My left foot after the race. Photo by Matteo Penzo

On Sunday 21 March 2010 I participated in the Stramilano 10km race, the first official run using the Vibram FiveFingers shoes to simulate barefoot running. While I’ve been a FiveFingers user on-and-off for the last 3 or 4 years, I’ve only started running using them one monts ago and this race in Milan was the longest distance I’ve used them so far (10 km).

My reasons to use the FiveFingers are many but one of the most important ones is that since November 2009 I’ve been feeling acute knee pain while jogging for more than 2 km. As I’m constantly traveling, I haven’t been able to do an accurate medical check-up but it is planned in the short term. I’ve been practicing sports for several years and I’m not new to knee pain. The causes are multiple but it had never happened while doing light running. A secondary reason is that I’m a pure-heart geek and last Sunday I participated in the Stramilano together with my friends from the GeekRunning group.

My Vibram KSO FiveFingers with tune belt attached for the Nike+ sensor

The result was that I could finish the race at a regular pace with no pain. Now some of my leg muscles are a bit sore because I was not training often enough and because running with the FiveFingers stimulates different muscles that when using regular sport shoes. I aslo got some minor blisters on the internal side of my feet as I still have to completely “break” into the shoes.

Geek Runners after the Stramilano (photo from Matteo Penzo's flickr but not taken by him)

The model I currently use is the FiveFingers KSO combined with a “tune belt sensor pouch” (Amazon link) to hold the Nike+ sensor (Amazon link) I use to track my running (through the iPhone). I’m looking forward to running in them on a weekly basis and, why not, do some trekking too.

Side-effect of running in the Vibram FiveFingers: I got asked at least a dozen times how it was to jogg in them and if it was healthy for my feet.

I probably made all the mistakes listed in this article, pity I didn’t find it earlier.

More photos

My Vibram KSO FiveFingers with tune belt attached for the Nike+ sensor

Tune belt for Nike+ Sensor

Niente votazioni, stavolta: le teniamo in caldo per la release 2.0. Questa volta è bastato un pranzo per decidere di corsa (!) dove cosa e quando.

La versione 1.1 sarà rilasciata sabato 9, alle 10.30 in Parco Sempione a Milano.

Ritrovo alle 10.15, davanti alla fontana d’ingresso del Castello Sforzesco.

Iscriviti qui (è gratis).

Sarà un percorso di un paio di km, da ripetere 3 volte, in una location raggiungibile con i soli mezzi pubblici: insomma, 6 km a km 0.

Niente di agonistico, come sempre. Soltanto un modo divertente e “social” di far andare i muscoli delle gambe e quelli della tecnologia.

Anche questa volta, dunque, oltre ai runner sono i benvenuti amici, amici di amici, mamme, mogli, figli, fotografi, videoamatori e geek di ogni forma e dimensione. Vi aspettiamo!