Vibram Five Fingers are the latest sensation in barefoot running. I call them gloves for your feet because they are so light, yet so strong. The soles are made of some kind of impenetrable armor. Beautiful things, really.What's not so beautiful is the feeling you get when you first run in these things. Years of running in soft, supportive shoes left me with a lot of bad habits. First of which, is my running style. In the support shoes, I would run with my heels striking the ground, hard. In the Vibrams, I still did that; however, the first couple of impacts with the ground really hurt my ankles. So, I learned to strike the ground softly with my heels, but roll my ankles forward and propel myself with my toes.
Propelling forward with the toes placed a lot of stress on the calves and all the little muscles that basically nearly died from disuse. That's where the fun begins. After 5 miles, my calves were complaining loudly. I guess they weren't used to being put into action as springs. After my run, I could barely walk. Luckily, only the muscles hurt; my softer running style left me with no joint pain. I also had no pain in my shins. That, I can appreciate. I can also appreciate a bath in Epsom Salt, some Indian food that I picked up along the way (running with Indian food is so much fun), and some mint tea that I picked up from the local farmer's market.
Guilt-free eating while watching a good movie (127 Hours) is what I live for :). Later.
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