Category Archives: General

My New Running Shoes

It’s actually not that accurate to describe the vibram KSOs as shoes…mitts might be more like it. The things are meant to bring you as close as possible to running barefoot, which is alleged to reduce your risk of injury and generally be better for your ankles/knees/hips than running in trainers.

Wearing the mitts feels in many ways like you’re barefooted. There’s little to no arch support and your toes are free to wiggle all they want. At first my toes weren’t sure what, exactly, they were supposed to be doing. I spent quite a bit of time walking around, thinking about my toes, which is an odd thing to do.
The mitts’ upper is breathable and very much like what aquasocks are made out of. The designers did an especially good job on the sole; it’s flexible enough to not get in the way while running, but firm enough to not make running over rocks painful. It also seems to provide a fair amount of grip, though I’ve not yet taken them over anything extraordinarily slippery.

The Drawbacks

I bought the things back in January, but hadn’t run in them until now out of caution as well as laziness. The main difficulties I had in getting used to the shoes were:

1. Putting them on. Your toes have to stretch apart quite a bit to go into the right slots. I actually had to spend some time stretching my pinky toes before I was able to put the mitts on for the first time.
2. Getting used to walking/running in them. I learned very quickly that big heel-strikes are not the right way to walk or run in the vibrams. I would guess that I walked 4-5 hours in the things before feeling like I was no longer mincing or doing a Frankenstein walk. It would be a very bad idea to buy them and immediately go running in them.
3. Looking like an idiot. These are not shoes for the self-conscious. They look very weird and draw stares. (“I saw your toes coming up the walk,” my flatmate said to me one day as I came back from the gym.) The all-black KSOs are fairly unobtrusive; all the others are made in horribly garish, attention-getting color schemes. Bad idea, vibram.

The First Run

The weather has improved to the point that being outside is enjoyable rather than tolerable, so I decided today was a good day to take the mitts on their first run. It was a short, fast two mile run through fields and up and down two hills. There was some mud and wet, but generally I ran on packed dirt and grass.

The first hundred feet or so were generally awkward, and I took a few painful heavy steps. After that, something clicked and I had the most fun I think I’ve ever had running. I primarily noticed was how light my feet felt, and how much fun it was for my feet to have such freedom of movement and agility. Because of the open tops on the shoes, I felt much more connected to what I was running over and through. It was a good feeling.

In the past I’d read quite a bit about pose running; when I got into my rhythm, I realized that I was running in a way that the pose people have described….interesting, that.

I ran about a 7:30 mile, which isn’t bad considering the new kicks, how long it’s been since I last ran, and what a shit runner I am in general.

The Aftermath

First, I was shocked that my feet weren’t absolutely filthy when I pulled the shoes off. This is a clear sign I didn’t run for long enough.

My ankles are a bit sore, probably in part from the first few missteps I took, but also because some of my barefoot form needs improvement. My knees and hips, which are where I felt discomfort while getting used to walking in the mitts, have been fine. I’m looking forward to tomorrow, when I’ll do the same two miles again. I figure that if I can do tomorrow with no pain I’ll double up the time after and start building miles.

I ran without socks, and there are no sore spots or signs of blisters on my feet. However, the mitts now smell absolutely foul. They’re supposed to be machine washable, but I think I’ll try to find some anti-odor/anti-bacteria spray to use on them. I don’t want to ruin the things in a school washing machine.

In the end, I wanted to run more when I finished, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s run. That’s the highest compliment I think I can give the mitts. They made the running feel fun.

My parents are starting to look for a car to replace their trusty CR-V. While I was visiting home I looked through the stack of pamphlets they’ve brought home from dealerships and was absolutely astounded to see that Honda has finally listened to what its customers need and want, designing the Honda Fit to accommodate the needs of those who want to transport alpacas inside their subcompact.

Here’s to hoping that the Llama community doesn’t feel slighted.

We’ve had little to no internet in China since the end of December…you can expect some updates in the next couple of weeks once things are running faster.

Internet services will not be fully restored until end January (Xinhua)

Updated: 2007-01-12 14:42

Full internet services — disrupted by an earthquake off Taiwan at the end of last month — may not be restored until the end of the month.

Sources with China Netcom (CNC) said seven repair ships have been working round-the-clock, but the nature of the undersea terrain and bad weather had combined to slow work.

To make matters worse, the extent of the damage to the cables was initially underestimated. China Telecom said another reason for the delay was the dense and intricate distribution of trans-oceanic networks in the area off Taiwan. It said the most optimistic estimation for resumption of full services is January 20.

According to CNC and China Telecom, regular phone and special telephone services of both companies are functioning properly, and 80 percent of internet services have been restored. Surfing speeds have picked up from the snail speeds that prevailed in the days following the quake.

An expert from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications said the incident rings alarm bells for the Asian information industry which has long been over-reliant on American routers. The high density of undersea cables in a particular spot increases the risks of disruption from natural disasters.

Last year China Telecom and CNC signed an agreement with three overseas operators to build a Trans-Pacific Express (TPE) Cable Network connecting the United States, South Korea, the Chinese mainland and Taiwan province, with an international bandwidth five times that of present.

The new TPE routes, including direct networks connecting the eastern cities of Shanghai and Qingdao with the state of Oregon in America, will avoid quake-prone areas to limit possible damage from natural disasters. The new cable is expected to be completed in 2008.

The undersea cable connecting China to the United States was severed by a December 26 earthquake off Taiwan’s south coast, which initially paralyzed the network and has disrupted and slowed internet connections ever since.