First, a disclaimer. I do not work for Vibram or any other company associated with shoe manufacturing or marketing. I simply find the idea behind the shoes compelling, and think that they are different enough that they warrant a little documentation. That said, if some company were to send me a pair of Flows (men's 42), then I might be willing to compromise my objectivity.
I first read about the shoes in a Wired article earlier this month. They arrived in the mail yesterday and, in spite of the 90+ degree heat (a rarity for the Seattle area), I took them out for a test drive last night.
I am a pack runner. When I am in good shape I can get below 21 minutes for a 5K with some consistency, but right now I am not in good shape. My run last night was my first in about six weeks, so I was pretty happy just to finish my 4.5 mile loop without stopping (the second half of the loop was in shade or I might not have made it back even with stopping). The loop is rolling hills - which is as flat as it gets around our house. It is paved all the way around, the first half mostly cement sidewalk, the second half mostly asphalt street, with a couple of opportunities to run on grass and gravel.
The highlights:
- The shoes have virtually no padding at all. I could feel the cracks between slabs on the sidewalk. However, the sole is stiff enough that I could run over sections of gravel without discomfort.
- There is also almost no lateral support at all, so the muscles on the outside of my leg had to make up the difference. I have a pretty neutral foot strike and am used to running in lightweight trainers. I felt fine while I was running, but afterwards the outside of both my lower legs tightened up something fierce, especially surprising because I ran so slowly. (From this picture it looks to me like the extensor digitorum longus is what tightened up, but I'm no doctor.)
- My feet feel fine (except for the blister on the outside of my left pinky toe). I have done a long run barefoot on a beach before, and afterwards my feet felt strained and ached for days. I had no issues like that after running in the KSOs yesterday.
I have no idea whether they well keep me from injury or improve my performance, but I like the shoes so far.
The shoes are a bit of a challenge to put on. We don't have air conditioning, so I'm sure part of it is that my feet are sweating because of the heat. I also have no experience with toe socks, so spreading my toes out to get them into their individual pouches is still a little difficult. The top of the shoe fits very snugly on my foot, but did not seem to constrict my circulation at all, a nice balance and quite comfortable.
One interesting thing is that I used my toes quite a bit more than I do when I'm in running shoes. I 'm sure this is from having the toes in separate pouches. The pouches allow the toes to spread out and work independently unlike a shoe which forces all the toes on one foot to act in unison.
I'm looking forward to checking out the shoes on hilly trails and doing a little speedwork on the track, but those will have to wait until I'm a little more fit.
90s be damned, I'll give them another try on that loop tonight.
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