Five Fingered Shoes: Quarterly Update

To read my first post on Vibram Five Fingered shoes on Running Shoes Guru, click here.

It’s been three months since I started running in my Vibram FiveFingers, I have to admit, although the clerks at Clarks Shoes assured me of their durability I really didn’t think they’d hold up. They did, and honestly, I’ve been blown away by this product. I have had no IT-band problems, I can run just as long and strong as I could before, and I don’t want to take them off!

The feeling of a more flexible shoe took some getting used to but the wait was worth it. Fit is very important with these shoes. In retrospect, I think it’s very important to go to an actual store for your first pair so you can try on a few different sizes. The staff was very helpful at the Clarks Shoes I went to. Now, I got a size smaller than I would in normal shoes but when you’re trying them on just keep in mind they should fit like a slightly larger foot. The heel should have a nice supporting grip and the toes should be very flexible.

After I worked back up to my normal distances, I had an issue with the back of my heel becoming tender from rubbing. To help with this I just put a strip of medical tape on my Achilles tendon on alternating days until it was tough enough to shirk the irritation, which it now is. Additionally, I throw mine in the washing machine once a week if I wear them daily. I let them air dry with a bounce sheet inside, which combats the possible smell.

Vibram Five Fingers

There are many positives to these shoes, and I know I’m not the only one gushing about them. If you lived in a place with miles of grassy fields that would be ideal, but my city’s unpredictable scape (trash, gravel, and possible glass) leaves running barefoot running hazardous. Vibrams are the closest I can come to this newfound joy. But here is my favorite thing about them, and excuse me for getting a little dramatic—these shoes are visceral. Catching a feel of the earth with my feet at each pace turns my runs into something more primitive, more basic. Anyone who has run for a long time has felt it morph from a physical enterprise to a spiritual task; for me, the transition is somewhere between the second and fifth mile—my pores have broken open, my breath and pace are steady. These remove one more clunky element from that experience and make me closer to running itself. I love it.

I will say these shoes generate stares. You can’t wear them all the time, even though I would like to. I think the black ones are the least conspicuous. Wearing Vibrams can make “regular shoes” feel “stuffy”; I had to pick up a pair of sandals just so I wouldn’t go to the grocery store barefoot. Sandals help; mine are supportive, comfortable and breathable, of course. But they’re no contest for the best shoes that pretend they aren’t shoes.