Run Aqua Shoes, Run!! A Five-Fingered Review

So, I haven't blogged much about running for a while for a fairly decent recent: I haven't exactly been doing anything blog-worthy with it. Ta da! The end. No, wait, really. When I first started this blog I was working my way up to a half marathon distance, which I accomplished and then the law school schedule made going much further somewhat prohibitive. I still run at varying degrees of seriousness, but mostly it's sporadic and social now.

Probably my main reason for doing less running - other than time commitments - is that I would never run to the dminishment of my already too-sparse dance schedule, and I already walk a lot. Even when I didn't have the current treadmill desk set up (and thus about four to seven hours of extra walking every day), I have tended to prefer walking as the ultimate mode of transportational freedom. Cars need parking, bikes need locking (helmeting, dressing...), busses need passes and waiting... walking means going wherever whenever. And when you spend that much time on your feet, you don't necessarily feel the same urge to spend more time on your feet in a slightly faster and hoppier fashion.

But as I say, I still dabble and I have finally started dabbling in a way that makes said dabbling bloggable: namely, I've sipped the barefoot running Koolaide. I now own a pair of Vibram Five Fingers!! Deveoted readers (hi mom and dad!) may remember my initial interest/skepticism about these bizarre little creatures. Well as an owner of a pair, I'm not sure I'm completely ready to repudiate my hesitancy, but I am an owner. Clearly I'm fully on board with something to do with wearing funny looking shoes (and socks, in my case - the blisters without would be even more painful than the smell of the shoes two days into using them) Sadly, my pair is fairly dull and nothing like I had originally hoped:

I need to be in charge of shoe design immediately

C'est la vie. By all recommendations, the transition from regular running to barefoot running should be cautious and gradual. I've heard incorporating them in with about 10% of your weekly miles... which may be problematic for me given my sparse mileage many weeks ("Ok, I ran ten yards, time to change shoes!!"). I had bought them as much as an alternative walking shoe for my treadmill desk, and have been walking in them. And of course when I walk, I tend to be unable to avoid breaking out into a gallop from time to time (MUST MAKE THE TRAFFIC LIGHT OMG!! Yeah, I'm crazy, what else is new). But aside from the walking, they hadn't been on much of a spin.

But my uber-athletic cyclist boyfriend is making his annual recommitment to running. The joy of his uber-athleticism is that he has a fantastic engine for horribly injuring himself where other new runners would poop out before little defects in form manifested in major tears and strains. So this year, finally and hopefully, he is taking is slowly and begrudgingly approaching the running schtick with the Couch to 5K Plan. This is so absolutely the right way to go - increasing intervals of walking and running - as it allows him to really focus on form and not do the damage that one does when one gets a little tired from trying to run a two minute mile. And it struck me as a great opportunity to use his work outs as my own transition. So, having committed to doing his weekend runs with him in my dusty not-so-new vibrams, I am more on board with the running in vibrams thing over all.

I also have been running with my Dad, and last night we decided to go on a short and easy run down to Fairhaven. I figured I might as well take the plunge and so I did. Oh yes, I have popped the five finger running cork and five fingered running is effervescing all over the floor (oh boy is it going to be sticky after a few hours!)

Vibrams are interesting. They have a certain novelty factor for casual use. Mostly it feels like you're not wearing shoes. It doesn't feel like you're barefoot... more like you are in slippers or socks or something fairly flimsy. Ok, aqua shoes, since let's face it that's basically what these are with a different tread and the whole toe-thing. Which makes every step outdoors this bizarre mish-mash of contradictory impulses (get back inside you're ruining your slipper! Oh no, it's wet! Agh! Keep running!). They are also far more sensitive to the assorted detritus of your average trail. I can say that I got a full and occasionally fierce reflexology session on my run last night. I also have noticed that there is a much higher danger of toe-stubbing in these for whatever reason. Think I've lost a little skin on my right big toe.

"not" vibrams, really

However, in terms of major complaints, I have none. Form-wise, I have the advantage of coming to running from a dance background. The essential advantage and peril of minimalist running shoes is that they gel well with a front-strike (where the runner's foot lands around the ball of the foot or there-abouts), instead of a heel-strike (you'll never guess where the runner's foot lands with a heel-strike!!). Heel-striking can cause a number of people knee/back/etc. damage and pain over time, because of body placement upon impact and decreased ability to absorb that impact. Traditional running shoes help and hurt in theory, by decreasing the impact with additional heel padding which in turn increases the likelihood of running with a heel-strike.... yadda yadda yadda... I know most of y'all have heard this a hundred times before. Vibrams make it easier to run with a more forward strike, but if you still insist on heel-striking they actually just make it worse. And this takes us back to my sheer fortune: In dance, the dancer's weight is almost always (I said almost, pedants!) centered in the ball of the foot and weight transfers from ball to ball.This enables better balance through the axis, safe pivoting, the ability to be super athletic in skinny little ninja stilletos, and so on. Even when I'm tangoing in practica shoes, I can't help but keep my heels off the floor. It just feels more natural and hydraulic to me.

Also *not* amenable to heel-strike!

When I first started running, I ran like I was taking very fast blues steps. I had to self-consciously correct to a heel-strike, believing this was the proper running form. So going back to a dancier style of running has been no sweat and even less so with the minimalist sole. As such, I haven't noticed the pains in my glutes and calves that others have promised. Mostly it feels like maybe I practiced some tango.

A candid photo of my run last night

In sum, running in vibrams is kind of odd, not too painful, perilously likely to stub toes and much closer to dancing through the tulips (yes, I like to plot my runs through people's gardens whenever possible) than the usual slog, which is more of a tromping the tulips milieu. I will likely still remain conservative and hold off on using the vibrams for longer runs just yet. But I could see working my way into them, particularly on trails. I do love some free pebble-reflexology!