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Let’s Be Friends! is a post from: MyFiveFingers.com - a Vibram, FiveFingers, Toe Shoes, Minimalist Shoes Fan site

Who's ready to run 12.5 in mud, through water and over obstacles? This guy.

Tough Mudder isn’t your typical distance race. There were training runs, road races, adventure hikes and weightlifting sessions. There was a lot of helping, more mud than pigs would be comfortable in and enough small rocks to make me rethink my choice of Vibram Sprints.

Then there was the electroshocks that knocked me down, blurred my vision and for a little while, made me thank anyone I could find that it was over. And after months of gym visits, a few cold showers BEFORE training runs and a half day spent crawling on rocks, jumping in and out of a pool and carrying a 14-lb medicine ball for two miles (during my 8.5 mile TRAINING the week prior), the inaugural Tough Mudder Arizona was over.

Here’s my obstacle-by-obstacle recap* of my Tough Mudder run at the former GM proving grounds in Mesa, AZ.

1. Braveheart Charge
Our first obstacle was an eight-foot wall jump, followed by a rousing speech surrounded by about a hundred other potential mudders. We all pledged to make this an adventure and not a race, to help anyone who needed it and to value finishing over our times. After a bunch of grunting, the Star Spangled Banner played and we trotted off for what seemed about a mile run.

2. Kiss Of Mud
All hope of avoiding heavy mud was lost at this obstacle. We crawled, lurched and pushed our way through mud on our bellies, every second wishing the person in front would flail their leg and kick mud into our faces (it happened anyway).

Obstacle one was a ten-foot wall. It had a step. It was easy.

3. Arctic Enema
A 40-foot ice bath is no picnic in any weather. This obstacle required us to walk through a trough filled with ice (a bulldozer gave us a fresh batch), water and some green food coloring that looked like creamy Kool-Aid. Halfway through the chest-high water there was a board lined on top with barbed wire, forcing us to submerge to go forward. The sensation of ice cubes on my head as I came back up was a little unsettling, but I hopped out ready to go.

My guys. I'm the odd one out.

4. Berlin Walls #1
Only monkeys could scale these 12-foot walls quickly. Each of my team required a little boost to get up the wall, but all made it over quickly. A few people toppled over head first, but no one seemed to get hurt. This was far harder than I thought.

5. Jumpin’ Bale
Jumping between five-foot-high hay bales wasn’t tough as long as you could build up a good head of steam, but with so many other people around you, that was tough. None of my team fell, but we were a bit worried each time we took to the air.

6. Zombie Apocalypse
Beat-up cars, acrid smoke and a whole bunch of tires greeted us here. I punched a windshield, jumped on a roof and tried to break a back window, but my fist isn’t capable of such. I feel better prepared for an outbreak now.

I may have been taunting the crowd. Maybe. Yes, that's the marble dance from Major League II.

7. Bump N Grind
Crawl over sharp rocks as noted on the map, but I don’t remember it on the course. Or maybe it was just too muddy for the rocks to be a problem. Anyway, I crawled on sharp red rocks LAST weekend as prep, and I’m still sporting scars. So there’s that.

8. Devil’s Beard
Low-slung cargo nets threatened to impede our progress, but as long as we all stayed close, the nets were easy to lift. I kinda wanted to go on top and have people launch me into the air.

Awesome is not crawling through tight tubes filled with mud and water, but tough is. Tough won out. Note the barbed wire.

9. Boa Constrictor
A hands and knees crawl through sand, then muddy water, then sand. The pipes were too small to float through, and I had to get really skinny to get out. As soon as I figured out to put one knee directly in front of the other, I made it just fine.

10. I don’t remember. Sorry.

11. Bale Bonds
This wasn’t hay, rather a series of small mud hills that looked hay-like. If you can picture the short jumps from Excitebike, you’ll get it. And just like Excitebike, if you lost speed or took a wrong angle, you’d face plant.

Running in Vibram Sprints is easy. Running over rocks is harder, but doable. Running over rocks in muddy Vibram Sprints filled with pebbles is Tough Mudder.

