Endurance, Stamina, Strength, Flexibility, Power, Speed, Coordination, Agility, Accuracy, Balance

This past May, when I should have been spending my time ramping up mileage in preparation for a full marathon, I instead spent it getting physical therapy work done on my calves. You see, I watched an interview of a guy who ran a full marathon barefoot, on pavement, and got so inspired that I spent hours on Google reading about the pros/cons of this barefoot movement. Why people recommended it, why people hated it, and everything in between. It was during my research that I first saw Vibram FiveFingers. Personally, I loathe having to wear shoes. About 95% of my wardrobe consists of clothes to match my black OluKais. If I could get away wearing them to a wedding, I probably would. Within five minutes, I decided I had to have a pair of these crazy toe shoes and the next day I became a proud owner of my very first pair of FiveFingers Sprints.

Cashier: “Try these on at home and wear them a little bit. Make sure your feet and legs get adjusted to them.”
My interpretation: “Wear them around the house for 2 minutes and then go run!”

And that’s exactly what I did.

Goal: 10 miles, but I decided to cut back some since I was testing out the new shoes.
New Goal: 7 miles
Mile 0-1: I noticed immediately that I wanted to run on the balls of my feet. Great! They’re working! My running form is adjusted for the better! I keep running.
Mile 1-2: My calves started to feel a little tight. After a quick stretch I continue my run.
Mile 2-3: Hm, my calves are pretty tight today. Better stretch some more.
Mile 3-4: I need to do another 3 miles still???
Mile 4-5: I head back to the car. Walking.

Let me pause a moment here for my disclaimer. Although I have been running for the last ten years of my life I am still very much a newb at this sport. I’ve never known about shin splints and stress fractures before, I’ve heard of them but only a little. I didn’t know what they felt like or how to treat them. And I’ve only just recently been using the R.I.C.E treatment.

The day following my first “barefoot” run, I noticed my calves were a little swollen and were pretty darn painful. The day after that, they were incredibly painful and I had to shuffle to walk because I could not extend or flex my toes without terrible pain in both calves. By the third day my calves were so swollen and painful that I stayed home from work. On day four, I finally got some reprieve. The swelling was gone, and I could flex my feet fairly well. I thought to myself it must have been a bad case of lactic acid buildup (yes, laugh at the newb) and decided it would be best to do a short 2 mile jog to flush the legs. After lacing up my shoes and a little pep talking to myself, I headed out for my 2 mile easy jog. Three steps into my jog, I experienced the most painful feeling in my right calf that I had to sit down to keep from passing out. It felt like someone had shot the back of my calf with a shotgun/flamethrower mega weapon. That’s when I decided I probably should go see a doctor about my legs. After it was all said and done, I was out six weeks with recurring shin splint problems and a stress fracture scare (x-ray came back negative and I was not dropping money on an MRI). My mileage dropped drastically and when I should have been outside training my lungs for our Louisiana summer I was stuck inside breathing nice cool air-conditioning while I ran on the treadmill. All over a little inspiration to run barefoot.

After all this, you would think I would be one of the people that hate these FiveFinger shoes. But I’m not. I respect them even more now. I realize that they have a place in an active person’s life but that place is very dependent upon the person and their sport. Sprinting on a track, great! Light, short run on a dirt trail, sure! Deadlifts and squats at CrossFit, absolutely. Mountain biking, maybe if you’re careful enough not to trap a toe between a pedal and a tree stump. Long distance runs, probably not the best idea unless you’ve worked up to this VERY slowly and cautiously, one half mile at a time over weeks and weeks of training. And never, ever on concrete unless you have Superman calves.

I still like to wear mine to work every once in a while, though the hot pink color (they call it chili red but I swear it’s hot pink) is a little harder to match than my black OluKais. They make my feet cramp, but I don’t mind because I know they’re strengthening my foot muscles. To date, I have inspired four people to purchase their own Vibram FiveFingers and I am anxiously awaiting the day when I can go pick up my next pair. In black of course.