I just got back from a nice little, albeit sweltering, two mile jaunt while wearing my new Vibram FiveFingers: Bikilas. A little over a month ago, an article over at WBUR caught my attention. It was about the health benefits of barefoot running and Vibram’s lineup of minimalist running shoes. I was instantly intrigued. For one thing, I’m always barefoot — at least where it’s permitted. More importantly though, I was starting to feel a slight ache in my knees. Not too bad mind you, but enough to give me a glimpse into the future if I stayed on my current course. I already had a bout of physical therapy for my hamstring, and let me tell you, it’s not so fun.

I mostly run on the street and the Vibrams afford me a little more protection than running barefoot, while still maintaining the mechanics of barefoot running. By that I mean landing on your mid or forefoot rather than a heel strike. When you land on your heel, it sends a shock up your shins, through your knees and hamstring, all the way up to your back. That’s why running shoes are highly cushioned, to help absorb that initial shock. Landing on you mid/forefoot, however, takes advantage of the body’s natural shock absorbing system. You see, humans are born to run. We don’t need high tech gear to do so. Next time you are barefoot, try running around your yard or house a bit. Take particular notice of how you naturally run. Do you land on your heel or the ball of your foot?

So how was my first run? It was very good, considering it was 94 degrees out. Here are the particulars: I ran 2 miles on some quiet back roads, consciously trying to break the habit of the heel strike. That’s not so hard to do when there’s zero padding for your heel and it hurts like hell to land on it. The balls of my feet started heating up pretty good about three quarters of the way through the run, possibly due to the obscenely hot weather, but more likely because they’re relatively tender compared to my battle hardened heels. I assume they’ll toughen up over time. By the way, these shoes are a bitch to put on at first. It took me five minutes to get just one foot situated the day I bought them. I’m at about thirty seconds per foot now. One thing that I noticed during (and felt after) the run is that I used an entirely different set of muscles. My calves, and believe it or not, my abs were very sore, but that good kind of sore. I felt nothing in my knees or my hamstrings. The other thing I noticed is how light I felt. More agile even. My stride was a bit shorter, but not as much as I thought it would be.

All in all, I was extremely happy with my first run. It’s still too soon for me seriously recommend these to anybody (although I really want to). I’ll need a good month to a year of running before I can put my official seal of approval on them, but they’re definitely off in the right direction.