Five Fingers... er, Five Toes?

Despite what you see above, I have not gone mental; these are not gloves that I shoved on my feet for kicks. No friends, I've gone Five Fingers.

Calm down, Mom - I don't mean that I stole this pair of odd, rubberized footwear. I gave that up in the 7th grade when the tube of Silver City Pink lipstick fell from the opening of my pant leg onto the floor of Ben Franklins (and then I really gave it up when Tacy was caught pilfering an Ozzy Osbourne cassette tape from Ames Department Store the following year).

No, what you see above is a different type of Five Fingers discount and from what I hear the savings afforded by these wet suitish shoes is a savings from the joint stress and foot pain caused by traditional running shoes. By now, some of you may have read Christopher McDougall's non-fiction book Born to Run and are therefore familiar with the barefoot running movement. It's nothing new; it's just getting a lot more press these days and some of that attention has drawn Vibram's Five Fingers shoes into the spotlight.

I stopped at Campmor on my way home from my friend Johnna's house yesterday (it's a shame I didn't have time to stop there on the way to her home, since the store is on North 17 and I passed it on my way, but instead I stopped for three freakin' accidents and was running 45 minutes late, only to show up to the home of a nursing mother without the lunch delivery I had promised. Ugh. Bad friend) for a pair of waterproof pants for this year's walking holiday.

I had been reading a lot about Five Fingers earlier this summer and had watched a lot of online videos of people testing them out, but I hadn't taken the time to seek them out in person. I had tried to order them online, only to end up in a back order queue that I eventually canceled.

After grabbing the waterproofs (for only $16.99, I must add - thank God I fit into children's sized outdoor gear!), I decided to check out the shoe department and voila! There these beauties were, displayed as if they were meant for me. I grabbed one from the display and began a rather frustrating process of getting it on my foot. I've always known I have strange feet and toes (German toes, Aunt Wilma always called them, because the middle ones are longer than the big toe) but I didn't realize just how much my baby toe hugs its neighbor. It was a real bitch to get it to move into its assigned "finger".

After a few moments of struggle, my friendly granola sales kid (who looked exactly how I envision Jesus looked, except this kid was much younger and, well, stoned out of his mind) came over and got me another size. I'm usually a European 38 but had to go up to a 39 due to my freakishly long toes.

Once I had them on, I proceeded to walk around the store for about a half an hour and every Tom, Dick, and some guy named Herman stopped me to ask about them. Herman got very upset when I told him I planned on hiking about 18 miles a day in them in a few weeks time and insisted I purchase a pair of old school hiking boots.

Seriously?

I haven't worn hiking boots since THE NINETIES. I'm not climbing Mount Everest, folks. There's no need in my world for that kind of leather. Over the course of recent years, I've gone from hiking in the Merrell Gore Tex Chameleon Arc, to in the North Face Gore Tex Fury (loved this shoe), to in a pair of Gore Tex running shoes, to in last summer, a pair of Chaco sandals.

This summer's Walk for Fitness campaign happened to coincide with my reading of McDougall's book, so instead of putting on a pair of sneakers before that first walk, I threw on my Chacos and that's what I've walked in every day. I figured since I planned on hiking in them this summer, I would get used to them now; in case any blisters decided to form, I wanted to know about it in advance so I could combat any further formation. I am spending the 4 days before my wedding hiking, after all, and can't afford sore feet on my wedding day.

Well, the Chacos were wonderful except I went a bit over board and instead of keeping up with foot maintenance, I went the opposite direction and allowed callouses to form instead, figuring I would remove them before the wedding (gross, I know).

That was until the callouses opened this past weekend and my feet opened to a world of pain. Needless to say, with the help of some Band-Aids, I walked on, a bit wary I'll admit but hey, what's a dedicated fitness walker to do? I know, put on a pair of sneakers.

No! I won't do it - instead, I bought the Five Fingers!! Last night I tested them out with a run/walk (I was late for a hair appt) to 5th and Washington and back. The literature that came with the shoes advised taking a few weeks to get used to them but hey, I've been walking/running in sandals all summer so my feet are used to flat and, well, I don't have a few weeks: my walking holiday commences in 10 days!

Well, what's my verdict?

So far, so good! Yeah, I'll admit that they feel weird, particularly in the baby toe region and yes, they are still a pain in the arse to put on but I'm assuming these two issues will fade with time or I'll just deal with them. I really like the feeling I get from knowing that my body is in control of my movement and that my shoes aren't getting in the way. I like to think of it like this: traditional running/hiking shoes are designed to support your body, which is, in my opinion, why a lot of runners and hikers have major issues with joint pain and injury.

Shoes shouldn't support your body, folks. Your body should support itself and, well, that's what Vibram's Five Fingers seem to allow it to do.

I'll be wearing them on this morning's walk for fitness so I'll let you know how they do in terms of hill climbing and on varied terrain. Wish me luck!

And yes, those are my feet.