12. Twinkle Toes
You’d think that wearing Vibrams would make this easier, right? That my superior grip with my flexible shoes would enable me to channel my inner ballerina and fly right by, yeah? That worked until I got to the middle and the wood dipped, swayed and snaked. Into the water I went. Water was nice, though. Except for the mud.

13. Hold your Wood
This was something like a 3/4 mile trot while carrying a log. Some people teamed up to carry a larger piece, others went solo. My teammates and I each grabbed our own. We ran the first quarter mile, walked the second and ran the third. The carry was awkward, but not terrible.

14. Shake N Bake
We were supposed to be hosed down here, but instead we just crawled in muddy water while live wires hung down and stung us. The shocks weren’t bad, the footing wasn’t great and I was happy to get out.

15. Berlin Walls #2
Crap. More 12-foot walls that I couldn’t get over the first time. My first attempt here resulted in me falling off the wall and stumbling backwards across the support, but I got back up, pushed my way up and bruised my inner arm, forearm, inner thigh and knee doing so. Oh, the drop back down sucked too.

These weren't smooth, small pebbles, either.

16. Mud Mile
Not really a mile. It didn’t really matter, as this obstacle only served to make the mud and small pebbles in my Vibram Sprints multiply. We trudged through.

17. Mystery Obstacle
I think this was the mud wall. Or maybe it was 20 jumps. Or maybe something with mud and water. I’m sure it sucked.

This may have been at the end. May have been in the middle. Everything blurred together.

18. King Of The Mountain
At first I thought we’d all have to fight to the top and then throw all challengers off, but apparently this wasn’t THAT kind of ‘king of the mountain’. We climbed, pushed others and did our best not to trip on the twine trying to hold the hay bales together.

19. Log Jammin’
This was where the team and I started to get frustrated. Because we had run the entire time, save that 1/4 mile during the log jam, we caught up with the earlier heats and were slowed down by longish lines at obstacles. While the cardio break was nice, watching out-of-shape people belly themselves over logs grew tedious. Once we started and realized that the top logs were closer – forcing us to lean BACK to go up – we were slightly more sympathetic. Oh, and the lower logs that we were supposed to go under had barbed wire twisted around them.

20. Walk The Plank
15 or so foot jump into a muddy hole. I hit bottom, but none of my teammates did. A few other participants waited at the top for what seemed like forever, but none of us hesitated. The water did nothing to help with the rocks still in my Vibram Sprints, but it was refreshing.

21. Dirty Holes
Mud slog separated by mud hills followed by more mud slogging. Felt a bit quicksand-ish and thankfully my straps held my shoes on.

Read on to see if those were live wires. Seriously.

22. Spider’s Web
Up and over cargo nets. Easy had we not been in a hurry, but annoying if cold and being pushed, which we were.

23. Berlin Walls #3
This sucked. It ain’t easy for a 5’11″, 215 lb dude to get up and over a 12-foot wall when he’s fresh, let alone when he’s muddy, tired and the wall is super slippery. No casualties, but my shoulders and back screamed after this one.

Looks so simple from up here. We ran the whole way. Most people did not.

24. Shocks on the Rocks
I think this was earlier in the race, but I crawled through so many mud pits with barbed wire overhead or in a tube I can’t really remember. Pretty sure this one had tarp down, but that made it harder.

25. Turd’s Nest
Cargo nets are great on the side of ships and below trapeze artists. They catch everything. Problem is, getting out is a ton harder. While we weren’t quite as cramped as the Rebels in Return of The Jedi, falling through was a worry. Our spectator friends told us to log roll through it, but there wasn’t room. I crab- then bear-crawled through.

26. Cliffhanger
Super-muddy mountain with few footholds and a whole lot of slippery here. I fell back three times and was saved each time my my teammates. A helpful hand from another mudder got me over the top and then I nearly fell navigating the muddy top. My legs were now stiff.

27. Everest
By far the most feared obstacle, this greased half pipe proved a worthy foe. The idea was to run as fast as you can as far up as you can, then dive forward and hope someone on top grabs you. Once there, completion was just a leg hook away. We watched a few people try to get up this for almost twenty minutes. Hilarity was watching them slide back down, unhurt. A few dudes seemed to be a little shy in grabbing the women to help them up, but each girl I heard said they didn’t care who grabbed what, they just wanted to get over. I did it on the first try.

