Barefoot Running Experiment

The phrase that best describes my experience with barefoot running is "it sucked." I went four weeks straight running roughly half an hour every day barefoot, then four more weeks trying to run in those Vibram Five Fingers shoes. After the first few runs I didn't go for more than a minute without wishing I was wearing my flats again.

Entering the second week of true barefoot running, I had developed rather painful blood blisters on the soles of both my feet, a nasty gouge in my left arch of unknown origin, and an inability to run faster than 10 min mile pace comfortably on pavement. I stuck it out for the whole month; it didn't get worse, but there was no sign of improvement. I also nearly fell multiple times on wet ground for lack of traction (both on the road and in the grass) , and I hadn't experienced real living until turning my ankle on a hidden tree root with no shoes on. All of that, and you get the pleasure of people looking at you like you are an idiot several times a run, which as it turns out is not far from the truth.

Running in the Vibrams was not much better. The blood blisters went away, and the traction was better, but it's just plain uncomfortable to run long or fast in them if you're not on a golf course. And you still have to be uper-conscious of where you are stepping as you go, so you can't really get going that fast--they don't do anything to shield your feet from rocks or sticks. I've read all the stuff about "re-learning" how to run more efficiently and improving your biomechanics, and there is plenty of merit to it I think, but I also believe even more strongly now that you can get the best of all worlds in minimal shoes like racing flats.

Maybe I can sell my Vibrams on craigslist.