The Vibrum FiveFingers have always given me the hee-bee-gee-bees just looking at them [I hate things between my toes and cannot even wear flip-flops] so I knew I wanted something different. I didn't want to pay a lot of money for something that I wasn't sure if I would like.
Enter Nick. He's been running in the Vibrums for years; but he doesn't really run all that much. He had a store / online credit and purchased these without me even knowing:
They are Merrell Barefoot shoes. That I didn't even know existed. So I stole them from him. [Oh yeah, should add my husband WEARS THE EXACT SAME SIZE SHOE AS ME. I cannot even begin to tell you how convenient that has made life over the years!]
So far it has definitely been an adjustment. You have to change your running form to land on the middle or forefront of the foot instead of the heel so there are muscles / tendons yelling at you that you haven't used in years. I did a lot of reading and youtube watching to get my form to where I felt it was right. I've been taking it show and have worked up my mileage over the past month. I'll be honest though, I have a race coming up and I thought I'd just wear my regular shoes, but I had them on to jog out to the garden today and it was TOO WEIRD! I think I'm officially used to the barefoot shoes!
7 comments:
I've been dying to try a barefoot, or at least a minimalist, shoe for a while. I want to use them more as a training tool rather than as my everyday running shoe. I haven't been able to justify the cost yet, but I'll get there one day!
My husband wears those Merrells everyday as his work shoes. He's been a Merrell lover for years and was excited about the barefoots. He doesn't run in them though. He's got some serious feet issues so has special running shoes. I tried the barefoots for everyday and just couldn't get used to them. I probably have should have given them longer. I'm not a runner, unless my life is in danger. :)
My husband wears those Merrells everyday as his work shoes. He's been a Merrell lover for years and was excited about the barefoots. He doesn't run in them though. He's got some serious feet issues so has special running shoes. I tried the barefoots for everyday and just couldn't get used to them. I probably have should have given them longer. I'm not a runner, unless my life is in danger. :)
I've been wondering about these and barefoot running. This may have given me the guts to try!!
Its funny--I bought a pair of the minimalist running shoes 3 months ago, and I have been living in them. I haven't been running, since I was fairly pregnant when I bought them, but I have been logging lots of walking/hiking/playground playing miles in them.
I love them, and I am totally beginning to see the wisdom in the barefoot running movement. I'm excited to start actually running with these shoes after the new baby is born. The shoes haven't been a huge adjustment for me though, because I pretty much spend 7 months out of the year living in my Steger mukluks, which are pretty much minimalist footwear for winter.
I love that you can't wear flip flops because I thought I was the only person in the world who didn't. I can't stand things between my toes either!
Good to get a perspective on them. I hate shoes! I love to run (but haven't done much of that over the last 6 months) and wondered about such shoes. I'll keep these in mind.
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