Dos Equis Amber tastes real, real good.

28. Funky Monkey
I’ve never liked monkey bars. Some people went across bar by bar, others hooked their legs first and crawled upside down and backwards. I made it two bars and then my grip gave out, dropping me into more green, cold water. By this time the sun was gone and clouds had taken over, making the water less refreshing and more uncomfortable.

29. Electroshock Therapy
When I first signed up for Tough Mudder, I figured this was a bit exaggerated. No way they’d hit us with 10,000 volts right? And even if they did, that’s not enough to hurt, right? That’s some BS right there. The line here was long as everyone was scared to get shocked, so the organizers started challenging us to cut in and dive through. We could smell and hear the burns and zaps, making it less than exciting to be almost finished.

Here I watched two guys before me lunge through the live wires, only to fall flat on their faces ten feet away. Since the ground was another mud pit, I figured they had dove. Heh. NOPE. They had been shocked so hard it knocked them over, as I found out seconds later. I made it one step before my first shock and another one before I plunged into the deep mud right behind them. After face planting, I raised my head up only to be shocked AGAIN, only this time it blurred my vision instead of pushing me into the mud. We crawled through the rest of the windy 20 feet to emerge frazzled, but alive.

With my vision still fuzzy, I waited for my teammates to finish the mud pit/electroshock gauntlet. We strode across the finish line together.

30. Finish Line
And that was it. I roared when I got up, then almost fell three times as I made my way through the thigh-deep mud around the finish. I had done it. I’m now a Tough Mudder.

I enjoyed my time on the course, but I think I’ll stick to road races in my Vibram Sprints. Were I to run this again, I’d wear something with a bit more sole, like a KSO Trek or possibly a Luna Sandal (iffy because of the mud). There were a lot of sharp rocks on hard ground that made running painful, and I’m a bit bruised today because of that.

Totally worth it.

*As best I can remember. For this article, I checked the official map and wrote down what I remembered, but I know it wasn’t exact. I suppose I should have taken notes, but I couldn’t find anything mud, dirt, water, shock and impact proof. We finished the course in about three hours, fifteen minutes.

Tough Mudder AZ 2012 Recap is a post from: MyFiveFingers.com - a Vibram, FiveFingers, Toe Shoes, Minimalist Shoes Fan site

He welcomed McDougall’s strong use of “word pictures” and I agreed with him, his strong use of imagery moves the novel along well, keeping a swift pace, like it’s subjects. For those unfamiliar with McDougall’s history or purpose in this book, Born to Run begins as he states with the question “Why does my foot hurt?” and follows his account of meeting with the same dead ends when encountering traditional podiatrists. Their solution: orthotics and a cortisone shot. Oh yeah. And stop running.

Stop running?

Excuse me? (My words, not his).

I was glad to find that McDougall did not really stop running, and eventually found a set of leads while out on other journalistic ventures about runners who logged 50-100 miles at a time, and were documented to reach distances of 300 miles in a day. 300 miles? That’s simply preposterous. Not for the Tarahumara Indians of the Copper Canyons in Mexico. This gentle group of Ruramuri, or “Running People” have stayed far removed from civilization after Cortez showed them centuries ago that outsiders should not be trusted.

The book continues on and documents other star runners able to run “Ultras” or super marathons totaling 50 to 100 miles at a time. That sort of number made me feel pretty wimpy as a recreational runner and thus sparked my intrigue even more deeply. How was it that people like me, who never liked to run, could one day just go out for a 20 mile jaunt in the morning and come home and do it again before bed? McDougall chalks it up to a certain demeanor in the end, highlighting that the peaceful Tarahumara not only run for transportation and survival, but also for the love of it.

