A Week with Hippie Ballet Shoes

That’s what my oldest son calls me Vibram Five Fingers shoes. It’s actually been 8 days that I’ve been wearing them solid. The first few days I wore them for a couple hours and it was weird. I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep them, but after vacation and hearing my sister-in-law talk about hers (she has 2 pairs she wears), I decided to go for it.

It’s definitely still a little strange, but I’m getting used to them and I haven’t had any sore spots on my feet. I actually prefer them, and look to put them on first thing. They are comfortable and remind me of being barefoot at the beach in the summer.

I haven’t tried running, wanting to build some arch strength, but I’ll try that soon. I still wear my ortho inserts in my Nike running shoes and I wore the inserts in my cleats playing baseball last week. The switch didn’t bother me, but I noticed one thing. I hadn’t played baseball in 3 weeks and my feet weren’t sore on Monday, despite a decent amount of running. My guess is that the Five Fingers are making my feet stronger, but it’s a guess.

I’ve driven my 911 and the tractor with them, both using the clutch, and it hasn’t bothered me. Granted it was < a hour of driving, but still I didn’t notice. I’ve walked outside on the gravel and rocks and while I can feel the rocks, I don’t have a the sharp pains I’d have barefoot. The only place I missed shoes was when I tried to hook the read blade on the tractor. I had to kick it with my heel and that didn’t feel good.

Note to self: don’t kick things in the five fingers.

I’ve worn them around town, in good weather and wet weather. It was even down in the 50s one day and I did fine. I’m not sure how these will do in really cold weather, but so far they’re great.

I wore them in a field at a Boy Scout event and get some grass between the toes. Just like being barefoot. I wore them in a playground and did get some rocks and chips between the toes and a little inside, but it was way better than sandals, flip flops, or Tevas. I’d recommend getting the Five Fingers with the more closed tops if you hit those environments a lot.

They generate a lot of questions as well. People will stop and ask you what you think of them.