boisei

That's what I'm talkin' about!

I've run it several times. It's a good marathon, mostly scenic and fast! There's a long boring stretch from about mile 7-12 but it's early enough in the race to make it through fine and get to the nicer parts. I have a long race that I do each year that's a couple of weeks before the Portland Marathon, so I don't really race it. I just go out and have a nice run! It's a hard one for me to turn down. Cheers, ~Z

Thanks Mark! This was my first long run in the KSO. That is their new model designed to "Keep Stuff Out" which is very nice on the trail. Before that I did all of my running in the Sprint. This has a set of velcro straps to get a firm fit to the foot, but doesn't have the extra mesh over the top of the foot. I never got too much stuff in my shoes in the Sprint, but get less in the KSO - my feet come out just a bit dirty instead of dirty with a small bit of debris floating about. I like the strap system they've developed on the KSO a bit better than the Sprint, but think that the Sprint would very suitable for tennis. The KSO surely would too, but I don't think the features it adds to the Sprint would be of any additional benefit. True that, before living in worlds of our own creation it was a lot easier to avoid being led astray from how we were made to be. I'm not anxious to leave it all behind, but I am happy to find my way back to those that affect our health and well being!

The 50 mile trail run I mentioned before went great! I smashed my personal record on the course to finish in 8:21. Pictures from the run, in which you can see the Vibram Five Fingers in action, can be seen at: http://conaghan.smugmug.com/keyword/119-pct%20ultra%2008#339465573_6Z4mc My feet came out of it great - not one blister or other damage. When I wear shoes for such a race I'm usually tending to all sorts of harm at this point!

I started my barefoot journey actually running barefoot, but inevitably some little thing would be different one day and I'd get blisters. *shrug*. I always figured that if I did it enough I'd build up thick enough skin to make it work, but I got tired of hoping that my blisters would heal before my next race. Maybe I need to focus on it more in the off season? I don't know. As it is, the Vibrams are a very nice compromise.

I've spent the last couple of years building up my running mileage wearing Vibram Fivefingers. They're sort of a very thin rubber soled toe sock that give the physics and some of the sensation of being barefoot. In April I ran a ultramarathon wearing them, a 35 mile trail run, and broke a couple of PRs. I've been training in them exclusively this year and do a 50 miler this Saturday. We'll see how it scales up! I may need to pick up some more traditional ultralight/minimalist trail running shoes for my longer races later in the season. My whole approach to the sport is to capitalize on what we're designed for. And we're not designed for Nikes.