Vibram Five Finger Shoes

[Adam]

http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/barefooting/barefoot_running.cfm

Now, my question is: Does this sound plausible? My natural instinct says, "You've been in running shoes since high school cross country and anything else is stupid." But I kinda wanna give it a chance. There are barefoot runners out there and wouldn't we want to run more naturally??? Unfortunately, I think something like this may not be suited to middle/long distance runners. I'm not planning on buying them or anything, but I'm just not sure what to make of them. I don't want to be closed minded, but at the same time I feel that after a century of running shoes that we wouldn't keep with what we've been doing for no reason.

[Nicholas]

i was on you tube bored one night when i was training for the big sur marathon awile back. so i decided to look up previous years of the marathon.

skip exactly to minute one of this video. there is a guy running big sur backwards and barefoot. it is also not known to be an "easy" marathon by any means.

[Philip]

hmmm, not sure about that! These were developed for water based sports, think you'd need a super smooth technique and not to be carrying too much weight to get away with wearing them.

Still, I've not tried them so it would be interesting to hear from somebody who has.

[Dread Rooster]

I have been running in a set of five-fingers for going on two years now. In regards to having to have smooth technique, you are right. By using them your feet are better able to give feedback about your gait. I was a brute force runner when I started, but have been injury free since then. I am 5'9" and 198lbs, not the lightest of runners. I put down between 30 and 50 miles a week at a 7:30/8 min pace. The "toe" thing is off the beaten path, but nike has their free line that follows the vibram trend of letting the foot act as naturally as possible. Not saying they are the best thing for everyone, but they certainly work well for me.

*the lack of a real tread on the bottom can get you into a "slick" spot on wet grass or muddy trails.