The Fad of Five Fingers

Today I went out for my first run in my FiveFingers Sprint. My fitness buddy, Emily has been running in FiveFingers for awhile, including during the LavaMan Triathlon. OMG!

This is my back-off week, and today was my 10 minute run, so since my regular running shoes (Brooks Women's Adrenaline GTS 10) were packed away for a weekend trip, I decided to give the FiveFingers a chance.

I've walked around in the FiveFingers before, but I haven't really done more than skip and jump in them. What is astounding is the way you really feel in touch with the ground, but the rocks don't quite hurt the way they would with bare feet. Immediately, when I started jogging, I felt the mechanics of my legs move differently. I pronate with both feet, moreso with my right foot, and the first thing I felt was my inner calves contracting as my foot would come down to push off in a way that it doesn't usually. I felt the rocking of my foot. I've read that the benefits of barefoot running are that it engages your natural body mechanics, and doesn't mess up the natural balance that you already have. At the end of my short run, I ended up feeling almost like my feet were cushioned more against the ground. No blisters, thankfully, though a little bit of weariness could be felt.

I think I might have gone a little faster overall, but it's hard to gauge at this point. I'm still not sold, but I will be trying this again.