Back to basics
About a year ago, I acquired a pair of Vibram Five Fingers.
I didn’t get any further than trying them out around the house.
But because it’s Juneathon and Juneathon (for me, anyway) is about being creative and trying new things, I thought I’d do at least one Juneathon run in them.
Today was that day.
The worst thing, by far, is trying to get your toes into the little toe pockets. Does this get easier the more you wear them? I eventually get my toes into them and decide that if I’m going to do a ‘natural’ run, then I’d also leave my iPod at home (well, I was only going to do about three quarters of a mile, so I decided I could probably live without it for that short a distance).
I thought they’d feel really weird, but they didn’t. I could feel the different textures of the ground beneath me but it wasn’t a completely barefoot feeling (probably because I wasn’t completely barefoot).
Whenever I’ve run without an iPod before (ok, on the occasion when I ran without an iPod), my feet sound tremendously heavy and the bang bang bang on the ground, along with my heavy breathing, is very off-putting. In the VFFs, I didn’t seem to be pounding the pavement quite so heavily but my breathing definitely needs sorting out. I seem to take lots of little breaths and it sounds very weird.
Because I’d read that you shouldn’t go too far on your first VFF outing, I just did a short .8 of a mile loop round by Tescos then back through the little park.
Running in VFFS was fun and if I can be bothered to try to get them back on my feet again, I’ll definitely be giving them another go, although this will be when the weather warms up; my toes were freezing at the end of the run.
Stats
Distance: 0.8 miles
Time: 8:14
Pace: 10:19 m/m
Calories: 84
Time spent trying to put on VFFs: lots
Ipods: 0
Cold toes: 10
Hurrah! Well done on getting out in them. It does get easier to get them on although the little toe is always tricky.
Nice, you will notice that the more you use them your toes get straighter so it will be easier to put them on with time.
It took me ages to put on my first pair of VFF Flows, but now it’s no bother at all. You might find your toes ache from being pushed back to where they should be, but that passes.
toesocks.co.uk sell reasonably priced five-toed socks, you’ll definitely want some to stop the VFFs from getting smelly as well as keep your feet warm.
i put mine on by sliding my foot along the floor into them. and kind of inching my toes up.
not like putting on shoes with one leg crossed over the other to bring the foot up closer.
I’ll be interested to see how you get on with them…..
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You know I’ve been thinking about buying some of them for ages. I’ve been intrigued by them for ages. How were you legs the next day?
Legs fine today!
They just look a bit scray but well done for giving them a go, I hope they work out for you!