Broke My Toe Wearing Vibram Five Fingers

OK, I admit I was not paying attention.

Yesterday, on an easy trail run with a bunch of people, after extoling the virtues of VFF's, within the first half mile I tripped really really really hard on a root. It jammed my toes hard straight back into my foot. I fell like somebody shot me. I kinda heard a snap (or imagined it) and knew I broke something. Finished the run of 4 more miles with increasing pain.

This is the third toe I have broken on my left foot.  First the little toe about 13 years ago, when I kicked a packed suitcase before a ski day.  Second the next one over, last summer, when I kicked a bench on the pool deck.  Now the middle toe.  I seem to be working left to right.

This toe is broken very near the metatarsal, which isn't really a good thing.  It is painful to walk and to try to curl my toes.  I'm icing every few hours. My foot is a bit more swollen today than it was yesterday. This sucks. It was so random, I had been running on trails with the VFFs before, and this trail was easy in comparison to others I had run. Guess I am putting in some long bike mileage over the next few weeks. Not a happy camper. :(

Photo from yesterday:

Icing, right after the run:

Vibram Five Fingers

I have aquired the Injinji socks, and now running in the Vibram Five Finger shoes is perfect! I have done trails and roads in them. Random rocks on trails do cause a lot of penetration, and can be uncomfortable. But for dirt trails or woods roads they are fine. They are great on the road. I ran a PR and an age group course record cross country race wearing the VFF's. I also ran about 12 miles over three legs of the River to Sea Relay wearing the VFF's. Now wearing any other running shoe feels restrictive! Even wearing minimal cross country flats.

Embedded video below shows the future potential of Vibram Five Fingers. Also know for sure now that I have been pronouncing Vibram incorrectly for the last 35 years.

First VFF Run

I ran in my Vibram Five Fingers KSO's yesterday.  It was a short run of three miles.  There is the feeling of running barefoot, but just not on top of your foot, and of course there is all that protection underneath.  For the first two miles they felt pretty good, but I could not help thinking I would rather be really barefoot.  My soles were missing the real feel of the road.  I had to stop a couple of times to tighten, then loosen the Velcro strap.  After about 2.25 miles I gave in and took them off.  It is the upper that was giving me some chafing, and I did get a micro blister on the inside of my foot above my right arch area.  I think I need Injinji socks - the ones with the toes.  And I think these will be used on trails, and maybe for racing, not for daily runs in warm weather.

Summer Series XC #2 & My Birthday Party

I ran Summer Series #2 in my Nike XC spikes last night.  There were parts of the course where all the recent NJ rains have caused erosion and the exposure of random rocks and other scree.  I would have had to slow down a lot if I ran barefoot.  But it was very hot and humid last night and I am not acclimated because it just hasn't been hot this spring.  The spikes felt so heavy and hot I really wanted to stop and rip them off my feet.  I won my new age group, at least.

The greatest thing about last night was everyone in my running club that made it special for my birthday.  The race directors, Doug and Janice, gave me bib number 50.  They announced it at the start line and gave me a special start line about 10 yards ahead of everyone else.  It felt so unfair but it was humorous.  There was another former president, IronPete , that shares my birthday, but 10 years younger.  He got a head start too, as well as bib number 40.

After the race there was the singing of Happy Birthday and an absolutely wonderful birthday cake, made by Rebecca T.  It was an amazing work of art that is cheapened by text description: It was totally themed with icing as a plush mountain with a path to the top on one side.  The path had shoes cast aside and bare footprints passing milestones marked 35, 40, 45.  Over the top, the other downhill side had a gray rocky barren down-hill path with animal bones and skull exposed.  Rebeca spent like 10 hours creating that.  She should do that for a living!  And she cut it up herself.  (You might be able to see pics of it on Facebook.)

Finally, Chris L had people chip in for a gift last Saturday.  What a guy!  They got me Vibram Five Finger KSO shoes.  I had been wanting them for a long time but have been too cheap to buy them.  So that was wonderful.  Of course we hung out and drank some beers as always.  It was absolutely the best 50th birthday I could have ever wanted!

New Age Group as of Today

Today I am crossing the line into the 50+ age group.  Time to rock & roll!  First race as a 50 year old is tonight, but it is a series race that scores you for the same age group for the entire series, so I will be scoring in the 45-49 age group.  But that is OK, because the race will also be MY PARTY!  My real debut race will be Sunday at Pine Beach 5K, which is a NJ Masters championship.  I am looking for hardware, since I will be the youngest in the age group, but it will be more difficult to do that at a championship.

Training June 15 - 21, 2009

I had a moderate workout week this past week.  Considering the extra work at camp for a couple of days, I can't complain.  President's Cup 5K on Monday night resulted in my fastest 5K since July of 2005!  Bike ride yesterday on old rain bike had a decent speed considering what I was riding, and was mostly big-ring.