subject: The Fivefinger Approach [print this page] Graham Stoner embraces the sensation of running barefoot without actually being barefoot.
The 29-year-old purchased a pair of Vibram Five fingers shoes from the Brentwood REI a few months ago and uses them when he does trail or field runs in the park once or twice a week.
The wacky looking footwear has a separate slot for each toe. It is designed to help strengthen the muscles in the feet and improve balance and agility.
REI sales associate Hunter Lane - a self-proclaimed minimalist runner - said the store can't keep the shoe on the shelves.
"It's just insane," he said. "Every time we get in a new shipment, we sell out in two days. They are just crazy popular."
Cumberland Transit on West End Avenue also sells the Vibram shoes. Sales have quadrupled since the store started carrying them in 2007, saleswoman Lori Ridgeway said. Physical trainers, Ft. Campbell soldiers, even some of the Titans players have purchased them, she said.
Stoner runs six to seven miles per outing in them. They force him to focus on a more natural stride, he said. He, too, has had less injury with the new equipment, but he is not ready to take them to the asphalt or concrete, because he doesn't feel like the human body was meant to run on such hard surfaces. For similar reasons, he doesn't ever envision running completely barefoot.
"Our feet aren't conditioned to take the abuse of straight up barefoot running," Stoner said. "Vibram five finger shoes are the best of both worlds. They protect your feet but give you the same kind of feeling of running barefoot."
There are other, more traditional looking, barefoot simulation shoes, including the Nike Free and Vivo Barefoot.
But purists like Kimbrough feel freer in bare feet. When it's really cold, he dons a pair of moccasins and socks.
Neither he nor Mahoney worry about protecting their soles, which have become thicker and stronger since they shed their shoes. Mahoney said he has dug glass and metal shavings from a construction site out of his foot, but after running barefoot regularly five days a week for almost a year he said two incidents isn't reason to succumb to shoes.
"Running shoes make it comfortable to have bad running form," Mahoney said. "The point of running barefoot is to have good running form."
