Flat feet, meet Vibram Five Finger shoes

In 2003 a bad case of tendonitis in my foot lead me to seeing a podiatrist.  There I learned that I had flat feet, (also called pes planus or fallen arches). Looking at my feet now, it’s really obvious, but prior to this, I didn’t see anything “wrong” with my feet. Nonetheless, I got a great pair of custom orthotics and took up light running in 2007.

I’ve never been athletic and never learned how to run without looking like a goof. A friend corrected my technique and I became a forefoot runner. However, I still look like a goof.

Earlier this year, a couple of my friends started raving about their Vibram Five Finger shoes. They looked absolutely ridiculous and my initial reaction was, “I can’t fit my orthotics in that.” I needed arch support, so conventional thinking had me believing that these were the worst shoes I could use based on my flat feet. However, curiosity had me googling “barefoot running and flat feet” and to my surprise, I found a few articles that said that it might actually help strengthen arches in flat feet. Huh.

A hundred dollars later, I had myself a new pair of sweeeeet Vibram Five Finger Bikila LS shoes. I chose this model because I would mainly be doing road running and need the thicker sole. The padded collar around the ankle, like most “normal” running shoes, also made it feel more comfortable. I have pretty thin, boney feet, so the speed laces allowed me to cinch the shoe pretty tight, although, I think the speed laces were actually there to accomodate wider, not narrow, feet.

The Break-in Period

Everything I read said that you have to ease into barefoot running. Start too fast or push too hard and you’re certain to end up with a lot of soreness and pain. I also read that many people would need to change their running style, however, I was already a forefoot runner, so that made it slightly easier.

The first week I walked a little and then worked up to about 1/2 mile light run. My feet felt a little tired after running in the shoes, but the lightness of running with them was refreshing. It almost felt fun running–almost (these are just shoes…).

The second and third weeks I built up to almost a mile.  I would never run two days in a row (as suggested), and kept a slow pace.

By the fourth week, I was loving my Bilika shoes (I wouldn’t say I was loving running…) and decided to run my normal 2 mile route. That’s when my feet started to rebel. I could feel a slight pain and weakness in my left foot, so this week, I’ve decided to alternate running with my Asics.

I was hoping to be running only in my Vibram FiveFingers now, but looking back at the guide, I’m not suppose to be running more than 10% of my normal distance in week 3 and 4. Oops.

I’ll update this as time goes on.