He reveals other secrets in the book such as the fact that humans are BORN TO RUN due to the physiology. See your rear end? It’s big. I’m not making a pass, I’m saying that gluteus maximus is only present in running animals. The chimpanzee, our close genetic relative doesn’t have one because it is a walking animal. We are the only creature in the animal kingdom that cools itself through perspiration instead of our lungs, which means when any other animal gets too hot it must stop running or it will overheat and die because it is out of breath. Animals can only take one breath per stride meaning that they can only keep speed up for very short distances like the cheetah or deer and gazelle. Man usually averages two breaths per stride and because our lungs are free to breathe instead of cool, we can continue to run for extended periods, even enough to hunt an animal down just running.

The book leads up to the final face off between some of the best runners known nationally in the American circuit against the Tarahumara in a friendly 50 mile race organized by a “Gringo Indio”, a white nomad called Caballo Blanco, one of the rare individuals accepted by the Tarahumara.

The entire tale reads more like a story than a real analysis and while it describes the need to return to shoes pre-Nike of 1970, I feel it could have included more about some of the technical aspects of why in certain areas. Such as FiveFingers being mentioned, but not explained particularly, worn by one runner called “Barefoot Ted”. But making it a narrative broadens the audience and allows runners and non-runners alike to be able to pick it up and read it’s conversational tone.

Bottom line: go read it. Even if you aren’t the reading type, it was a fast, entertaining read that inspires if you have any inclination to run.

I am reading “Loneliness of a Long Distance Runner” next. Give me your suggestions for good running reads, or even movies if it can be found on Netflix.

If you’ve read “Born to Run” what did you like? Any gripes? Let me know in a comment below.

You Were “Born To Run”: A Book Review is a post from: MyFiveFingers.com - a Vibram, FiveFingers, Toe Shoes, Minimalist Shoes Fan site

You are the Flash.

What was that blur? I’m not sure, it was moving way too fast to tell.

In FiveFingers you may end up running faster than your fellow runners as well as running for much longer distances without feeling tired, and this ability is very true for barefoot runners as well. You can run circles around other mere mortals and guffaw as you are not tired and could go for another few miles.

You are Wolverine.

Who doesn’t want to be Hugh Jackman with regenerative powers? Well you have the power already inside your body.

While you may not heal from a bullet wound in a minute flat while your flesh spits the bullet out of your chest, running barefoot reveals the amazing regenerative powers of your skin that never cease to amaze me. Running your feet raw one day later results in impenetrable calluses, and blisters that we are taught to baby and not touch can result in new layers of stronger skin to protect your feet after popped and healed. And while your bare feet may not be able to spit out bullets, I am always amazed at their ability to disintegrate any rogue splinters that have invaded the soles of your feet. Awesome!

You are Cat Woman (Or Cat Man).

FiveFingers are not just good for running. In them, you can test your flexibility doing yoga or better yet, use them for better gripping and balance as you perform acrobatics by night across the roofs of Gotham. Curl your toes around the rooftop edge as you feast your eyes on the landscape of lights before somersaulting down into skyscrapers reaching towards the sky.

You are Superman.

Sorry, running may not give you heat ray vision (I know, I’m disappointed too), but it can make you close to invincible when it comes to your health. Running and exercise in general boost your immune system and fight off illnesses, as well as increasing circulation and blood flow which can be a natural cure for anything from headaches to a case of the blues to menstruation problems for the ladies. Not only that, but exercise is often a key factor in patients recovering from serious diseases all the way up to fighting cancer. You can also become the man of steel by running in your FiveFingers and invigorating all of the muscles in your legs and make you stronger than you have ever known before.

While these are just a few superheroes you can emulate during your time in your FiveFingers, there are many others you can become and we know that your FiveFingers will help you get there.

Leave a comment and tell us your favorite superhero that you become when you wear your FiveFingers!

The Superhero in You is a post from: MyFiveFingers.com - a Vibram, FiveFingers, Toe Shoes, Minimalist Shoes Fan site

How To Remove the Straps on KSOs

How to Get Started with the Paleo Diet

How to Repair a Hole in FiveFingers (see comments for suggestions)

9 Ways to Make Your Run More Interesting

Getting Started with Chi Running

How to Use Gold Balls to Relieve Foot Pain

Guides is a post from: MyFiveFingers.com - a Vibram, FiveFingers, Toe Shoes, Minimalist Shoes Fan site

If you watch children run around you’ll quickly notice how it seems so effortless and that they appear to never get tired.  Their running naturally mimics either the Chi Running or the POSE method, depending on which one you subscribe to.  The advantages of going barefoot (or almost barefoot) are well known to proponents of VFF so it only makes sense to provide our kids with a pair of footwear that allows them to run naturally without swaddling their feet in excessive amounts of shoe.  While we want the best for our kids, I have encountered a few things to think and debate about.

