The VFFs finally arrived (they were a Christmas gift, but were the wrong size, so I took them back, but they were on backorder) on Wednesday, so I decided to give them a shot this morning. In an effort to avoid damaging myself too severely, I stayed inside and did an easy, short jaunt on the treadmill. Other than the fact that the little toe on each of my feet seems convinced that it has no identity separate and apart from its next-door toe neighbor (which makes the process of putting the VFFs on a little tricky and slightly painful), I thoroughly enjoyed my first experience on these new-fangled things. Perhaps the best part of owning a pair is the fact that a woman at work now refers to me as a "hippie-freak" after I told her how excited I was to try them out. For a guy with my background, that's downright awesome. I look forward to cashing in on the street-cred the new identity provides. We'll see how much I like the sensation of running barefoot after I wake up tomorrow for a semi-long run. I expect my calves to be screaming in protest at Christopher McDougal and his "hippie-freak" ways. For the record, I have no plans at the moment to become the next Caballo Blanco or Barefoot Ted, but I do look forward to using the VFFs as a way of strengthening muscles and tendons that are underutilized in my regular trainers (and hopefully providing a little insurance against injury in the process), slowly working up to a point that I can do some trail running in them.
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