Now I Gotta Cut Loose Foot Loose?

Barefoot running is taking the running world by storm, the question will be whether it is a passing fad or here to stay? There has been much research done on the subject as of late. The idea is that are feet were never intended to be shackled by shoes, thus wearing shoes had actually hurt our feet and joints rather than protected them, now I am not going to get into the whole "Evolution" side of this argument because I believe our feet were wonderfully designed by the Almighty Creator God! That Being said I am not ready to  run completely unshod, I am however thinking I buying a pair of Vibram Five Finger Shoes. I went a few weeks ago to the local running store to try on a pair and was pretty impressed with how they felt. One problem I did have was putting the shoe on, you have to put each toe in it's own little home then slide your heel down. For most people this may not be a problem, I however have a teeny tiny pinky toe that hides under the toe next to it and basically serves no purpose, so I had to physically move it into place with my hand. What the dude at the running store told me was that after wearing the Five Fingers for a while my pinky toes would "remember" what there are supposed to be doing, which is all part of correcting my running to a more natural stride.

I know some think that these shoes are hideous, I for one have a love for funky shoes and I am not planning on wearing them to work or on a dinner date so I am not bothered by the appearance. What I am hoping for is that wearing the Five Fingers to run will ease some of the hip and knee pain I have been having by correcting my running stride back to how it was intended to be. I am ordering a pair online this week so once I have a chance to break them in I will post my shoe review. 

Also on a "Footloose" side note, I went to the dollar show to see the new Footloose remake last weekend. I will say I went in with VERY low expectations, and I was pleasantly surprised with how much it didn't completely suck! They put a new country spin on it but overall the story stuck pretty close to the original. That being said if I had to choose between which version to watch on Saturday afternoon there is not even a question that my heart belongs to Kevin Bacon in that contest.