Feelin' the Flow: Chris runs the Richmond Marathon in VFF Flows

By Justin Owings on Dec 3, 2009 | In user stories | Leave a comment »

Note that midfoot strike — Chris runs the Richmond Marathon in his Vibram Five Finger Flows

Thanks to the neoprene in the Flow Five Fingers, Chris is able to keep his feet warm but still minimally shod for his marathon!

Post-race Chris wraps up to stay warm amidst temperatures in the 40s!

The photos above were sent in by Chris, who recently ran the Richmond Marathon in Flow Five Fingers. Though Flows are probably the least represented VFFs in the community, they're starting to get more attention as the seasons are changing and Five Fingers fans seek out a bit more foot warmth!

Here's Chris on the marathon:

Hey Justin,

I thought I'd send in some pictures from the Richmond Marathon I ran recently in my VFF Flows. It was really an awesome experience, from answering around a million questions about my "shoes" to being back on the road running taking only 2 days rest! I ran my first marathon last year in road shoes and got achilles tendonitis so switching to VFFs was a welcome relief. As for the Flows (a unique present from my girlfriend), I notice that people wear them much less than the other types, but on the 45 degree rainy morning of the race, they were nothing less than perfect. After 3 hours and 43 minutes, everything felt great and I can't wait to run another in them! Thanks for putting together such an amazing site -

Chris

Thanks for sharing, Chris! Nice time and good to hear that VFFs are enabling you to run injury-free. That your girlfriend hooked you up with your Flows — well, I'll just say that she might be worth hanging on to!

About the Author — I founded BirthdayShoes.com in April 2009 on realizing just how much I enjoyed having "free feet" - I mostly wanted to use them for weights, sprints, and plyometrics (I'm not much of a runner!). I'm a Googler by day and minimalist footwear aficionado by night; you can find me 'round Atlanta. If you want to catch up with what I'm doing outside of the site here, follow me on twitter @bdayshoes or @justinno or check out my personal site JustinOwings.com.
Justin Owings+ has written 712 articles and 260 comments.