March 3, 2009
Posted by simpsoka
Five Fingers spotted in the wild
For the past couple of months my friend, Chris, and I have been actively engaged in a tally of how many Vibram Five Finger shoes (the barefoot alternative) we can spot in the wild. Whenever possible we try to photograph the event and so far, we’re up to five wild sightings (unfortunately we were not able to capture each of them on film, they are rather elusive).
Ok, let me back up a step and provide some context. I’m assuming that for the majority of you (probably runners who are in touch with this magazine: Runnersworld.com) you’ve seen photos of the Five Finger shoe and read about Peter Sagal’s experience running in these crazy things. The movement, so I’m told, started in New York with a bunch of hipsters who wanted to get back in touch with their ancestral roots. The idea is this: our distant ape relatives walked and presumably ran sans-asics/nikes/new balances/aditas, etc, so we should be able to re-build the soles of our feet in order to connect with this evolutionary forgotten ability to go anywhere barefoot. Smart? One could argue. But interesting and fun to check off the number of ‘barefoot’ goons you see out there in the wild? Fantastic!
Here’s a photo:
And with that, I invite you all to join the challenge. Spot a Five Finger in the wild and send me your photo! Maybe one day I’ll be able to send the person with the most sightings their own pair of Vibram Five Fingers! (And then you can take photos of your own feet whenever you want…)
Also, I need to give credit to the folks at Vibram. They’re spectacular, and have some super innovative ideas. Here’s what they have to say about the Five Fingers:
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7 Comments
March 3, 2009
there’s a hardcore, barefoot, hippy who runs religiously around the bridal path in central park NYC. Really barefoot… no five fingered shoes! I’ll see what I can do about a photo.
March 17, 2009
Saw some on my way into church but I wasn’t quick enough to kinnear a picture. Next time.
April 1, 2009
Do you get extra credit for getting an actual barefoot runner (sans VFF)?
I’ve noticed a couple times in the last two weeks people pulling to the side of the road as I’m running. In the back of my mind I started wondering if they were pulling out their cell phones to capture an image of my naked feet.
April 1, 2009
I will definitely give extra credit for actual bare feet. That’s gotta be dangerous though.. but maybe I’m over thinking the amount of random stuff that can get lodged into someone’s foot while running barefoot…
April 1, 2009
It’s been close to 2 years now, and I have yet to have anything serious become lodged in either foot.
April 2, 2009
Running barefoot? Seriously? I can barely walk down the driveway in bare feet. I feel like every time I’m out running I hear the crunch of glass beneath my shoes.
Much braver than I….
May 15, 2009
They don’t appear to have migrated into NH yet – perhaps the climate is too cold. Maybe I’ll be the first?
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