Product Review: Vibram Five Fingers TrekSport

Picture lovingly borrowed from here:  http://www.rei.com/product/804306

I picked up a pair of Vibram Five Fingers at our local REI with the intent of trying out barefoot running.  I had read somewhere that the simplistic design of these shoes help improve the strength of the little muscles we have in our feets and ankles that are rarely activated whilst trekking about in traditional shoes.  Boy, they weren't lying.

Mini-Life-Flashback:  It's October 2008.  My first marathon.  Mile 10.  Foot, meet railroad bed.  Crunch.  Ouch.  Seriously wobbled through the rest of the race with one heck of a sore tootsie.  Hasn't been the same since.  I did get a trophy though... Bonnydale 1st place.  WOOT!  Then ran another marathon 2 weeks later and damaged the foot even more.  Needless to say, no land speed records were achieved in either endeavor.

Just walking around in these things has made it abundantly clear to me that this is exactly what I needed to finally get my foot back into normal working order.  It's really strengthened whatever it was that was compromised by my foot injury over 2 years ago because I no longer experience discomfort running as I had before.

Aside from looking really silly under a frilly paisley skirt, there really isn't anything strikingly wrong with these.  They accommodate my wide feets and offer just enough support and protection from the elements to make them pretty awesome to wear just about anywhere.  I love how I can feel and grip the pedals on my bike, my only regret is they don't have the holes for me to mount my eggbeater clips onto them :-).  At the gym they are great for doing weights and such, especially on the Bosu when I'm trying to work on my balance.  I'm still a little too klutzy and rambunctious to wear them on the elliptical without accidentally ramming my toes into the tops of the foot platforms... but I think that bodes true with just plain walking too since I have no spatial recognition when it comes to foot meets wall or other bludgeoning devices I manage to meet on a daily basis.

My poor toes.

The thing I love most about these shoes is the fact that even though they soak through quickly, they dry amazingly fast.  Milo the Shih Tzu and I were caught in a rain downpour on Friday and despite our efforts to run for shelter, we were completely soaked by the time we made it to the building.  The Vibrams dried out within 15 minutes without any kind of heater or anything.

Anyways, I look forward to continue to strengthen up and hope to start logging some actual running mileage on these things soon.  Such things take time :-).