The Cool Factor

If they are “cool” or not will depend a lot on the opinion of your kids and their friends.  If your child and their friends and classmates likes the way FiveFingers look, then VFFs will be cool to wear.  So no problem.  On the other hand, if kids at school make fun of their shoes, then suddenly they become very un-cool and no amount of pleading will get your child to wear them.  Peer pressure and how other kids perceive your child can be extremely influential in your child’s decision making.

Initially my son was very keen to wear his new VFF KSOs.  He wore them consistently for about 2 months during the summer holiday before some smart-ass at school that fall made a snide comment about them and teased my son.  That was the end of my son wearing VFFs to school and the after-school program he was in.  He still wore them when at home and other places but he never wore them out in public where someone from his school could see him.  Any small positive or a negative opinions on VFFs from peers can ultimately influence your child’s willingness to wear them.

The Cost of Children’s FiveFingers

Children grow.  Children are hard on clothes.  It is a balancing act trying to find decently priced items that they won’t outgrow or wear out in a month at.  Shoes are no different.  There were two things I considered when buying VFFs for my son:  quality and cost.

First off, my own VFFs have lasted a long time and I use them a lot so I wasn’t worried about my kids wearing them out; they would most likely outgrow them first.  Quality wasn’t a factor I was worried about.

Go into most shoe stores, like Foot Locker or Sport Chek, and kids shoes range in prices from $40 to $90 or even more as your child gets older.  These are your typical running shoes – heavily padded with thick soles and a raised heel.  Everything you don’t want in your shoes, so why would you buy them for your kids, right?  Children’s KSO cost $60 from the VFF website so they are of a comparable price to regular kids shoes. I had spent similar amounts on shoes previously for my children so the cost was not an issue for me although I realize that other parents may not be as willing to pay this amount.

My Kids

My daughter doing a "Spider-Man" while rock climbing.

As I mentioned, I bought my son a pair of KSOs which after being teased about, he never wore to school again (although he continued to wear them with me when there was no chance of kids from school seeing him).  Since he has outgrown them, he hasn’t asked for another pair although I have offered to buy some if he wants.  My daughter initially couldn’t fit into adult sizes so she had to wait.  She has since inherited her brother’s KSOs and I wanted to see if she would wear them before committing to the pair of Sprints she wanted.  She has been wearing them rock climbing and around the yard now that the snow has gone, so she seems to like them.  Should she continue wearing them a lot and want another pair when she outgrows these KSOs, I’ll gladly shell out for some in her choice of color.

If my children never want another pair of VFFs, they are still going to benefit from them in a variety of ways.  The first is that they are going to be aware that footwear which swaddles the feet in foam are not beneficial and this knowledge will influence them to buy sensible shoes for the remainder of their lives.  The second is that while they may not buy VFFs, the impact that VFF has had on the footwear industry is evident with most shoe companies now introducing a minimalist shoe.  A good example of another minimalist shoe is the Merrell Barefoot collection.  The third is that their dad will hopefully be more fit and able to do physical activities with them and eventually their own children due to improved foot and overall health thanks to Vibram FiveFingers.  I’m sure there are many more benefits, but these three were the ones I felt were the most important.

I would like to hear if anyone else has bought VFFs for their children and what their experiences are.  Or even better yet, what your kids think about VFF.  I look forward to your questions and comments (and I can be followed on twitter at http://twitter.com/robchfr).

