Success Warrior: Alan B. Rowley II - Beachbody.com, P90X, Voluntaryism, Voluntarism

My VFFs *are* my BFFs

No surprise here at all but the concern was the initial wearing didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked.  My concern when I put the Vibram Five Fingers on the first time was that the day before I had gone on a serious hikein a brand new pair of hiking boots.  I had a blister on my big toe and who knows what other damage had been done.  So, I let me feet heal up for the most part and tried the VFFs again this week.

Once again, I'll remind readers that Vibram recommends starting out easy when wearing these shoes.  Maybe an hour or two a day until you get used to them.  I did not bother with warning again because I don't see the need since I spend so much time without shoes.

Sunday, we went school shopping.  I wore the VFFs and took my sandals just in case things didn't work out. 

Many of the blogs that I read about VFFs before I bought them mentioned that people would just come up and comment on the weirdness of the shoes.  We went to several stores and to Chili's and no one paid any extra attention to my feet and no one made mention of the weirdness.  It's not something that would change whether or not I would wear them.  I don't care what other people think of my shoes and I'm not wearing them to get extra attention.  I'm wearing them because I think these will do what I want, protect my feet while giving me a minimalist feeling.

I wore them all day without any problems.  Never once thought about putting on my sandals.  I wore the VFFs for about 10 hours. 

Monday, I wore normal shoes to work and then switched into my VFFs when I got home.  I love that I feel like I'm barefoot but I can run outside to water the lawn, take the garbage out, or run to the store.  All of which I did plus I mowed the lawn too.  I did get some grass clippings inside the shoes.  Not enough that I noticed until I took them off. 

Tuesday was a work day and I switched into the VFFs again when I got home.  We went out to dinner to a new Chinese restaurant in town (which we won't be going back to anytime soon).  When we walked in, there was a sign that stated that they only take cash.  Under community pressure, they actually opened their doors before they were ready to be open so they aren't set up to take debit cards yet.  Our credit union (and free ATM) is only a block away so I decided to run there to get some cash while Tia and Trey had a seat and a drink.

Running is different.

You can't heel-strike.  The run to the ATM was awkward.  Crossing the road was uncomfortable.  I never noticed it before because I have been in a car or wearing conventional walking shoes when I've been on this road but it's really rocky.  Not loose rocks but it looks like they just poured rocks on the ground and poured tar over them.  Not foot friendly at all.  I was able to keep going without slowing down but only because I was just crossing the road.

On the run back, after crossing the rocky road, I seemed to find a stride that worked nicely.  If I was going to wear these for running, I would start on something softer than concrete and keep my mileage very low.  I don't know if I'm going to find any time for running anytime soon but since I'm a road runner, I'd probably stick with my New Balance shoes.  I might be tempted to try the VFFs on a track sometime but have no solid plans right now for that.

Today is not a work day and I have been wearing them all day. 

On a completely different subject, although I was wearing the VFFs, Trey and I went to the high school football field today for some sunshine and golf disk throwing.  They have marked the yard lines now so I was able to find out how far I can throw a disk.  I changed my throwing style today and my last time across the field, I was able to get two of my disks to fly over 270 feet.  That's not going to win any awards but it's probably an increase of 30 feet over what I have been throwing. 

Last time, I went throwing the disks in my VFFs, I ended up with a bit of skin worn off of my left heel.  Today, that didn't happen.  Last time, I ended up just going barefoot because we were just walking across the grass field back and forth.  Today, I kept the shoes on just to see if I got the heel-wear.  Nope.  Good to know for my next game of disk golf with my brother.

I have enjoyed the VFFs so much over the last few days that I told Tia that I'll be buying the cold weather variety when the weather changes.  Barefoot in the winter!  How cool is that?

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New Shoes: Vibram Five Fingers

It's been a couple of weeks since I bought some new shoes so I bought some more and the two are at opposite ends of the shoe spectrum.  The last pair that I bought were some mid-top, stiff, UnderArmour, softball cleats.

