Monkey shoes
April 9th, 2010 by Cassie
For Christmas, Joey got me a pair of Vibram FiveFingers shoes. They are amazing. I know many people have said that, but it’s true. For me, it just makes running more fun, and more difficult – both of which I enjoy.
The difficult part starts with your calves. At first, running even around the block is tough. I was sore for a week after my first run, and I didn’t think my calves were that weak to start with! This is mostly because your heels don’t touch the ground as much when compared to running with regular shoes. It’s sort of like doing calf raises the entire time. I think of this as a bonus – in the same amount of time as my non-fivefingers runs I’m getting more of a workout. Brilliant.
My calves are fairly buff now so I’m able to run longer distances more often. This has brought on the next stage of blisters and calluses. For me, I guess my toes weren’t strong enough, so my blisters are all centered there. My big toes in particular are now much thicker than they used to be. It doesn’t help that these days I’m running mostly on concrete, which is pretty rough. (Note: The main reason I’m running on concrete is that the one downside of these shoes is their lack of insulation. It is still too cold outside to go on long trail hikes. It’s warming up quickly though!) I suppose if you were able to run on trails all the time, you might be able to avoid blisters, but I feel like I’m just preparing my feet for real barefoot running.
Most importantly though, monkey shoes (Joey’s name for them, rather fitting) make running fun again. I feel more agile, bouncy even. It’s fun to feel the grass or twigs or bumps on the ground. Fun to just have more sensation. And I’m really excited to use them for backpacking. I have sandles for crossing streams, but these will be much better – easier to balance with on the rocks and I can even continue walking in them until they are dry.
I love my shoes so much that I had Joey get them too. They are just that good.