My barefoot journey

As those of you who have known me since college may have noticed, I was never a fan of the whole socks and shoes thing.  I mean, why would grass be so springy if we weren't meant to walk on it barefoot :)  (that grass in front of the chapel--- divine! :) haha) So after reading Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christoper McDougall as seen on The Daily Show, I thought to myself, "people run barefoot? that is AWESOME!"  So having read up on barefooted running, I realized I'm not quite at the barefoot point but have settled on a great alternative... Five Finger Shoes.  I went to REI and took advantage of my Membership coupon (REI Membership = one of the best $15 I spent 10 years ago!) as well as a Birthday gift card from my sister's family (Yes, my birthday is in December but I wanted to get something SUPER COOL--- which I did :) haha).  It took a while for the ones I wanted to get here in the right size but last Thursday they arrived at REI.  I went to the store to pick them up, resisting the tent area that was being set up and the camping area that was calling my name.  And voila... I got funny shoes on my feet.

The oddest part was getting my pinky toes into the shoes.  Apparently there is some separation anxiety when it comes to my pinky toes being on their own but I think they are starting to enjoy their new found freedom.  Women's shoes are pretty much designed to tuck the pinky toe beneath the fourth toe which made wearing the five finger shoe odd to wear the first day.  But that's all it took, one day.  They are super comfortable.  I've worn them to work (upping my do-gooder/hippie/earth ladiness, at least according to my co-workers) and to the lavendar festival and even a free outside concert.  I only put on "normal" shoes, my Converse, once all weekend long and it was an odd experience.  My feet felt like they were resisting being next to each other.  They had enjoyed being on their own too much.  I'm getting better at getting them on each day and the whole walking around "barefoot" has been interesting.  I decided to start my C25k over again to see if running with these is something I want to do.

Wish me luck!