Sunday, July 17, 2011

Higher Math

Lee and I have been saving our pennies for the past few months so we could get some good running shoes for the half marathon we're running in October.

This is what we ended up getting at REI on Saturday.

Look at our cool new shoes!

We've received a lot of recommendations for these shoes from friends and random strangers, so we thought we'd give them a try!  (It does help that REI has the best return policy ever!) Anyway, Lee got the Men's Vibram FiveFinger Bikila LS (gray-colored shoes) and I got the Women's Vibram Five Finger Speed (blue-colored shoes).


A few things that I've noticed about these shoes in the 2 days we've had them:
1.  I really stink at getting my toes in their proper compartments.  Lee has had to put on my shoes for me the last few times.
Lee's bracelet says "I heart Asians"--I made it for him at Girls Camp this week.

2. Lee really, really, really likes his shoes.  Here he is taking a nap.  (Yes, he does sleep with his eyes a little open.  It weirds me out sometimes.)  
Eerie-looking, eh?

 And yes, he is sleeping with his shoes on.

I do make him take off his shoes when he goes to bed at night--I am such a drag!

3. Lastly, besides the benefits of letting your feet strengthen themselves through simulating running bare foot, Lee and I now can do higher math--we can count higher without taking off our shoes!
We can each count up to 20 now!

We're going to ease into them first by walking, then we'll try a little running--apparently, when you first start wearing these, you can tire quicker because you're using a new set of muscles.  We'll let you know how things go as we train.

Has anyone had any experience running "bare foot" or with these Vibram FiveFinger shoes? Any advice to us beginning FiveFinger runners?

2 comments:

  1. One of my graduate school friends did her doctoral project on the effects of running barefoot on your feet. What she found says that some people who run barefoot injure their foot more, but that not everyone who runs barefoot WILL injure their feet. So I think you are wise in taking it slow. The only added advice I could give is to listen to your feet, they will tell you if the barefoot thing is right for you! Happy running!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kara! I was hoping you would weigh in on this from a PT point of view. Thanks for the info--we are being really slow easing into them and we'll listen to our feet for sure! Hope you're doing well in Seattle!

    ReplyDelete

What's that you say?