Bonita Jaynes

I now have a pair of Bikila FiveFingers! I was on the fence for a while about “barefoot” running shoes. My husband has two pair of Vibrams, and he’s been running in them off and on for 2 years and swears by them. While I am a believer in our inherent ability to run, we’re running on harder surfaces like asphalt and concrete, so I haven’t been convinced. Last year, I got up to 9 miles on my long runs while training for a half-marathon, and I injured my knee. The feeling of the wind, my ponytail swishing in time to my gait, and my measured breathing as I ran were all part of my daily life – and I miss it! After finishing 9 miles, my right knee rebelled with streaks of pain under the kneecap, and it took about 4 months until I could walk without any pain, never mind running even two steps.  I now think it was the shoes and the fact that halfway through my training, I began weight lifting. I was thinking I would further build my leg muscles with squats and deadlifts to support the run, but I think I did too much. Interestingly, I still cannot wear those running shoes, even for a brief time, without my knee twinging.

The FiveFinger shoes  force you to run on the ball of your foot, and this piqued my interest. I tried them on in a local store and ran across the back of the store, and I could not put my heel down first. Impact was on the ball of the foot, and I immediately felt my calf and thigh muscles activate. Huzzah, I am a gazelle and queen of running!! …*ahem*…

I’m told that regular running shoes, with all that shock absorbency, put more of an impact on the skeletal system. There are mixed reviews and studies on this, but running in them does make you put your foot down heel-to-toe. Barefoot running apparently impacts your muscular system instead, because you’re utilizing your calf muscles to balance the impact on the ball of your foot.  So I’m going to wear them for a few weeks to let my calf muscles adjust and build up, and then I’ll run a little and see if there’s any knee pain.  If my knee is happy, the training begins!