Running, feet, and getting old

Last February I tried to start getting back into running. It’s been a slow process, but I heard someone on Twitter mention the Vibram Fivefingers shoes, and I was intrigued. I started researching barefoot running, and really liked the idea. One thing I was interested in was the aligning of the toes. I am developing bunions in my advanced age, and despite the expensive orthodics my podiatrist gave me in January 09 (or was it 08?) they’re getting worse.

I got a pair of the Sprints, and wear them only when running, which is, at best, for 30 minutes three times a week. I love running in them.

But this week, a friend asked me to go for a walk with her, and I slipped on the lovely, comfy sandals my mother in law gave me for my birthday two years ago. After a 1.4 mile (I know, I’ve driven it) walk, I was in agony. Both feet had changed enough during the winter that the edge of my foot was rubbing against the sandal, and I came home with two large blisters. I became quite angry.

I’d been putting off buying a more “around the house” Vibram shoe. They’re comfy, but expensive, and I felt a bit decadent buying another pair. But after the blister incident, I decided I wanted to try a non-surgical attempt to fix my damn feet. I ran out yesterday to the fantastic Greater Outdoor Provision Company in Chapel Hill – they have, to my knowledge, every kind of Vibram fivefingers. (The local REI has only two kinds.) I drooled over the new Bikila, which is their delightfully gaudy new and improved running shoe, but frankly couldn’t get my foot into it. I tried on the ones I was really shopping for, which were the Performa. They were as glorious and soft as I’d hoped, and I bought them immediately.

(The girl in me is slightly annoyed that the only color available was black, but most people don’t bitch about the color of their house slippers. And black isn’t bad, just not purple or magenta.)

Now I’m trying to wear them all the time in house. They’re soft and comfy and separating the first and second toes is supposedly good for bunion sufferers. My only complaint is they don’t fit my pinky toe as well as the Sprint shoes do, and the pinkies are kind of pinched. In doing research on Vibram, I am hoping that they will stretch to accommodate my foot. I’d hate to have to admit that I wasted the money for these shoes. But either I”m getting used to it, or my toes are losing feeling, because today isn’t as bad as yesterday. (which wasn’t bad, per se, just slightly uncomfy.) Regardless, I’m willing to go through some pain in the pinky to relieve the slow invading march my big toe is making toward my second toe’s borders.

I don’t have a mental issue with growing older. My 30′s have been the best years of my life. I’m having a great time. But I am noticing the body is changing, the phrase “not as young as I used to be” is less a cliche and more of a reality, and I really hate having stuff slowly break down, like the shape of my feet. I feel like I was cheated, like a non-smoker who has lung cancer, because I’ve never been someone who wears uncomfortable shoes on a regular basis. Shit like this is supposed to happen to people who wear high heels all the time, right?

New Vibram Fivefingers