Cape Hike

I am a big fan of the idea of minimalist running. Yes: I read “Born to Run”. I have been wearing a pair of New Balance Minimus MT00′s for about 5 months as casual shoes, so my body has had some time to adapt to a more minimal shoe. More recently, I won a pair of Vibram FiveFingers’ latest trail model, the Spyridon, at Stanley’s Mountain Run 2012.

I am no tree-hugging earth-child, and I have a pair of Merrell boots which will attest to the fact that when the going gets tough, I get tough back. However, there is something hugely satisfying in the feeling you get padding around in a pair of FiveFingers. It feels like you are holding the earth, not stomping all over it. I guess this is what primates must feel like when they scamper around in nature, and maybe I am connecting to that at a deep genetic level.

Week 1

I picked the shoes up on Monday, 30 April, and spent much of the week wearing them to work. I spend almost my entire day sitting at a PC, so the walking that I did amounted to walking from my car to the office and back which is probably about 1km in total per day.

I did go for a “trot” near Kirstenbosch on Tuesday which involved a distance of 1.6km, either walking or trotting (slower than jogging) on clay paths up and down gentle slopes.

By the end of the week, my right foot felt bruised in the region of the metatarsophalangeal joints of the third and fourth toes — basically the balls of my third and fourth toes.

Week 2

By Monday, I was limping, and I did not wear the FiveFingers at all for the week. The pain in my foot was bad enough to make walking painful, and that put strain on the stabilizers of my right lower leg. I did not wear the shoes at all during the week, and by Friday I could almost walk normally again in my running shoes, with just some tenderness in my foot.

Week 3

Some residual tenderness in my foot at the start of the week, but walking comfortable again.