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It might just be certain models of vivobarefoot shoes that have the plastic. My oaks are just leather, and have kind of a floppy heel, which is fine by me. Either way, that is disappointing.

... I did my first C25K workout yesterday and it was five minutes of walking and then 20 minutes of running- 60 seconds running and 90 seconds walking, and then a five minute walking cool down. I ran slow. I didn't heel strike. I felt great! It felt natural to me and I never was in pain or anything. Now though, my left heel is really hurting me. Its pretty sore.

If it was your first intensive exercise, the soreness and pain of your "lazy" muscles are normal and theses could last at least a week for the first time. From couch to first run, 20 minutes run might be too much. I think 10 to 15 min run (60 sec run, 90 min walk), three times a week, for the two first weeks should be good enough. I also second the exercises suggested by jmijares and by marly mission.       

I haven’t tried to rehabilitate them yet.  I’m too mad to put more effort into them I don’t know if I want to wear them anyway.  I wanted to post pictures because I want to warn other people about Vivobarefoot.  I know that if I had known that Vivobarefoot reinforces shoes with plastic, I would not have purchased them.  Of course, it may not be that Vivobarefoot reinforces all or most of their shoes with plastic.  I don’t know if this is specific to women’s shoes or to their more formal looking shoes. The only thing I know is that Kali is constructed with plastic, everything else is conjecture .

oh I know my form isn't perfect- it just felt good when I was doing it! considering I"m not a runner, I'm sure my form can't be perfect.

the worst case scenario is I don't do it! The world won't end if I don't do some Diva run with my fitness class mates. I will keep up the fitness class w /the wobble board and such - that will run all summer.  Maybe there is a reason I'm a fitness glass groupie and not a runner!  I will try it though and see what happens.

I support this option!  Running is awful.  It’s not fun it’s not an easy way to get a workout at all and runners are so injury prone.  Of course if you have to run, you’re better off being barefoot or at least in minimalist shoes but who said you have to run at all?  I’d much rather do some burpees and get my heart rate up that way. There’s this culture that glorifies running but you don’t have to fall in line.  You don’t have to prove anything by running.

Since you like them, keep doing your group fitness classes!  What shoes are you wearing in them, if any?  You never know if the instructor will let you get away with bare feet until you try!  Anything like zumba should be fine.  The best zumba type instructors are from or have spent time in Latin America.  Actually that’s a great way to weed out instructors.  That goes for all ethnic dance, martial arts, etc.  Anything yoga related, obviously.  Bootcamp classes and anything involving weights are more iffy but you never know.

There are instructors that don’t blink at bare feet or will even praise you, there are instructors that’ll be skeptical but if you hold your ground and offer to talk to the manager / sign whatever agreement absolving the instructor of any foot related responsibilities they come around.   But of course there are instructors that will not budge, but most will at least be ok with vibrams.  There are very few instructors that are not ok with fivefingers and I have the luxury of being able to avoid them.

It is kind of annoying to me that vibrams are so associated with running.  Sometimes people say- oh I’ve heard of those, those shoes are for barefoot running.  I don’t think it’s necessary to be a runner to derive benefits from minimalist shoes.  They’re also good for walking and standing and dancing and so on.

How does the finished repaired shoe look?

I've been running in the vibram komodo sport for a couple of months now and they seem to be doing great. They say they are for multi-sport but work fabulous when running. I tried wearing bikilas, but the komodos agreed much better with my feet while running, if you are in the mood for a uber minimalist shoe I would recommend the See Ya, it works extremely well but might not be great for long distances.

heard great things about new york mary - one day
its probably pretty crazy
i did philly last year was super fun
comparing it to the smaller scaled nj marathon from the spring i would say bigger is better

oh I know my form isn't perfect- it just felt good when I was doing it! considering I"m not a runner, I'm sure my form can't be perfect.

the worst case scenario is I don't do it! The world won't end if I don't do some Diva run with my fitness class mates. I will keep up the fitness class w /the wobble board and such - that will run all summer.  Maybe there is a reason I'm a fitness glass groupie and not a runner!  I will try it though and see what happens.

ah well, no thoughts on winter now, it is so damn hot, I cannot think of snow

Hi there,

my dream is to participate in the New York Marathon in 2014. I have once been there in the crowd watching and thought the atmosphere was great. I even saw some celebs running the marathon - almost did not recognize them, but it was Edward Norton who was running there.
But the best thing was the communal sense of it all. Hope there will be no second 'Sandy'...