My new Vibram Five Finger KSOs

My Vibram Five Fingers finally came in on Thursday while I was at our “techie retreat” at a local boy scout camp. The shoes came in on the one day that I couldn’t go pick them up, but there was plenty of fun to keep my mind off my new toys: doing the ropes course, watching the Penguins knot up the series with the Red Wings and playing 2 on 2 Lazer Tag into the wee hours of the morning.

I picked up my gray/palm/gray KSOs last night after work and was able to wear them out and about for the first time this morning when my wife “B” and I went grocery shopping.

Within the first 15 minutes of wearing these in public, I had 4 people from the deli counter around me asking me questions about my shoes, so if you are considering buying and wearing the Five Fingers in public, prepare yourself for the following questions:

• Are those shoes?
• Do they have any arch support?
• How do they feel outside on the sidewalk?
• Do they have any traction?
• Can I see what they look like on the bottom?
• How much do they cost?
• Where can you buy them?

I told them I was wearing them to strengthen my feet and to walk more “naturally.” I decided not to tell them that I’m going to be running in them as trainers for running barefoot.

So, here I am this morning, in my new Five Fingers, with a cup of coffee on our new patio furniture in perfect 75 degree weather:

It doesn’t get any better than this.
– My Dad

There was one side benefit of having to wait a few weeks for my shoes to come in. B had become more and more intrigued by the idea of getting some herself and decided to try them on again when I picked up mine at the store. She had previously tried on the Classics and the Sprints and thought that her pinky toe was a little uncomfortable (she just has a little nub of a pinky toe). This time, however, she decided that it felt good enough and she was willing to take the plunge. She ended up buying a pair of the Sprints (they didn’t have any women’s KSOs for her to try on there, so that wasn’t an option).

My initial impression of the Five Finger KSOs is great - they fit really well and I’ve been wearing them all day so far. Admittedly, I do have a little bit of plantar fascia pain in my right foot (I’m thinking running around in the dark in my flip flops after watching the hockey game at the bar might have contributed to that), so my plan for the day is to just go for a walk in these and see if my feet feel good enough tomorrow to go for a little run. I’ll write a more proper review after I have a week or two of experience with them.