My FiveFingers

I got this crazy idea about a couple of days ago that I wanted to run a trail circuit in a mountain range north of town: Pima Canyon to the summit of Mount Kimball, and from there take Finger Rock Canyon back down. 12 miles, roughly 4,000 feet of elevation gain (and then loss): it […]

Our shoes may not be traditional, but that doesn’t mean we have to go without socks. For me, toe socks are a crucial accessory to Fivefingers. The reason why has to do with some slightly embarrassing confessions about my feet. I’ll admit them here in the hopes of providing helpful diagnoses for others. I have […]

My friend Lauren looks like a gazelle as she sprints up the rocky stream bed of Ventana Canyon. Her long legs spring off the rocks, and even though we’re not here to run fast we can’t help speeding through the more technical spots in our Fivefingers. Trail running in the steep and rocky (and cactus-covered) […]

On Friday I saw the “ghost” Caballo Blanco in the flesh! While for many people the idea of a “celebrity” conjures up people like Brad Pitt or Josh Duhamel, for me it’s this leathered old gringo who lives and runs in the deepest canyons of North America, the Sierra Madres of Mexico. Made famous by […]

We ventured into the Gila Wilderness with a bit of a twist on the normal backpacking routine: most people bring a pair of sandals or Crocs, some light pair of shoes that will be a comfortable change from the hiking boots that they’re slogging around all day. My boyfriend and I hiked in Vibram Treksports, […]

I recently free soloed a rock climbing pitch on accident, in my Fivefingers. Luckily for me, Fivefingers are better for climbing than I would have thought. If you’re not familiar with the climbing world, free soloing means climbing a rock face–one for which people would ordinarily bring a rope, protection equipment, and a partner to […]

When I was a teenager I had a pair of lime green Converses that I wore into the sole-flapping, rand disintegrating ground; I loved them so much my mother had to throw them out while I was sleeping to get me into a new pair of shoes. I think my magenta Performa Janes are stepping […]

There’s a fascinating study that was done in 1997 by Robbins and Waked called “Hazard of deceptive advertising of athletic footwear.” The researchers took a force momentum platform and divided it into four sections: the first section they left bare, and the remaining three sections were covered with the same shoe sole material, but each […]

Fivefingers are definitely gaining popularity with fitness obsessives, at least here in Tucson, Arizona. This week I ran into a guy while out trail running who was chugging along with a full Camelbak, ankle weights and Fivefingers on super rocky trail; I talked to a woman who’s running a half marathon up a mountain (we’re […]

I love trail running. It’s not like street running, where your feet are hitting the same plane, you’re passing the same houses, listening to the same music on your ipod. Running like that has its goals: you can speed train, for one, and you can squeeze that kind of running in anytime. There’s definitely something […]