One foot in front of the other.
After much waiting and procrastinating, I finally went today and purchased my frst pair of Vibram FiveFingers. I went with the KSO model and I cannot wait to get home to give them a shot on the second part of my run this evening! Here are the unboxing pics!
[svgallery name="Vibram FiveFingers"]
Thanks so much for visiting my site! My name is Brandon Wood and I am the social media manager and a customer service rep for Newton Running. This site and podcast follow my adventures on the way to competing in and training for all kinds of endurance events, especially triathlon and running. Click the "About Me" tab for more info!
Who: This contest is open to anyone and everyone in the U.S. and Canada (also APO)! Tell your friends!
What: Stuffitts! I have spoken about these simple yet awesome shoe savers in the past. Click here to read more about them. I cannot say enough how great they are!
When: Starting NOW! This is an ongoing contest that will be every month, or until every person on the planet has nice, fresh smelling shoes!
Why: Because Stuffitts are awesome! The folks at Stuffitts are being SUPER generous and I also want to give you guys something that I think is a great addition to any athletes arsenal!
How: On the last podcast episode post of each month (example: Episode 99 on June 28 HERE) entrants should leave a comment (however long you'd like). On the following week's show (the first show of each month) I will draw, by random number generator, one winner! That's it!
Good luck!
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Brandon,
Congrats on the FiveFingers. I’ve had mine about 4 weeks, and have run in them about once a week. My advice is to go slow. You will put these on, start running and feel like you want to go crazy fast (because they feel so good). As a fellow Newton runner, these will feel very natural with your honed midfoot/forefoot technique. However, it becomes very apparent the next day that the VFF engages many more of the tiny foot muscles for balance and form correction. Chris McDougall was right, they really do self-correct your form! Keep the distance short at first (1-2 miles) until your feet adapt. I’ve been reading that barefoot running should be about 10% of your total running distance, in order to maximize foot strengthening, and minimize injury. Of course, guys like Barefoot Ted and Chris would tell this is the only way to go – I’m still not totally convinced; you?
BTW, how did you get such a funky color scheme? I’ve never seen orange and black before.
Run well, Todd
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Those look awesome. I’ve been procrastinating myself for months. May have to get off the fence and buy a pair.
What a great color scheme! Wish those were available when I bought mine…
I’ve only run a mile in mine (all on grass), although I frequently wear them around the house and have worn them on several dog walks.
I plan to gradually build up the VFF miles, but want to make sure my July stress fracture has totally healed first.
Congrats on the purchase. Looking forward to reading all about your experiences soon…
–Steve
Steve,
I totally hear you regarding your foot! Being that I’ve only had them one day, I just wore them in the office, a bit at home and like you, on a dog walk. I did manage to run about a hundred yards or so with one of my dogs, and it felt like barefoot for the most part. I have been wearing them with Injinji socks thus far, but I’m curious to see how my skin will hold up without them.
Welcome to the club!
Please let me know if you’ll agree with my VFF’s review…
Too comfortable with my newtons to give them up just yet…… plus with my first marathon just a few weeks away, and then the severe weather we get on the coast in the winter i’ve been thinking i’ll have to wait till next spring before trying them out. Good luck with them though mate.
Thanks Kev! Don’t get me wrong though. I am absolutely a Newton runner. Period. However, being that they use the same technique, I will use the VFF’s some of the time (maybe about 10%).
So what do you think, are you taking me up on my offer to buy them if you weren’t 100% happy?
Haven’t REALLY run in them yet. However, I have worn the quite a bit and I believe I am sold on keeping them! I’llprobably do about 10% of my mileage in them (+ or -)
I love my FiveFingers! My first pair were KSO, but the stitching started coming out on one of them after a couple weeks. Sent them back under warranty and waiting indefinitely for a new pair (on backorder at Vibram)
In the meanwhile, I picked up a pair of the Sprints. I run on trails at the state park and was afraid that I’d get sand, etc in them since they are open on top, but that wasn’t the case at all!
You’ll get wierd looks if you wear them in public, but personally, I don’t care!
Never had any adjustment or breaking in period, but I was already a forefoot runner anyway for over a year (after reading the Gordon P. book, etc, as well as my old performance running racing books)
Enjoy!!
I love those VFF’s!!! Really cool and I also love the new look of your blog!!!