always fails by
poping open at the ball where the upper meets the sole. It's no
different with these, except, since the uppers are very stretchy
and there's a velcro strap that goes over the top, the mount for
the velcro strap is rubbing seriously hard on the inside left of my
right foot. That soft skin there will either have to toughen up, or
I'll have to use band-aids or something to interfere.
So far, it's a great success! And I highly recommend these shoes.
We'll see how I feel in a month or two, though.