Fingers, toes....shoes?

Some kids will not take showers (that would be the youngest), other kids simply refuse to comb their hair (that would be the youngest too), and again others will not brush their teeth, or conveniently "forget" to (and there is the oldest). As a girl, hygiene was not something I really struggled with throughout childhood, but I did, on the other hand, spent at least four years of my life trying to not wear shoes. I remember going to school barefoot one day, and not even realizing it until I got on the school bus. I'm pretty sure I even took one of my finals in bare feet, by accident of course, but without shoes nonetheless. My mother would entice me to at least wear "something" into town using all sorts of really cool flip flops, but as soon as our gates came into view, off they came. We lived in the south of France at the time, and since I only went through my barefoot phase during the summers, I never suffered any real permanent damage, unless you count developing really thick, probably unsightly callouses on my feet as somehow a scarring experience. I think I stepped on a thumbtack one time, and I'm pretty sure I brushed up against some stingweed every once in a while, but that was about it.

As I got older, I realized that walking around barefoot was not only somewhat socially unacceptable, but was also just not very safe. So I fell in step with everyone else, and started wearing sandals, teevas, and flip flops during summers. My callouses started to disappear, and although it was nice to be able to fit into my pumps come fall without an hour long pedicure, I missed the barefoot experience. The feel of hot pavement on my feet, running down the driveway in nothing but shorts and a tank top, and cool grass tickling between your toes. Wearing flip flops that pretty much flop every which way when you speed up beyond a slow amble is just not the same.

So you can imagine my excitement when I discovered the fivefinger running shoes. These shoes are supposed to imitate the barefoot experience. The shoes offer nothing but protection from the road, and are supposed to train the runner's body to correct for any "deficiencies" (such as pronating) on its own, without the use of corrective footwear. The idea behind this is that these shoes don't force one's body into an unnatural running gait, but instead let the body work out a way to run without getting injured. According to my personal running expert (i.e., the lady at the local running store), these shoes imitate the training techniques used by top runners who spend most of their early years running, you got it, barefoot.

Personally, all these theories about running and natural gaits and training previously unused muscles was not half as appealing as the fact that these shoes could possibly have me running as close to barefeet as I would ever get in over twenty years. Running barefeet sounded like a childhood dream, one I would love to relive.

So when the local running store started to carry these five finger shoes, I was there as soon as my heavy corrective shoes would carry me. I put on my FiveFinger sprints, and was sold. Immediately. It was like being barefeet, but with a thin layer of protective rubber on your soles. Although I was told that the shoes were a lot of hard work, when I went for my little practice run outside the store, I felt transported back in time. I was flying on nothing but my bare feet, the wind was making my hair dance, and suddenly I was thirteen years old again and I was going to pick some lavender for my room. If the shoes hadn't needed payment, I would have just kept on going.

Needless to say, I am now the proud owner of a pair of FiveFingers, and took them for a run earlier today. I love them, and I think they love me too. I can tell this is the start of one awesome relationship.