I DON'T have purple feet!!!! (RE-Learning to Run... Day #2)

Day two in recovery mode and with my new Vibram 5 Fingers

Run attempt #2: 3 Easy
Location: Road
Mileage: 3 Mile
Incline: Varry
Shoe: Vibram 5-finger classics
Pace: 9:00 avg min/mile

Report: I decided to test my ankle/tendon/injured thing out on the road today. I found and easy mile that circles my apartment so if anything happened I wasn't too far.

Mile 1: I started with an easy pace, getting my ankle warmed up. The loop is flat, followed by a long graded downhill, then a long graded uphill back home. Half way through my ankle got a little tight on the long downhill, so I stopped for 10 seconds to rub it a little. After that it started to warm up.

Mile 2-3: I was still feeling good going into my second loop, so I extended the loop a bit, which gave my ankle a good test... the BIG hill near my apartment! Still felt a little tight, but not painful. By the end of the run, after getting more and more warmed up, I wasn't even that tight.

Post Run: After the run I stretched a bit and I could feel my ankle was a little sore, but nothing too bad. The funny thing is, when I press on the tedon/bone area it still hurts as much as it did early last week, but when I use the ankle (running/walking/etc) it doesn't hurt like it did. Not sure what that means, but hopefully the Dr. will tell me its ok and give me the go ahead on running Myrtle Beach in 3 weeks. :)

Vibrams: This was my second running attempt in my vibrams, my first time outside and they felt great. I've always wanted to run on the front of my feet with good running form, but -- let's face it!-- when we get tired our form is the first thing that goes, and we fall back on my heels. Well, the vibrams give you no choice. Try running in your bare feet... you'll notice it's very awkward if you do land on your heel-- much more natural to fall on the front of your foot with very even footing (no overpronation). I also found running on uneven surfaces (the right edge of the road), my shoes tended to wear out on the inside of my right foot... so when I run on flat surfaces, my shoe forces me to overpronate as well. The vibrams don't wear that way, and allow you to run naturally on the uneven surfaces.

Vibram embarrassing moment #2: I know people make comments about my vibrams (or what they usually think are "socks")-- in the gym, at work, walking around the grocery store... but I thought when I ran, nobody could notice!! Wrong... they noticed! I had a few people stare at my feet in stopped cars at a red light. Then I was running by a woman who was getting her groceries out of her car and she came to a dead stop when I was about 10 feet away, followed me with her eyes on my feet, until I was out of sight.

Sigh... I know it must look like I'm running in either socks or my feet are purple, but seriously, when did staring become ok??? I need a shirt that says "No, these are not socks. Yes, these are shoes, No my feet are not purple." I feel that will help answer most questions people are wondering. 

Icing, a movie, then off to bed to get my foot elevated!!! Woohoo.