Barefoot versus minimalist running

I never wanted to be a minimalist runner. I wanted to be a barefooter. The texts I’d read and the studies they’d cited all pointed me to think that my running form would be improved, hopefully reducing my injury recovery time, if I learned to run sans shoes. After agreeing that this would be a proper choice, I immediately bought Vibrams.

I was scared. Barefoot people are FREAKY, man! They are remembered as patchouli-smelling, dreadlock wearing, crazy people who do nothing but run and apparently live off the land. Or they are people like Barefoot Ted, who look like bodybuilders but are actually fantastic athletes who’ve simply chosen a different lifestyle that lends itself to more physical exertion.

I am neither of the aforementioned people. I was just a guy who wanted to run, but knew his current shoes weren’t going to cut it. I also realized that while barefooting was certainly fun and seemed noble in some way, it just wasn’t a practical approach when living in the city and especially in Phoenix, where sidewalks and streets get hot enough to seriously burn your feet from May through October. So Vibrams it was.

I wore my Vibrams to work out, to run and anywhere I reasonably could. They looked hideous. Blue, cream and dark blue camouflage looks ridiculous anywhere except maybe a snowy jungle in someone’s dream, but I kept on wearing them whenever I could. I was not quite able to bring myself to wear them with jeans or other non-workout, casual wear, but I definitely had them on a lot.

As I wore my Vibrams and ran more often, I began to notice amazing textures under my feet that I had never noticed before. The sidewalk, crosswalk and asphalt parking lots all had a different feel and texture to them. My feet loved it. After being encased in shoes for so long, my feet had only experience sand, dirt and grass barefoot, and these new textures made me feel oddly connected to the urban jungle (urban is pushing it for downtown Phoenix) that I had lived, played and worked in for years. It was like I was just getting to know the place.

On one particular long (okay, three miles) run in downtown Phoenix, I developed a blister after the first two miles and stopped running so I didn’t further worsen it. I was almost a mile from home and decided it was time to go all the way. While being barefoot seems no big deal with picnicking or on the beach, walking on the sidewalk and especially on a crosswalk made me feel so self-conscious you would have thought I was naked. The textures! The roughness! The slick parts! My feet were in overload as my body ached to process and identify the new info I was giving it.

This was all worth it after that. While I still run barefoot only sparingly, more as a way to ensure I’m using proper form as barefooting allows for zero shortcuts, my Sprints do a more than adequate job of relaying ground texture. Seeing as how the Sprints are the most minimalist (thinnest rubber sole and insole) of all the Vibrams, I was pretty damn close to barefoot every time I was out there.

My next goal was to figure out how to actually run, not run gingerly, in these barefoot shoes.

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