Vibram FiveFingers and Children is a post from: MyFiveFingers.com - a Vibram, FiveFingers, Toe Shoes, Minimalist Shoes Fan site

I discovered the lads when I was a senior in high school.  At first I shrugged them off.  I love you, yeah, yeah, yeah, but I liked the Doors better.  It didn’t take long however, for my view to change.  As I shrugged off my brief affair with the Doors, and accepted what was true, I steadily realized that the band was musical perfection.  I can only guess that it was a similar emotion people, way before me, must have felt when they started listening to Mozart.  There’s this moment, where you are hearing the music and you realize that you are not finding the imperfections.  How can it be that clean?  Man, I love this!  Who are these masters?  I then knew I had a quest, and boy did I study.

What made the Beatles so special can only be described in a two part answer.  First, is that when separated, John, Paul, George, and Ringo, were not able to recreate the magic, or the music, as when they were together.  There were good songs throughout their solo careers, but nothing like the catalog of songs, and albums, that they revealed to the world unified.  ‘All you need is Love’ versus ‘Give Peace a Chance’ (John Lennon)?  Love wins in a knockout.  ‘Get Back’ versus ‘Band on the Run’ (Paul McCartney)?  Come on, be serious…  ‘While my Guitar Gently Weeps’ vs. ‘I’ve got my Mind Set on You’ (George Harrison)?  It’s a laugher!  ‘Octopus’s Garden’ vs. ‘It Don’t Come Easy’ (Ringo Starr)?  Umm, ok, maybe Ringo did get better as time went on, but its close!

Secondly, their music stands the test of time.  If someone came out with any of the songs they created, assuming that song wasn’t created in the first place, it would be an instant hit today, as it was in the early 1960s.    Having so many songs that are truly timeless, is another testament of the band’s position at the head of the Rock Roll line.  I’m sorry to tell you Rolling Stones (Their first hit song was written by a Beatle), Elvis Presley (Who was so threatened by the fab four, that he asked to have them deported, even though he had them over for a jam session), The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Cream, Queen, AC/DC, Metallica, U2, Spice Girls, etc.  No one has the massive catalog or cultural significance cache that can unseat them.

Now, with true dedication on my mind, I want to compare my heroes to my feet.  The feet?  Yeah, you know, the feet!  You stand on them.  I know, I know, why would you?  I hear you, but it serves a bigger point, and I think I can do it well.  The feet, like the Beatles, are perfection, for starters.  There is nothing on the human body that is more perfect then the foot.  The shape and design of your foot (everyone’s foot) is a work of art.  The arch, the toes, the heel, and all of the muscles and tendons that tie it all together, combine to allow us to stand, run, and jump upright.  If one compares the size of our bodies to our feet, it is amazing that we stand upright at all, let alone run, jump and maneuver the way we do.  Do we become the dominant species on the planet without our ability to think and maneuver?  Again, in my view, the feet are another gift from God.

So, with this premise in mind, I started contemplating that when you have something that is arguably perfect, why hide it?  Why screw around with something that already works to maximum efficiency?  You wouldn’t give the Beatles instruments that do not play, or worse yet, were too heavy for them to work with, just like you wouldn’t wear shoes that constrict and damage your feet.  Imagine Paul McCartney having to lug around a cinder block for each performance…

Let’s say Brian Epstein, the manager for the Beatles, has the big idea that McCartney will play the cinder block, kind of like a drum, I guess, on their first American tour.  McCartney does a couple of shows, makes it work slightly, and then throws out his back.  Now, Paul is done for the rest of the tour, really before it gets going.  Fab Three does not work like the Fab Four.  There is no Ed Sullivan show moment.  There are no ridiculously screaming fans where ever they go.  Sadly, even ‘A Hard Days Night’ film is scrubbed.  Their history is completely different now.

Really, do you give Paul a cinder block to play?  Hell no!  You have him play the coolest looking base guitar possibly ever built!  In the early 1960s, every Beatle is armed with an outstanding instrument so that their genius and talent are allowed to shine through.  That, my friends, is exactly what the Vibram Five Fingers are.  They are the tools, instruments if you will, that allow the perfection, talent, and genius of your feet, and you, to shine through!  Strap them on, go run, and allow your perfection to make beautiful music!

“We’re out!”  Can’t buy me Love, Love.  Can’t buy me Love

My Vibrams are Paul’s Guitar is a post from: MyFiveFingers.com - a Vibram, FiveFingers, Toe Shoes, Minimalist Shoes Fan site

Considering this for a running backpack...

