Thursday 31 January 2013

Hands for your feet!

Hey guys and girls I thought I would kick off today's post with my first review!

I have owned the Vibram Five Fingers "Sprint" model for a while now and thought I would do a little review on how they are after you give them darn good thrashing! :)


Everyone shows you them straight out of the box but we all know what they are going to look like!

Beautifully strange, like having hands for your feet!

I loved the look and the concept of these and they really helped me on the road (forgive the pun) to minimal running. 

                                                                                                                                                   

So without further delay here are a few pictures of my VFF Sprints after around 150 or so miles.

The general condition is still pretty good but I did find that bits have started to come unstuck around the toes and the side of the foot.

I was a little surprised at this as that is not really a lot of miles for a running shoe. 

I loved running in these when I first started out but you have to start slow and short or they will bite you! Try and stray from this very thin line and you will know about it, forgiveness is not the way of the Five Fingers.

Run hard and its going to hurt! Run too far and its going to hurt! In fact you have to be very patient for it to all make sense! 

The great thing about them is they are fantastic at stopping you from heel striking because guess what?

It hurts!

Only 3.5mm separates you from the ground and this can be the most wonderful feeling as it wakes you up to a whole new world.
You can feel the difference in surfaces, the difference in the pavement to the road.
The subtle change in the compound of the concrete with its different mixture of stones.

It feels like your feet are now awake, free to play and experience the world!


Then amongst these wonderful sensations are the not so wonderful. 

The razor sharp stone your didn't see but will remember by the throbbing in the bottom of your foot for at least the next 2 miles. 
The twig that has somehow made a home for itself in that nice squishy bit between your toes......sideways!
That adorable handful of grit and sand that has, oh so lovingly, snuggled up in your arch in the hope to be united with the ball of your foot.
My personal favourite is the blisters, ah the blisters! 
It must be noted at this point that Vibram may have never before come across feet like mine.

I do not exactly have "standard" feet. 

You know how you would draw a foot? Big toe heading down in size order until you reach the little guy on the end? Well mine do not.

My "big toe" isn't, the second one is boss and my little guy on the end I think was adopted from a family of hobbits.


My toes, with the exception of said little guy, are long. Very long, ironically like fingers.

"Surely a product like Five Fingers would be spot on"? 

Both you and I unfortunately are wrong!

I love them but my feet beg to differ.

I just could not seem to stop the blisters, I have tried Injinji socks, (I will come back to these on another post) powder and all sorts of wacky stuff but nothing!
I know many people who adore these and run crazy miles in them but my feet for some reason just don't like them.
Walking in them is wonderful though and I keep them purely for this reason now.
Its a great way to build up your miles in them but again, start slow with short walks as your feet will get tired quickly.
My final point on my little funky feet as I like to call them is the smell.
They smell. Bad. At times, really bad! As soon as the friction of the floor starts to warm up the rubber you better be outside as anyone around you will start asking "what is that smell?!"

Now I have tried desperately to combat this with the washing machine, baby powder, soap, lemon, bicarbonate of soda, you name it!!

The only thing that I have not tried that I think may work is fire.
The stench would be overwhelming at first but at least you could feel pretty sure that after this treatment the smell would stop!
I have to store mine in a tied plastic bag to make sure that this wonderful odour does not creep around the house unsupervised!

Lets have a little rating or something shall we?


Hmm lets see?


Build quality - I would give this model 2 smiley faces out of 5 as I think glue should not be needed after only 150 miles of use and the finish on the inside isn't really great :) :)


Value for money - 2 smileys again for this mainly due to the build quality, with that said the actual sole itself is really good but it must be remembered that this is what Vibram do. :) :)


Fun value - 3 big cheesy grins for fun! I had loads of great runs in these and they really opened up a whole new world of feeling for my feet. :) :) :) 


Would I buy them again? - In a nutshell, no. What with the shape of my feet, the price and the smell its all a little to much for me to splash the cash on another pair.


So there you have it! My alternative review of the Vibram Five Fingers "Sprint".


Ciao for now!


Cardiosaurus 


                                                                                                                                                                               

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