These are the shoes that I had for about a week before popping them in the mail to return to MEC because one of the straps unravelled. I wore them twice and I'm waiting eagerly for their replacements.I wore them for a little while the day I bought them and adjusted to walking "barefoot". I also discovered that even though the Vibram soles protected against most things, they did not protect against the pain of stepping on a small rock with all your weight on your foot.
I have pes planus; for the uninitiated, that means flat feet. When I walk barefoot for any length of time, my arches (what there is left of them) start feeling like day-old taffy - feeling stretched and start jabbing me with pain. So I wear orthotic insoles, which solve the problem, more or less, even though I can feel it when I've been walking for a couple of hours.
I was pleased to find that these Five Fingers KSO shoes seemed to address this to some extent. They have very good arch support. I'm not about to go out and run a marathon, but I am hoping that I could start running my local trails and see if I can build up to a decent distance.
It's an interesting feeling, running with these shoes. First, you don't have any artificial barriers, which means that your ankles get tired a lot faster than in regular shoes. Second, you can feel your tendons working that much more. Third, you feel a lot more aware of your feet.
I'm not about to praise these shoes to the skies; I'm starting slow so my arches have time to adjust (if they do adjust; there's every chance that things can go the other way). What I'm hoping is that they will strengthen. However, I'll have to get back to this blog on that.
I found some interesting tips over at Zen Habits on starting barefoot running. I'm going to try them when I get my new shoes and we'll see how things go in a few weeks.
