The first steps of my journey.

When I told my friend who recommended that I read Born To Run that I had bought the book, he immediately asked me if a pair of Vibram FiveFingers was on my next shopping list. I told him that I didn't know about that, because truthfully those shoes always seemed too extreme for me. I'm not some crazy ultra-marathoning Cross-Fit in-shape maniac. I'm sedentary, weak, and aren't my Converse close enough to minimalist shoes? Sure they have a sole but they have no support!

Within minutes of actually finishing the book, I was looking up where the shoes were sold in my area. To my delight, I found a store a little more than a mile away from my apartment. I decided that I would walk to the store, buy the shoes, and then walk home in them. It seemed like a good way to get warmed up. My fiancé was a little skeptical of this purchase, only because he didn't want me to buy expensive shoes and then lose interest in them. I was a little nervous of that as well, because this did feel pretty impulsive, but I kept my higher goal of solving my foot issue in mind and I confidently walked out the door with a purse large enough to carry my blue Converse for the walk home.

As I walked down the sidewalk, I tried to imagine actually being able to feel the different textures under my feet. More specifically, I questioned whether I really would be able to feel things differently and better than I already did. I could feel the cracks in the sidewalk, the bumps in the hard yellow plastic before the crosswalk, the twigs... would I really be able to feel anything different with these new shoes? Would they actually do their job and strengthen my feet?

I made it to the store and made a beeline for the rack of Vibrams. The girl who offered to help me out told me that they had many options for minimalist running shoes, and she actually preferred something else, so how much running was I doing exactly? She was aghast when I told her cheerfully that I have never run before, and tried pretty hard to change my mind, but I tried to reassure her that I was planning on starting very slowly and walking long before running. She remained skeptical of me throughout the entire experience.

She first brought out a pair of Bikila's for me to try:

The Bikila's have a bit of a thicker sole and are advertised as the Vibram shoe made specifically for running. Once I pulled on the proper size, I found them to be very comfortable. I did feel though that they were more similar to walking in a shoe than what I was looking for; I really wanted to feel like I was walking barefoot so that my feet would get as strong as possible.

Next were the Sprint's: 

The Sprint's had the barefoot feel I was looking for, but I didn't find the heel cup to be comfortable at all. The first pair I tried on was too small, but even after I tried on the next size up, the material around the back of my ankle felt too tight and it felt like it would very quickly cut into me while I was walking and especially if I ever started running in them. I was a little disappointed, because from what I had read on the internet, the Sprint and the Classic are the two with the absolutely thinnest sole. The store didn't have the Classic, so I didn't get to try that on, but I knew that the Sprint was not right for me.

I ended up purchasing these beauties:

The KSO (short for "Keep Stuff Out") is one of their most popular styles. It was the hardest to get my toes into at first, but once I put them on, I didn't want to take them off. It does have an added 2mm insole, which the Sprint style doesn't have, but it has no extra padding on the sole like the Bikila's. Because they completely cover the top of the foot, they are more multipurpose than the Sprint, and they seemed like the perfect style for me to start walking in and then be able to transition into running. She allowed me to wear them out, so I happily paid and started meandering home.

I took it slower on the walk home than I did on the walk there because I didn't want to injure myself. I didn't really change my walking habits much; I still walked with a heel-toe stride. However, it felt like I was walking home without any shoes on. At the time, I was definitely enjoying the sensation of actually feeling every thing under my feet; there is much more going on down there than just cracks in the sidewalk. The nubs on the hard pre-crosswalk plastic felt like mountains to my near-bare feet. I made it home no worse for wear, and my bad foot didn't hurt at all. I wasn't surprised about that, though; I usually can walk more than two miles without it hurting. 

I left the shoes on for the rest of the day, including when my fiancé and I made a late night run to Kelly's Roast Beef for some dinner. By then I started experimenting with a mid-foot striking stride, because even walking around the restaurant on the hard linoleum with a heel-strike was not particularly comfortable. It was certainly an interesting first day.