Twelve sugars in your coffee instead of two? Listen to that certain song before starting the daily trudge or clean the stove even if it only has 1 stain on it? I have found those small things you do that make you feel that 1/100^th of you has obsessive compulsive disorder also seem to show up in running. I seem to have certain practices and rules that go along with my running that are not allowed to interfere, lest my chi get thrown off, and I’m posing this question to the public as to what oddities others experience.

Examples of these show up in errand runs (in the most literal sense), where I will run around town to the location I must conduct my business at and then continue on with everything on my list until the day is done. I conducted this very venture last week as I did a bit less than 2 miles around town before stopping at my first destination which was to procure pens. But here was my dilemma at the beginning, I wanted to run barefoot, but needed shoes to enter the stores, so how was I to carry them? I ended up carrying my KSO Treks in my hand and my money and keys inside of them as I ran. But the entire time I felt a conscious imbalance where one side of my body was consistently weighed down and my back felt tighter than normal. I have done something similar where I have run with a walking stick in one hand as a means of protection, and had the same feeling of irked imbalance that kept me from concentrating.

Carrying my Treks did pay off however since by the time I made it to m first destination the raw skin on my toes that had been healing began to take a toll and one toe was scratched up so finishing the run with VFFs on was very much worth it as to avoid further harm.

But things like carrying money and keys and even a phone in pockets is another one of those things that if not a necessity would never happen in any run of mine. I can barely muster wearing anything without form-fitting sleeves due to flapping and feeling like a windsock, so how would other flapping appendages in my pockets feel? Horrible. Especially when it is slapping continuously and throwing my rhythm off. Does anyone else feel this? I feel like there are a whole world of possible nuances that irk runners, or even certain rituals that we perform in order to have the run go ­ just right. One personal habit I have is wrapping my ear buds cord around my neck once since it is too long unwrapped and it is difficult to maneuver between songs if the cord is wrapped around my hand. So to all of the runners out there, do you have any unique quirks that make you get your chi just right? Or any particular rituals that need to happen to make the run gel just right?

And on a related note, does anyone use Camelbaks that have room for storing stuff during runs? I am considering an osprey day pack, if anyone has one, let me know what you think.

Running OCD is a post from: MyFiveFingers.com - a Vibram, FiveFingers, Toe Shoes, Minimalist Shoes Fan site

Lean meats, veggies, fruit, no dressing, low fat or no fat, and exercise 5 days a week makes a lean, mean, running machine, but it can be difficult to keep up with in the daily grind, along with stressors and no time to go running in the first place if you are one of the people who uses the word “busy” to describe their life. So here I will discuss the foods that may seem terrible for you, but can actually help you and that you can get away with (in small portions) when integrated with all the running you will soon find time for.

simple carbs and maybe some fiber for your body

Pre-Run:

I tend to try and go for 3 things before a run, keeping it simple since I rarely use foresight and planning when I run (I go when there is time):

1) Simple, fast-digesting carbs

These will drop into your blood sugar quickly and give you the fuel you need to start off strong, and are vital to start any day. These should be eaten first of the three if you are on a time crunch as they will be taken in for energy quickly, perhaps before you get dressed so they start to process as you get ready.

Good-for-you:

• granola (carbs and fiber)
• Kashi cereal is a favorite of mine (fiber and protein)
• multigrain bagel (carbs and some fiber)
• whole wheat pasta/spaghetti (carbs and maybe some fiber)
• peanut butter (protein and simple carbs)
• a piece of fruit (simple carbs and fiber)
• egg whites (lean protein)

Bad for You but still work:

(These are the things that aren’t in the health magazines, but typically are lying around the house, or maybe around as leftovers)

several beneficial running ingredients all in one place

• cold pizza
  The downside is the fat, but you will also have a good source of carbs, dairy from the cheese and lycopene from the tomato sauce which is actually more concentrated when in tomato paste form anyway.
• The Olive Garden from last night:
  Once again, any sort of restaurant food will have high amounts of sodium, but you are also getting the necessary carbs for energy.

