mamasewingcircus.com

There have been a few articles recently extolling the miracle of barefoot running, claiming that our padded high-tech shoes have been doing us a disservice, that all the engineering is making us more injury prone. This may be true. This may also be horse pucky. I’m thinking it is the latter. We’re going to find out.

I’ve been training in some form or another virtually all of my life. I’ve logged thousands of miles in the pool without high-tech gear, ridden thousands of miles on cutting edge cycling gear and have run thousands more in just a pair of standard trainers – all to the same effect – injuries. I’m no stranger to a cortisone shot or a sports trainer, and I proudly wear the trophy of overuse on my right shoulder from a swimming injury. All of this is part of the learning process. Each injury, I learned a little bit more about cross training, rotating my gear, and proper fueling. But, despite the fact that after years of fine tuning my system to the point that I know when I need to ramp up the yoga or replace my shoes or cut back on the miles, I’m going to try something new. Just out of curiosity.

I bought a pair of them newfangled five fingers shoes.

I don’t buy that my sports injuries are a result of relying on high-tech gear. Sports injuries are usually the result of too much repetition, not enough variety. So probably because I’m mixing it up a bit, I suspect my body will be pleased with the change. Who knows. I wore them around a bit today and will be breaking them into my running routine probably next week. Can’t wait to report back.

My non-injury prone husband also bought a pair. We’ll see who gets hurt first. 🙂