Bill decided to get a little marathon training in wearing his Vibram Five Fingers KSOs while cruising the Atlantic. Here's what he shared with us:
I thought I would share some pictures my wife took of me in my KSOs on our cruise on the Norwegian Sun from Dover, England to Port Canaveral, Florida from 10/4 -10/16/2010. The pictures were taken on 10/9, which would have been near the Canary Islands. I am a 69 year old runner from Folsom, California training for this year's California International Marathon. I bought my KSOs about three months ago and more recently got a pair of Bikilas. I am gradually increasing my mileage up to five miles, but I still do my long runs in Nike Free 5.0 and Free Run Plus. The pictures were taken on the Promenade Deck, which wraps around the ship and has designated walking and jogging lanes. Over the years I have gradually transitioned from Nike Air Pegasus (which are really strange now) to lighter shoes with less support, Nike Free and now Five Fingers. The biggest change for me is fewer niggling injuries. Two years ago, an MRI showed I had a torn meniscus cartilage on my left knee and I was scheduled for surgery. By the time of the surgery, I felt my knee had healed and cancelled. The problem reoccurred a year ago and once again I cancelled surgery the day before. Best decision I ever made and I have been injury free and able to step up to marathon training for the past 6 months. I believe it all has to do with going to less supportive shoes, more upper leg and calf strength training, and my Yoga practice. Perhaps, next year I will be running my first marathon in the 70 - 75 age group in Five Fingers.
Bill
Thanks for sharing your story Bill! Good luck on staying injury free. Hopefully, the minimal running shoes will help.
About the Author — Hailing from College Station, Texas (Home to Texas A&M!), I grew up running cross country. Believe it or not, I gave Justin the name for this site back in early 2009 but I didn't jump on the toe shoes bandwagon until a year later. I am also really into quadcopters and drones and have a blog called OddCopter.com.Britt has written 161 articles and 67 comments.
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Hmmm? 1 lap is 1575', 3.5 * 1575' is 5512.5' 1 mile is 5280' a difference of 232.5' So expect your "mile" times to be a bit slow ~20-30 seconds... For casual joggers/walkers no big deal, but if actually trying to keep track,those differences add up! Anyhow, pretty cool experience to run around a long deck like that, just be a pretty big ship! 
Ah yes but keep in mind the moving boat, some times you will be moving with the boat and other against the boat 
Looks like fun. I actually got married to my wife on that vessel a few years ago. Had a great on on the Norwegian Sun. 
Awesome! I hope I take care of myself well enough to be training for a marathon in my late 60's. Great job. 
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