I wear my VFF as my primary
I wear my VFF as my primary casual shoe around town, or even travelling on business in the evening or weekends. I'm amazed how I can walk by 1,000 people and no one will say a word (although they do point) and then 10 people in a row will ask me about them. Most have "never seen such a thing", and many can't even understand why someone would want to walk around feeling barefoot.
I always warn people that one has to strengthen the unused calf and ankle muscles when starting out with them. I could do a half-marathon in shoes, but only 5 miles in VFF when I started out. And even that was painful.
I hope there isn't a great divide in the "barefoot" running world soon between the truly barefoot crowd and those of us who wear VFF. Frankly I just don't run enough to make my feet tough enough to be competely barefoot. I was raised on a farm and was barefoot about 1/3rd of the year...so I know the feeling and prefer it, but it's not a priority for me to toughen my feet like the days of my youth. I used to RUN across gravel by summer's end as a teenager. Of course I also used to commonly pull nails, thorns, and other things out of my feet.
I wear my VFF as my primary casual shoe around town, or even travelling on business in the evening or weekends. I'm amazed how I can walk by 1,000 people and no one will say a word (although they do point) and then 10 people in a row will ask me about them. Most have "never seen such a thing", and many can't even understand why someone would want to walk around feeling barefoot.
I always warn people that one has to strengthen the unused calf and ankle muscles when starting out with them. I could do a half-marathon in shoes, but only 5 miles in VFF when I started out. And even that was painful.
I hope there isn't a great divide in the "barefoot" running world soon between the truly barefoot crowd and those of us who wear VFF. Frankly I just don't run enough to make my feet tough enough to be competely barefoot. I was raised on a farm and was barefoot about 1/3rd of the year...so I know the feeling and prefer it, but it's not a priority for me to toughen my feet like the days of my youth. I used to RUN across gravel by summer's end as a teenager. Of course I also used to commonly pull nails, thorns, and other things out of my feet.