Recently, Anna and I decided to take the plunge and invest in a pair of Vibram Five Fingers. We had been thinking about whether to buy some for a while but had resisted until we were happy with the pluses and minuses.
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A little background
I wouldn’t describe us as “walkers” compared with the hordes that descend upon the Peak District and the Lake District every weekend between Easter and the end of September. However, we do seem to rack up a fair weekly mileage. Thinking about it, in a typical working week, we usually do a mid-week walk of around 5 or 6 miles, a walk on a Sunday morning of between 6 and 8 miles and a couple of walks around the block (1.5 miles) in between. That’s about 16 miles a week.
On holiday, we usually go trekking and cover 15 or so miles a day in mountainous terrain, such as Scotland or the Alps. Having said that, we’ve been getting more into the Lake District recently and I feel like we getting to know it well enough now to be able to stay away from the crowds.
When we started going on big trips, we started out using big leather boots but we soon switched to lighter weight fabric ones and then to mid-heel trainers. Thinking about Vibrams was an extension of this progression in many ways.
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So why did you wait?
We waited until we were happy with them for a couple of reasons:
- They are quite expensive in the UK (£99 for the model we wanted)
- We had read some conflicting reviews about them
- We had seen cheaper alternatives (albeit without toes) for minimalist footwear
- I am a late-adopter and I hate being part of a bandwagon
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But you got them in the end?
Yes, we got some in the end. Here you can see me trialling mine on an 8 mile walk that we did no less than 48 hours after I carried the shoebox in the front door.
My new Vibrams: any colour as long as it’s black
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And your first impressions are?
My first impressions are just that: first impressions. I am sure I will feel completely different about them in a few weeks but here goes:
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They are a lot easier to walk in that I had been lead to believe. I had been expecting to do a little walk in them (say 1.5 miles) and come home feeling like my feet had been run over. As it was, I did the 1.5 mile walk and barely noticed that I was wearing them. So I did 8 miles a couple of days later and I did feel them that time.
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Over long distances, they are much more painful on hard surfaces than on softer surfaces. This is similar to wearing shoes but slightly more marked. When wearing trainers or walking boots on hard surfaces for extended periods, your feet start to sting and then even once you go back to softer ground, they still hurt. With Vibrams, the pain was greater on the hard surface but the relief was much greater once back on softer ground too.
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The soles are a lot thinner than I expected. I had not been expecting to have trouble walking on very stony surfaces. I felt like a kid at the beach walking down a stony footpath near the end of our 8 mile walk.
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I cannot imagine trying to run in them with my well-worn heel strike. I would be in bits within a few hundred yards.
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They are a lot warmer than I anticipated. If you are used to wearing sandals or very light and airy trainers, Vibran KSO’s will probably seem quite hot in the summer.
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The black KSO has the letters “VIBRAM” stitched into the left foot over the big toe knuckle. Unfortunately, the stitching on the inside rubs slightly against your foot. Nothing that a bit of climbing tape can’t handle but not great for such an otherwise well-made product.
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Let me know if you’ve also bought a pair recently or if you’re thinking about it. Let’s compare notes.
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