Guys.
This is earth. Paging all fanatics.
It's okay. Calm down.
Breath slowly into the nearest paper bag.
I'll go right ahead and come out of the closet here: (whispers) I'm not a runner.
I stumbled on this comically acid-dripping, sarcasm-oozing, snob-nosed thread when I did a Google search about vibrams and Orthotics. I have asthma. I have flat feet. I have a chronic pain condition as well. Running just isn't my thing.
Like, I enjoy running now and then. With my 11 year old poodle. At the park. I enjoy the wild exuberance of breaking into a run just for the hell of it, and then I slow down when breathing starts to burn bc asthma. I enjoy walking around barefoot. Around the house, and, when I was a kid, when I could get away with it, outside. I like how grass feels.
I have NB running shoes with a raised heel that have never felt quite right. I have a wonderful pair of Merrell hikers that I put my insoles in. But I could never resist a pair of slip-ons...
I stumbled across vibrams online... when I was looking for the sketchers version I'd seen advertised 4 years ago in another state I was living in. I'd always wanted to try them but never could find them.
I've had an operation on both feet, back in high school, bc i was born with my big toe pushing inwards. Afterwards I went from being able to WALK 3 miles without horrible pain to being able to WALK 6 miles.
I can do about 8 now.
WALKING.
My only specialty in life is that I'm a good artist. But Jesus, I don't go off the rails about art supplies and start talking mad sh*t about artists who dare use regular #2 pencils instead of drafting pencils or vice versa.
Seriously, crank it down a notch. If anyone was thinking of getting into running and found out this was what the community was like they'd either stick to watching Netflix or run somewhere far, far away from this douchery.
I walked into an REI to TRY a pair of vibrams bc my toes tend to want to grow back to all pointing uncomfortably inwards and I miss the brace I used to have that kept them separated at night after my operation. I wanted to know if the vibrams would help with this, and if it was possible to strengthen my arch and not need my orthotic anymore.
I like feeling what's under my feet just bc it feels nice. Not for any ideas of it improving my performance.
I am trying to fix my stride so I can stop having knee and hip pain from just DAILY ACTIVITIES.
I went to REI instead of ordering them cheap online bc they allow you to return anything for up to 1 year no-questions-asked.
I figured I would simply try them out, and, if they felt more comfortable and improved my stride or arch without harming my knees or hips, then I'd keep them, and if not, I'd return them.
The jury is still out. I've had them for a month. I really do enjoy walking around on grass and trails more with these, just bc it FEELS GOOD, not bc I think it's the RIGHT way to run, or think it looks cool. Christ, where I live I'm actually always worried someone will NOTICE them bc they are goofy-looking, but figure that if they're comfortable than, honestly, who gives a rats booty what they look like? I think for people who live in the city, but like feeling barefoot, this is just a practical solution to GLASS shards. I'm not some hippy idiot who thinks I'm going to become one with the earth by getting blood poisoning from an infected glass shard embedded in my foot that got rubbed in road-kill remains on the pavement. Can't I just enjoy being ALMOST barefoot and not getting cut?
My friend wears those ridiculous 2-inch thick sketchers and you know what? She does it bc they work for her, not as a fashion statement of her superiority as an athlete.
Like, seriously people, are runners really LIKE this? I sure hope this is just your typical Internet-hyped-up-troll-drama.
Bc people just CANNOT be this evil. To each their own, man.
So far, my left foot loves my vibrams and my right does not. My left has an arch when before it didn't but I seem to be doing something funny with my right leg stride bc it's not under my center of gravity and it makes my right knee hurt.
If I can't resolve this issue after walking around in these, at the park, doing yoga, at the beech, at the GROCERY STORE, then I'll decide THEY DON'T WORK FOR *ME* and return them. I bring a pair of regular shoes with me everywhere so when my feet get sore I can switch back, which seems to be the recommendation for "transitioning". I'll give it 4 months.
I don't plan to become some big snob who brags about the Boston Marathon or the even bigger snobs who talk smack about how lame people who run the Boston Marathon are bc they aren't running with the endurance of wolves or the speed of cheetahs yet.
I'm going to keep on walking my aging poodle, in my vibrams or my merrells, BC THEY'RE COMFORTABLE and I'm just HAPPY I'm not in too much pain to be house-bound and that I get to be out in nature, which I enjoy.
I hope I never have the misfortune to be passed up by you 5k snobs in my life. You're the sort of people that made me never want to enter a 24 Hour or LA fitness and only go to Curves or the YMCA. Someone from Planet Fitness pls sound the gymtidation alarm on all you mofos. This thread has been like watching a train wreck: it's so awful you just can't look away, and just when you didn't think it could get any worse, a volcano explodes and the train is covered by lava.
I stopped at page 4.
Like, why?
Just, why?
Ugh.
Please find a hobby that isn't getting mad at people for wearing weird shoes. And vibrams fans- if it really is true that you're telling everyone their "doing it wrong" could you just not? EVERYONE'S FEET (and level of obsessive exercise-or lack therefo) needs to be about what works best for THEM. Even my own two feet aren't alike.
Hope ya'll take the time to chill before this post gets deleted when the moderator realizes I Google searched in order to answer your ridiculous "runners-only" question to say my two cents.
Good night and goodbye (and good riddance). Happy I've never met anyone like this on the trail.