2) A ton of water

I usually try to ingest at least half of a water bottle (~10-15 oz.) as soon as I wake up or as soon as I decide to go running which is usually 20-30 minutes pre-run. After I eat my simple carbs I usually finish the rest of the water bottle and fill it up again. After the complex carbs and protein, I usually finish another half a bottle which can make me last for a bit over 2 miles before my system starts to cry out for more water.

3) Complex Carbs or Protein (think long-term)

If you are going on a longer run, these will be your back up engines that will kick in when you feel your initial thrusters waning.

• small portions protein, either lean protein or nuts such as almonds (fat contains 3 times as many calories per gram of fat than carbs, and thus more potential for burning energy in less space, so be careful)
• multigrain carbs—these are slow-releasing as they are fiber-rich and will give you energy throughout your journey

 

Post-Run:

lean protein to build muscles after your run, but drink lots of water

1) Lots of Water. Period. You need to put the water back in your body that was used plus some.

Good for you:

• Peanut butter and almond butter(protein)
• Skim or 1% Milk (protein and calcium)
• Almonds (protein and healthy fats plus vitamin E)

Bad but still work:

• Ice cream or chocolate milk
  Both have necessary calcium and protein that will help your muscles recover, but just be aware of the high sugar content, though your body’s metabolism will still be high enough to burn this through the day.
• More indulgent nuts
  Hazelnuts, Pistachios and Macadamia Nuts: While these contain the protein that will help you’re your muscles heal, but their high fat content can be a factor that should be considered when being compared to other options such as almonds.
• An IHOP omelette
  Once again, getting the meat lovers anything can result in the fat content shooting up along with the oil being used to cook the omelette but you are going to benefit from the protein the eggs contain.

I have tried to be better about my food choices as I run more, so I’d love to hear everyone’s vices and virtues when it comes to the food you eat before and after your runs. What is the food you treat yourself to? What is your best power up food?

Pre- and Post-Run Foods: Vices and Virtues is a post from: MyFiveFingers.com - a Vibram, FiveFingers, Toe Shoes, Minimalist Shoes Fan site

Wore this when it was a bit cloudier outside!

Are you the kind that uses the shoes as a means of peacocking; a conversation starter, a bright statement maybe relating to your personality, or just perhaps an affinity for bright colors, or are you a salamander; buying neutral FiveFingers to serve their purpose and blend in as if it were a black or brown shoe?

Which brings me to my main questions that I would like the readers to give input on: do your shoes affect the rest of your apparel? Do you base your outfit on your VFFs, or base your VFFs on your outfit?

Wore this outfit the other day showing what bright colors can go with your VFFs

Now this may seem like more of a quandary for the female populous, but I sincerely wonder if it influences what VFF wearers will choose to pair with their shoes. I certainly have a pair of peacocking shoes (my green and blue sprints) which are brighter that I wear for comfort and fun, and I have my silver and red KSO Treks that are more for function as my everyday and seem to elicit fewer responses. I even had several peers comment that they thought I was barefoot while I was wearing the silver KSOs on a camping trip. Really? The fact that the neutral color blends bothers me a bit since I am not a fan of the color palette itself, although the grey does go with several of my darker clothes, such as black pants. It should be noted that these were purchased at a time when the KSO Treks were very new and silver was the only color, a mere 8 months ago! But I digress.

I am certainly a peacock and enjoy the wonder sparked from people seeing something new and being able to educate people on the barefoot movement and the benefits going barefoot or almost can provide. But as a peacock I am certainly going to pursue some of Vibram’s brighter models that they have now begun to crank out. I get more excited than is socially acceptable about the models such as the KOMODOSPORT (both the black/gold and blue/yellow), the showy JAYA LRs that have literal racing stripes, and of course, the brighter Bikilas.

So to all of you barefoot bipeds, do you consider color choice when planning your VFF purchase, or even day-to-day wear? Or is it irrelevant since the shoes are a powerful enough statement to be considered a separate entity apart from the trivialities of apparel?

FiveFinger Fashion: Are you a Peacock or a Salamander? is a post from: MyFiveFingers.com - a Vibram, FiveFingers, Toe Shoes, Minimalist Shoes Fan site