First look: Vibram FiveFingers

My Vibram FiveFingers showed up today (REI free shipping to your local store). I hear they run big and after trying on the 45s I went with the 44s. This seems like the best compromise size: my big toe is pretty long and it's jammed right up against the toe pocket but my little toe is only about halfway into the pocket. Putting them on take a little bit of getting used to, but since I've been wearing Injinjis, I'm used to the whole individual toe thing.

I work from home a lot and go around barefoot quite a bit, so I figured that the FiveFingers wouldn't be that much of a change. Not so, though. Obviously, you can fel them in between your toes so that's different, but there's something else too. When I'm really barefoot I tend to be real conscious of that and walk lightly. The FiveFingers are just solid enough feeling that I tend to walk more like I would in a normal shoe, but since there's no actual padding in the sole, there's a fair amount of impact. This isn't a problem on carpet or hardwood, but on asphalt or concrete it's pretty noticeable and somewhat unpleasant. When I was outside I found myself having to be really conscious to walk on my toes more than my heels. I haven't been brave enough to really try running in them yet; I took a few strides and it did not feel good, so I suspect there's a lot of adaptation you'd need to do if you were going to go for a substantial run.