If the pinky toenail turns black, that's bad, right?

OK, now that the snow is pretty much gone, I've been running more. One thing you have to understand before I go any further--I have bad feet. I mean really bad. Flat, flat, flat. These things are like flapjacks o' flesh. When I cut a rug on the kitchen floor (cut a linoleum?), it sounds like Daffy Duck doing jumping jacks. I ain't got no arches, is what I'm trying to say. It looks like someone poured a sand dune of foot through the femur funnel of my leg.

Anyway, I have to love these feet, because they're the only ones I've got--at least until I find out if they have arch implants. So I grew up w/ sore calves, sore shins, sore ankles from soccer and whatnot. Then I got fat and stopped running. But now I have a newfound like--not love--a newfound like for trailrunning out here in the beautiful Pac NW, and so I've been researching options outside of the standard running shoe, which never seemed to help no matter how many times I had people videotape my gait and all o' that jazz.

I had heard about barefoot running before, and it appealed to me, but it never seemed to be much of a viable option in an urban environment until I heard about Vibram FiveFingers. Originally designed as a kayak shoe, it's been adopted by the barefoot running community, and has since been modified toward providing JUST enough protection from pebbles and broken beer bottles whilst simultaneously making it feel like you're jogging in your socks.

They look ridiculous, but I guess that's kind of my style these days:



I LOVE these things. They make me feel more limber and in touch w/ the ground, literally and figuratively. Can't lie though, the initial break-in was BRUTAL. They recommend running a mile or so, then switching back to regular shoes, and then gradually working your way up. Since I was unhappy w/ my running shoes anyway, I said screw it. The first 3/4 of my run was awesome--I felt like a FL boy running around in nature again. But then my calves seized up, the ankles rebelled, and I barely made it home. Ever walked a bit too much in beach sand? Multiply that by 100 and that's approaching where I was. Bad stuff.

Also, my pinky toes went completely numb, and the next day, they felt like they'd been hit w/ a hammer. Then the nails looked bruised and I got a bit worried. I think that your outside toes and accompanying tendons don't engage at all in most shoes, but w/ the FiveFingers, the pavement was throwing everything it had at these little guys and making them panic. But I kept stretching my legs, gave the tootsies a rest, and the next time I went for a run, everything went smashingly. And everything's continued being smashingly since then. Your legs and feet act really confused for a bit, but they adapt and seem really happy after the initial horrors.

I know what you're saying, what about when it gets cold and wet? That's what these are for, doubting Thomas:




I love my life.