toe envy?

[dirtdemon77]

Ran with my 12 year old son this morning in the first road race of the Northern Michigan season, a fund raiser put on by a local high school XC team. I wore my VFF's as it was 35 and freezing rain/snow mix, makng the asphalt slicker than snot. All the high school kids were interested in my shoes, and all seemed to know a little about them. But, their coach just glared at me and harumphed when they pointed me out to them. Evidently he's not a barefoot fan. Either that, or he's jealous of how slimming my VFF's are on my feet. LOL

Got a lot of interest from other racers as well. Out of 60 some runners, there were two of us wearing VFF's. A third said he just started wearing them, but wasn't ready to run a race pace yet. Told anyone who would listen about the BRS.

Got another race next Saturday. We'll see what kind of reactions I get there. It's on a golf course and I plan to go bare there.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Way to represent, Dirt.  I

Way to represent, Dirt. I remember some ugly looks I got from a couple of girls last year, when I ran a half in VFFs. This was before the race as everyone was gathering in their corrals. They covered their mouths and whispered to one another, then pointed at me. I walked, rather brushed right past them, and said, "That's right! I'm running in these," and pointed down at my VFFs. That was over a year ago. Little-by-little, as we bring awareness to barefoot and minimalist running, the ugly stares will diminish.

 

[Norm Deplume]

Mr Deplume ran a race this

Mr Deplume ran a race this morning and I wore my VFFs (didn't run, was corraling the kids). There were two other people there in then, too. None of us were running though. The toes were quite the conversation piece.

 

[mokaman]

 Nice going to both of you, I

Nice going to both of you, I think there were a lot races around the country today where barefoot and flat shoes had good representation...Times are a changin !

 

[dirtdemon77]

I am excited to watch the

I am excited to watch the change as the summer goes on. I run a ton of small, local races. I can't wait to see how many people are wearing flats or nothing as the year goes by. What's really cool is that as soon as you notice someone with minimalist shoes, or BF, its like an instant kinship. I had never met the two people I was talking with this morning, but as soon as they saw my feet, we all instalnly had something in common other than just being crazy enough to stand around in the freezing rain.

Also, t doesn't take long for a reputation to get around. I used to be that guy that snowshoe raced, then I was that guy that was training for an ultra. Now I'm that guy that runs barefoot, snowshoes, and is training for an ultra. Running minimal sure has put the FUN back in running!

 

[Barefoot TJ]

I know what you mean by a

I know what you mean by a connection, Dirt. When Mokie, a.k.a., Mokaman, and I run races together, and we see someone running in VFFs, we will run up beside them flanking them and point out how weird their shoes look. They'll look down at their feet, then notice we're barefoot, and look up at us and smile. It's like they get it. We're automatic friends. Sometimes Mokie will have his VFFs hanging off his belt, so they knew we were just teasing them trying to get a rise out of them.

Now Dirt, I have to ask...when you say you were the guy that raced snowshoe...Do you mean you raced our very own Snowshoe Hare, or are you saying you race in snowshoes (too)? I know you're both from Michigan, but I don't know how close you are.

Speaking of toes...the other day, I bought this really pretty "diamond-looking" toe ring. Just a little bling for the pinkie toe. Now the others are all jealous.

 

[Norm Deplume]

Barefoot TJ wrote:Speaking of

Speaking of toes...the other day, I bought this really pretty "diamond-looking" toe ring. Just a little bling for the pinkie toe. Now the others are all jealous.

Be careful there, TJ. You don't want to go pissing off those other toes, lest they start picking on one another. :O

 

[dirtdemon77]

I race on snowshoes. Its

I race on snowshoes. Its about the only action a competition junkie can get up here in the winter. I hate snowshoe racing and training. I'd rather do a year of repeats and hills than a month of snowshoeing, but it beats the treadmill, and it is great for your calves.

 

[BFWendyBird]

Is BRS now open to the

Is BRS now open to the public? We are done with Beta testing, or whatever that was?

 

[Barefoot TJ]

I'm thinking we will be going

I'm thinking we will be going public in a couple of weeks, so we are still in the beta period. How are you guys liking the site and the resources we are offering? If you have any more suggestions for improvement, please use the Feedback tab at the top and let us know. We want to give you all the absolute best possible interface as possible.

 

[BFWendyBird]

I love it and can't wait to

I love it and can't wait to tell people about it!

I met a Lady Marine this weekend that was running in VFFs and Saucony racing flats. She said she has run barefoot all her life and done most of her fitness tests barefoot. Back in '93 a Chief Warrent Office tried to bust her for having her shoes off after a test, but she beat the accusation by pointing out that the regulation suggested athletic shoes for the test, it did not require them, LOL.

 

[AlmostBarefoot_Barry]

 I dont run in my VFFs (I

I dont run in my VFFs (I prefer to run in my OSMA's), but wear my VFFs everywhere. One thing I have noticed in recent months is how often someone stops me to talk, and instead of being surprised/confused they say "I heard about those shoes...". This now seems to be the most COMMON comment I get.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

I know.  I love it.  I don't

I know. I love it. I don't run in mine either, but I love wearing them everywhere I am forced to wear something on my feet. I remember when I used to get odd looks and "interesting" comments about my VFFs (not so much anymore); now, I get a lot of, "Hey, those are those shoes I heard about."

 

[Cali Girl]

I'm really enjoying the site

I'm really enjoying the site so far. Of course, I just got here so still have a lot of looking around and learning what all it offers, but so far I think it is wonderful! Thank you everyone for all the hard work!