People who know me, or have seen the picture over there on the right (me from Feb 2011), know that I am not a small guy.  Distance running has never been my thing.  But I knew that getting back into shape needed to be a priority, and this was a small kick start into that direction.

My running over the past few months has been sporadic at best.  My wife Heidi and I have set some good goals and even run in 2 5Ks and walked in another.  Our first 5K ever was the Fans on the Field 5K.  It was a very fun event that was a good goal for both of us to get started.

Our next big goal is to run the Bolder Boulder. Tonight I started toward that goal. I start using the Bridge to 10K app on the iPhone as a training program to get going. I also started to look into getting a second pair of Vibram shoes.

As much as I have loved my Vibram KSO’s, they are starting to wear down and it’s time for new.  Of all of the athletic shoes I’ve had over the years, none of them have lasted more than a year.  So to get almost 2 and a half out of shoes is great.

I reviewed the Vibram site tonight and picked out the Bikila as my new pair.  Hopefully they will get here quickly!

I will continue my journey, and update here hopefully more frequently than I have been about this.

I usually run with a 3 minutes running/3 minutes walking pace for my workouts.  So when I started the run off I was very happy with the feel of the shoes.  Obviously again I noticed a difference to traditional shoes as the cushioning was just not there.  My running style didn’t change much that I could tell, which I am happy about.  I was worried that the change of cushioning would make the way I run a lot different.

As I got to about the halfway point of my run I noticed a strong pulling feeling in the arch of my left foot.  This was similar to the feeling I had when I ran the first time.  I am very big guy so the fact that my feet are hurting during a workout doesn’t bother me all that much, but this was a noticeable difference.  I am expecting this pain to go away over time with more workouts, so I will just have to grin and bear it now.

Overall I am still very happy with my purchase of the Vibram’s.  I think they will really help with my overall foot health.  I will keep updating the blog on a semi-regular basis, so please check back.  If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them in the form below.