Don't Judge Me Please!!

I really hate to say this but, it looks like my vibrams and being barefoot didn't fix my heel pain during pregnancy. Can I just say that is CRAP?!?!

It looks like I am going to be hobbling a bit for the next few weeks. I am crossing my fingers that my feel feel ok on the second weekend in July because I have an agility trial to compete in.

Toe Shoes. One Year.....and a few months....Later

Last February I posted about my switching over to wearing Vibram Five Fingers instead of other shoes.

Here I am a year later and yes, I am still using them as my full time footwear. I even made it through winter wearing them most of the time. I only wore my loose fitting boots when there was really deep snow. I now own 5 pairs! I have actually bought 6 pairs, but one sadly got a hole in the toe (my original pair) and then got lost somewhere between here and Arizona :(

All my lovely VFF's:

As part of the post last year, I took pictures of my feet (please don't look too closely at those ones last year.....my feet were pretty gross), I washed them this time!

So, here are this year's pictures:

Right

Right

Left

Left

The ones from last year are at a little different angle so they are hard to compare, but to me, it looks like the top of my foot is more of a straight line instead of a bump....if that makes sense.

i want, I Want, I WANT!!!

These are the newest style of Vibram Five Fingers, and I want a pair SOOOO badly!

Vibram Five Finger - Bikila

Aren't they PRETTY?!?

I want a pair because they have traction on the bottoms, which means I could probably wear them when I am competing in Agility on grass. In my KSO's I slip everywhere if the grass is the least bit wet. I am so used to wearing them or going barefoot, that regular tennis shoes feel like dead weights on my feet, squishing my toes and throwing off my balance. I am saving my pennies, because they are only in stores on the east coast, and without shipping they are almost $100.....but I bet they are worth it.

Lol, this is one of three more types of VFFs I would like to own. I think I am in trouble.

New Shoes

I have been looking into finding some shoes that will help my feet stop hurting. They haven't been the same sense they hurt so badly during my pregnancy. Now it is mostly my right one, but it aches almost all the time.

I researched what some people consider the healthiest way to walk/run/everything. That is barefoot! Here is a website about barefooting and why it is healthier than shoes. Basically when we walk in shoes we are not using our feet the way they were made to work. Shoes in general restrict our feet from cushioning any impact naturally, and that impact creates problems all over the body.

I am not totally sold on the idea that barefoot is healthiest, but is was worth a try! So, I invested in a pain of these:

They are called Vibram Five Fingers - KSOs to be specific

They are minimalist footwear, and mimc the feeling and experience of being barefoot without going totally without footwear. When it is warmer, and my feet have gotten a little more tough I will probably try going totally barefoot too.

They are very comfortable! Sometimes I forget that I have them on.

As I have talked to different barefooting people, I have heard/read about them wishing they had pictures of their feet before they started to compare to their feet now. So, here are my "before" pictures:

Right - the problem foot

Left

And my toes:

Right

Left

A look at the KSOs from the Vibram site

So far I have really enjoyed wearing them! There is a learning curve of how to walk properly with them on because I am trying for a forefoot strike rather than a heel strike. That means I am trying to re-train myself to walk with the ball of my foot landing first. This allows my foot to absorb the impact with the ground. Walking like this took a lot of concentration at first, but it is getting easier to remember to walk that way.....at least when I am wearing the VFFs. Around the house I am trying to remember it too for the good of my feet.

The muscles in my calves and shins and ankles are sore from not being used this way in a LONG time, and my arches are sore, but it is all a good sore. The kind of sore you have after working out for a while and you can feel that you challenged your muscles and they are getting stronger. The only part of my foot that hurts while I am walking sometimes is my actual toes. I am not sure quite why this is, but I think it is because I am not walking properly doing the forefoot strike. I am asking around to see if this is the cause and how I can fix it.

I have been wearing them to walk the dogs, walk and jog on the treadmill, shop, and visit teach (they were a big hit). I put on my tennis shoes for a little while to do something outside in the snow, and my feet felt claustrophobic! After only a week of wearing the VFFs! I would really like to try them for Agility but I don't know how much traction I would get with them. They are definitely NOT good on the snow and ice! I am already looking into a second pair of them, only this time I want to get a pair of new ones that are coming out later this year. They are basically the same as the ones I have only they have better traction tread on the bottom, kind of like these:

These are suede on the top, and the ones I want will be the same tops as the regular KSOs.

They look like they would be better for running on grass, rubber mats, mud, and all the other things that I will be encountering on the agility field. I also want to start running. I want to do a 5k in either VFFs or totally barefoot. Why? Just so I can say that I have!

I am sure you will hear all sorts of stories about my barefooting experience/experiment, but here is the first one.

I was getting dog food and outside of the store was a family selling little puppies. I couldn't help but at least go look at the puppies so I went over. I asked a few questions, and all of the sudden the woman started laughing and said "Oh my gosh! I just looked at your shoes! Those are the funniest things I have ever seen!" She then asked me a few questions like "what are they?" and "where did you get them?" The whole time she was kind of giggling and staring at my feet. Hmmm, I have the feeling these shoes are going to inspire a lot of laughter.

Just tonight at the restaurant, I heard a couple discussing whether I was wearing toe socks in the restaurant or if they were just "weird shoes", it was interesting and funny.