FiveFingers

Now, here's the part of the blog where even my boyfriend is going to think I've jumped off the crazy cliff and landed in a pile of hand-smack-forehead 'what were you thinking??' ridiculousness.

About a year ago, somebody was trying to explain to me this cool new footwear that mimics callouses on your feet so that you can essentially walk around barefoot.  I got this silly mental image of some sort of silicon sock, which might be really comfortable, but would probably also get really slimy with sweat.  Left to my own devices, my imagination is usually way out in left field somewhere.  But the idea of the callouses didn't go away, and in fact reappeared last week when this person actually went and purchased a pair.  This stirred up a bit of excitement in me, so I did a little more research.

I distinctly remember as a child thinking about how I had really long and straight toes, and most adults had really short and gnarled up twisted toes, and how I hoped my toes never got to be like that.  I mean, I used to practise holding pencils and drawing pictures with my toes! That's just how awesome my toes were!  But now, as I get older, I'm starting to see that twisted, bent-out-of-shape, toe mutilation happening on my own feet.  It's sad, because it's pretty obvious what's doing it: shoes.

I also remember as a child spending practically entire summers with no shoes on and having absolutely no trouble taking short sprints across gravel driveways in my bare feet.  One particular summer, wanting to 'build up my callouses' on my tender feet,  I made myself a pair of sandals out of thin cardboard and yarn (and probably a little bit of duct tape) - all in the hopes of having a little something to protect my feet, but still feeling that bare-foot freedom.

And then I grew up, and started confining my poor tired feet to shoes all day long.  Pure silliness.  All last summer, I wore sandals.  Last fall when the weather started to get cold, I started wearing shoes again - and my shoes felt tight, and too small, and restrictive, and sort of like a jail for my feet.  And now, those same shoes fit just fine, but my feet look like my shoes!  FEET AREN'T SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE SHOES!!!

I found these black & white pictures the other day from a study done in the 1930's about barefoot vs shod feet. In a person who always walks barefoot (so we're talking mostly 3rd world and/or tribal people), you can draw a straight line from the heel, through the large knuckle of the big toe, to the pad of the big toe.  Their feet are wide, and their toes are spread apart.  On a shod person, you can't draw that line; their toes are cramped together, their feet are narrow.  Also, their balance is poorer, their posture is poorer, their running abilities are poorer, they experience more fatigue and more chronic pain.

People were not born with shoes.  Our natural state is shoe-less.  Now, I do realize the need for shoes.  We live in a climate where shoes are a necessity lest we end up with hypothermia, and in a culture where it's just not safe to walk down the street with nothing protecting the bottoms of our feet.

Enter: Vibram FiveFinger.  The shoe that fits like a glove, for your foot!  Toe-socks have been around for decades - THIS is the toe-SHOE!  The next best thing to barefootedness.  No, it is not some sort of crazy silicone dream sock for your foot, it's more like a sandal with a separate little sole for each of your toes and allows your feet full range of motion.

After a significant amount of research, and finding nothing more than praise for the product, and knowing that I needed a new pair of sandals for the summer anyway, I went out on a limb and decided to try something a little different.

My FiveFingers arrived in the mail from MEC today.  And I am wearing them right now.  And they are extremely comfortable.  My feet look mildly gorilla-like; however, I also own no less than 3 pairs of Crocs, and nothing looks more ridiculous than those hideous things!

I'm hoping that they'll help me build up some foot and ankle muscle, and maybe straighten out a couple toes in the process.  At the very least, they should get me lots of attention!  Plus... it's the next best thing to being barefoot all the time!