I got a pair of Vibram five-finger barefoot shoes for Christmas. I absolutely love them. I know that maybe it's just the trendy thing to do, and maybe the whole barefoot craze is just a gimmick to get people to buy stuff, but gimmick or not, I'm totally enjoying my new shoes. Behold:
This is exactly what mine look like, except mine are now a little dirtier and worn now. I'm a sucker for aesthetics. I just love the way these things look. My brother said, "Those things actually look like they should be your feet... just way cooler looking." My sister told me they look bionic.
So basically what I'm saying is that their outward appearance makes me happy, but that's not all. No, it's the actual experience I've had running and hiking in them that have made me happy.
It's taken me forever to actually finish this post, mostly because I feel like there's a lot that I'd like to say but I want to get it right. I'm that way with a lot of things, actually-- I put off things that I feel like I have to do right the first time. The most common example is letter-writing. Someone writes me a letter, I put off writing a response because I want to make sure that I do the response justice. Same with blogging.
Anyway, I've felt really great running in these shoes, partly because of where I've been choosing to go running. Now that I live in Orem, I'm really close to the mouth of Provo Canyon, and last spring I sort of discovered how awesome the Provo River Trail is. So the first time I wanted to run in these shoes here in Utah I drove to the canyon. Normally I park right at the mouth of the canyon, but that whole parking lot is totally under construction. So I drove a little ways into the canyon and parked at Canyon Glen Park, where Bridal Veil Falls is between 10 and 15 minutes away at a leisurely jogging pace. What I loved was that I was jogging in a winter landscape, with ice and dusty snow under my feet, and I felt like I was doing it barefoot. I could feel the ground underneath my feet, close enough so that I felt connected with the ground. If you've read the Alvin Maker series by Orson Scott Card (I did forever ago) it's like the greensong. You feel connected with nature and it pretty much powers you on to greater lengths. It feels natural and organic, and maybe it's just a placebo effect, but it works.
All the same, it's not like I can magically run marathons in these things. I have to be careful to not run too much, and the longest I've run in these shoes is about 40 minutes. Even then I took a break at Bridal Veil Falls to explore and wasn't running for about 5 minutes. But!! That's another thing I wanted to say. Provo Canyon during the winter is so cool. I now have a full-time job, and while I don't want to say anything bad about it, I will admit that one of the only things that gives me kind of a light at the end of the tunnel while I'm thinking about how much I don't want to get up early (4:30 AM) and go to work at five is that it only takes me a few minutes to get to the canyon, and a few more to get up into it. Nature, my friends, is what is keeping me sane. And my cool new shoes make it that much easier to experience nature, and I don't just mean the mountains, the river, the rocks, and the snow. I'm talking about me in nature, as part of it and experiencing it. Do these shoes really deserve this sort of talking up? I don't know, probably not. But I don't care. They're helping me motivate myself to exercise, go outside, and do a little soul reclamation. That's good enough for me.
This is exactly what mine look like, except mine are now a little dirtier and worn now. I'm a sucker for aesthetics. I just love the way these things look. My brother said, "Those things actually look like they should be your feet... just way cooler looking." My sister told me they look bionic.
So basically what I'm saying is that their outward appearance makes me happy, but that's not all. No, it's the actual experience I've had running and hiking in them that have made me happy.
It's taken me forever to actually finish this post, mostly because I feel like there's a lot that I'd like to say but I want to get it right. I'm that way with a lot of things, actually-- I put off things that I feel like I have to do right the first time. The most common example is letter-writing. Someone writes me a letter, I put off writing a response because I want to make sure that I do the response justice. Same with blogging.
Anyway, I've felt really great running in these shoes, partly because of where I've been choosing to go running. Now that I live in Orem, I'm really close to the mouth of Provo Canyon, and last spring I sort of discovered how awesome the Provo River Trail is. So the first time I wanted to run in these shoes here in Utah I drove to the canyon. Normally I park right at the mouth of the canyon, but that whole parking lot is totally under construction. So I drove a little ways into the canyon and parked at Canyon Glen Park, where Bridal Veil Falls is between 10 and 15 minutes away at a leisurely jogging pace. What I loved was that I was jogging in a winter landscape, with ice and dusty snow under my feet, and I felt like I was doing it barefoot. I could feel the ground underneath my feet, close enough so that I felt connected with the ground. If you've read the Alvin Maker series by Orson Scott Card (I did forever ago) it's like the greensong. You feel connected with nature and it pretty much powers you on to greater lengths. It feels natural and organic, and maybe it's just a placebo effect, but it works.
All the same, it's not like I can magically run marathons in these things. I have to be careful to not run too much, and the longest I've run in these shoes is about 40 minutes. Even then I took a break at Bridal Veil Falls to explore and wasn't running for about 5 minutes. But!! That's another thing I wanted to say. Provo Canyon during the winter is so cool. I now have a full-time job, and while I don't want to say anything bad about it, I will admit that one of the only things that gives me kind of a light at the end of the tunnel while I'm thinking about how much I don't want to get up early (4:30 AM) and go to work at five is that it only takes me a few minutes to get to the canyon, and a few more to get up into it. Nature, my friends, is what is keeping me sane. And my cool new shoes make it that much easier to experience nature, and I don't just mean the mountains, the river, the rocks, and the snow. I'm talking about me in nature, as part of it and experiencing it. Do these shoes really deserve this sort of talking up? I don't know, probably not. But I don't care. They're helping me motivate myself to exercise, go outside, and do a little soul reclamation. That's good enough for me.
I think you can give your shoes some credit, but probably not all credit. :)
ReplyDeleteEven though it took you forever, I'm glad you finally wrote it. It was a good post, well-written and happy.
Nice!
ReplyDeleteAlso, concerning a light at the end of the tunnel: you should consider coming to Japan to teach English with me this fall. Or, doing the same in Russia. If you're interested, we should definitely discuss this when I come out there.
Glad we persevered to get the right fit for your barefoot shoes. Nature is indeed grand, Matt. Albert Einstein said, "I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details." Nature helps us know Him so much better.
ReplyDeletei want to feel the greensong when i run! the treadmill on the 44th floor isn't doing it for me...
ReplyDelete