The pair that I got on Thursday are supposed to be the next best thing since going barefoot, maybe better in today's world and definitely better if you live in the high desert of the Rocky Mountains.  They are called Vibram Five Fingers (shortened as VFFs or V5Fs). 

Here's the ones that I wanted:

All the toes are separated to allow them to spread out and move independantly for balance and strength as opposed to being smashed together, unmoving, inside of shoes.  This, in turn, should help a person walk in a manner that humans were meant to walk, improving strength, balance, and posture.

They were out of this color in my size so I went with basic black.

Here's mine:

The shoes come with a warning not to wear them for than an hour or two a day for the first few days so that your feet can get used to the barefoot feeling.  Seriously?  

Do people sleep with their shoes on.  I'm barefoot unless it's absolutely necessary to not be barefoot.  How much practice does a person need to walk barefoot?

Anyway, that said, I am going to limit my wear a little bit because it has become apparent that in my case, there's going to be a bit of breaking in.  There are a couple of points around the top elastic that are rubbing my feet wrong.  I wore them for about 3 hours yesterday and 4 hours today.  Now that I'm not wearing them, I just plain ole barefoot.

I gave them the ultimate test right out of the box.  I grabbed the dog and we went for a walk.  Here's what the ground looks like off my driveway to the south:

And here's our walking area as soon from my driveway:

The surface required a bit more concentration on where I placed my feet.  Sharp rocks won't penetrate the sole but they don't feel good.  Other than that, and a little bit of rubbing above my right big toe, things went pretty good. 

These shoes weren't really made for this kind of walking because of how open they are at the top.  Sand and small rocks can make their way easily into the shoe.  Vibram does make a pair that is covered to the ankle (KSO) to keep stuff out.  I thought I'd try it anyway and I wasn't bothered by the little bits of sand that got into the shoe.

Some of the reviews that I have read onthe Vibrams, the authors report having a more grounded feeling from wearing the shoes.  I haven't had any such sensation as of yet but I can tell you that once the rubbing sensation is gone, these are going to be my favorite shoes. 

In the past, I've worn (out) watersocks and moccasins to get through the summer because I don't like wearing shoes but it's necessary either because of sharp stuff on the ground or by rule (no shirt, no shoes, no service).  I can slip these on in the morning and have the comfort of being nearly barefoot with enough protection for my foot and not get kicked out of the grocery store. 

Vibram also makes a winter shoe out of neoprene and there is a high probably that I will be getting those as well and maybe another pair of classics.  You obviously don't wear socks with these shoes so they will have to be thrown in the washing machine often.  They are supposed to air dry so it would be nice to have a fresh pair waiting in the wings and maybe they'll have the other color when I'm ready to order.

A couple of the reviews said that it was probably a good idea to try these on to get the size right.  As you can see by the last picture above, there aren't too many shoe stores in the area that carry weird stuff.  I stopped in a couple of weeks ago in Salt Lake at a running store that is supposed to carry them.  They were out.  They can't keep them in stock, they said. 

Tia called another store that was about 50 miles away in a small resort town where people might not bother to go to.  They did in fact have some in stock but they were closed because the owner was on the lake boating.  Lovely.

So I risked it and ordered them online.  I followed the directions on measuring my feet and placed the order.  Happily, they fit perfectly.  Sometimes it takes me a bit of work getting my pinky toe in place.  For you parents out there, imagine putting gloves on a kid for the first time.  Sometimes you get two fingers trying to jam into the same finger of the glove.  I think it will get easier with time.  The toe that gives me the most problems is the one that I have broken a couple of times in karate but I'm hoping that it can be trained to slide easily into place.

So far, for me, these are looking to be the answer to getting as close to barefoot while dealing with some of the issues of being barefoot.

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Remember, I'm going to be funding my return to college by being an affiliate of BeachBody.com products so please visit the site and make a purchase, no matter how small.  Insanity has been released so go check it out.

Feel free to "friend" me on Facebook