The Barefoot Experiment

Stretching in Vibram FiveFingers My first exposure to Vibram’s FiveFingers footwear came in October of 2007. A group of us were in Florida at The Adventurers Club, a sadly now defunct interactive themed theater/club on Pleasure Island at Walt Disney World Resort.  Many of us attended that evening in costume, being the Halloween season and all, and we found ourselves in the company of a group that had dressed themselves as various wolf-like creatures.  Their costumes were odd, but not nearly... (more...)

As a youth studying sword swallowing in Italy, the single-most important development in my education was seeing one of my own swords swallowed with ease by my instructor.  I had been working for months on end with that blade, and my success had been virtually non-existent.  I began to question myself, the tools and indeed the very possibility that I could achieve the goal of swallowing a sword whole.  And then I saw the very blade that I’d been training so diligently with consumed, without... (more...)

Sustained running for 35  minutes does not seem a very impressive feat for your average fit individual.  At least, it didn’t to me.  Twenty seems even less impressive.  It’s only now, after the fact and while reading running resources, that I realize that the average beginning running program doesn’t get you running (in shoes, even) for 30 sustained minutes until the end of week 8 in your program.  Twenty minutes is not reached until the beginning of week eight! Thankfully,... (more...)

Going barefoot on the beach is a no-brainer – for most people. Not so for me. Saying I’m not a beach person is an understatement.  I’m that weird type that goes hiking with friends wearing full-length pants – I simply don’t wear (or own) shorts – a button-down shirt, and bike-toed Bluchers.  As my career keeps me in the public eye, I don’t like to look odd or weird when, for instance, I’m invited to the beach, but the truth is that my wardrobe simply... (more...)

Taking off my shoes appeared to be happenstance, yet secretly and perhaps a bit unconsciously, I think that I was testing out this little theory I’d been idly following over the years.  It advanced the idea that running barefoot is not only more pleasant and enjoyable than running in shoes, but that it’s also healthier. It happened like this:  I found myself, after a long summer season of constant touring, on a secluded beach in North Carolina with my girlfriend.  I had just flown... (more...)

I want to run. Running has always seemed like such a freeing activity.  As a child growing up in the mountains and forests of Northern New England, I spent countless hours running through the woods.  I could go for hours on end, content as can be, gliding along the roots, rocks and rivers, bounding about and utilizing the terrain to maximize the efficiency of my movement.  It literally felt magical, as if I were just a passenger in a beautifully engineered vehicle, watching as obstacles were... (more...)

I am not a runner. When I was in the 8th grade, we ran the mile in PE class.  I was huffing and puffing and struggling to complete a 13 minute mile.  Most of that was walking.  Running was uncomfortable, tiring and not at all pleasant. In my mid-teens, as a young college student, I tried it again.  Same effect – all of that thumping, pounding, grinding, burning and stabbing was painful, and far too much effort for the reward.  I took to stair climbers and found that I could go all day... (more...)