paulmignard

Ok, now that we’re all warm and fuzzy from Part One – here’s Part Two…it’s a little something I like to call “A Lesson in Over-doing it.”

First, ouch and second, OUCH! The pain isn’t so much about me overdoing it in the vibrams as much as it is just overdoing it in general.

I have a thing with stairs. See, there’s something about running (climbing) an obscene amount of stairs that has always appealed to me. For instance, I’ve run every stair in the Vines Center and every time I go there I can have my own personal sense of self satisfaction to know that I have run every stair in the building. It’s about as close to being a professional athlete as I’m going to get. Or a ninja. Or a gladiator! The part I like about the stairs though is that they make for a really great workout when you’re short on time – you can still get a crazy awesome workout and also have some feeling of accomplishment as well. Anyway, as far as stairs go, me likey!

Since I have this “thing” with stairs I thought my first trip out with my new vibrams should be on a set of stairs – so I hit one of my favorite spots – Monument Terrace. This structure is a 139 step commemoration to all of the Lynchburg soldiers who have died throughout various wars. It’s beautiful and thoughtful and touching and (if you’re running it) very painful. I ran up and down it five times which isn’t crazy except for the niggling fact that a.) I’m over 30 years old so I can’t do the same dumb things I could when I was twenty and b.) I haven’t been exercising for the last year. Mind, you I didn’t say running, I haven’t been doing anything that would resemble some sort of formalized exercise for a year. The only thing I have going for me on health front as that I at least haven’t picked up any new self destructive habits (like smoking or bingeing on ho-ho’s and chocolate marshmallow fluff) and even that was only a matter of time. Anyway, I ran this thing. I felt great. I sprinted like a gazelle up the stairs. I felt like a machine as a I ran back to my car. People stopped their cars to admire my perfect form and amazing ability to parkour through downtown Lynchburg in my own personal samurai shoes. Then, by the time I got home, I could no longer walk. Turns out, if you walk in shoes for most of your life (oh, and not exercise for a loooooong time) the parts of your body that haven’t gotten that much work (like the whole group of muscles and tendons below your calf (no I’m can’t spell them out, I’m no doctor for crying out loud (and yes, it’s totally ridiculous how many parenthesis you can cram into one sentence when you write something that doesn’t need to be turned into an english teacher))) can end up being kinda upset when you blitz them like that. And by “kinda upset” I mean “AAAAGH, I can’t walk!?”

Ok, it wasn’t that dramatic but you catch my drift, I should be taking it slow and instead I’m just jumping into it. How were they vibrams on the stairs? Well, pretty awesome actually. Since the stairs kind of force you to stay on your toes the FiveFingers work really really well. One of their greatest strengths is in how lite they are. I haven’t weighed them but I know when I pick my old running shoes they feel like they sole is made out of lead and they just fill the rest with whale blubber. Plus, the sole was nice and grippy – no slipping at all and I felt much more stable than I have with regular shoes (although I have heard that when things get wet all bets are off.)

Here were my thoughts as I was running around downtown lynchburg with these things on:

Like bow ties, these things take some serious self esteem to wear. I literally had to psyche myself out to get these things on and go on my run. Generally I’m not an “in your face” kind of guy and I’m usually not trying to attract attention to myself – but you can’t help it in these things. Everybody I ran by, everybody I said hi to – they were looking at my feet. Nobody stopped me per se but I could definitely tell people were looking. Here I thought I was just buying some shoes!

Again with the quickness – I just felt fast. When I needed to move BOOM I was able to just go. I look forward to when my feet are used to the longer distances because it’s just so much fun to not only run but to run fast is just a whole new wonderful experience.

Running is general is a lot more…gosh, I don’t know…interesting? I was looking for things to run on. Instead of just cranking out some mileage I was looking for new experiences. “Oh look there’s a bench…why wouldn’t I run over it!? I’m going to jump over this rail. Is that….GRASS! YAAAAAAY!” It sounds weird but it’s almost like I want to find new experiences for my feet?

So still, I’m not regretting getting these shoes (I am regretting that my other running shoes are only going for $20 on eBay) and I can’t wait to wear them more. It’s as close to free running as a 33 year old father of two is going to get. I can definitely see why people start wearing them exclusively, they do feel really empowering.

Part 3 will be interesting as I want to see what happens when I wear them to work. Woohoo!

Read Part 1 here.