After suffering from knee pain and IT Band syndrome in February, Dan switched to Vibram Five Fingers and completed the Boston Marathon this last weekend. Dan describes his experience:
Sometime in early February I began developing some nasty knee pain with a new pair of running shoes. By the end of February, I had developed a nasty case of IT Band in both my legs. Fixated on running Boston, I needed to find a solution (and quick). I had heard much about barefoot running and the VFFs, so I decided to give them a shot. With time ticking on my training, I went cold turkey to the KSOs (yeah yeah…I know this is highly discouraged by all the experts). While there was some foot pain and calf pain involved, the transition went pretty smooth. My IT Band slowly started to heal through March. By the first week of April, I was running 50+ miles/week in the KSOs and had completed a 24 mile trail run. The weekend before Boston, I did a 14 mile run on bare pavement (longest I had gone in VFFs on roads). Everything went OK on the pavement, so I decided to follow in the footsteps of Barefoot Ted and attempt to run Boston with scantly clad feet (despite being a bit concerned about going the whole 26.2 on pavement).
Dan’s Webbed Foot Modded KSOs ready to go
Dan comparing his KSOs with the Bikila at the Expo
Dan visited the vibram booth and discussed his Webbed Foot Modded KSO Vibram Five Fingers:
The whole experience was fantastic! One of my first stops at the Expo was to go talk with the Vibram Reps. Had a good talk with them about my KSOs and they were pretty interested in my “webbed toes” mod (they had never seen it in person before). On race day I got lot’s of questions from the start line through the whole run. From mile 1 through 26, I just kept getting the same question – “how are your feet feeling?” I confidently answered that everything felt great. One of the best parts was just talking to other runners about my experience in VFFs, and spreading the good word about their capabilities. I saw a few others out there in VFFs (including Corrado Giambalvo, who Vibram had “sponsored” to run in the new Bikilas), and saw one runner going totally barefoot.
Dan crossing the finish Line. Way to go! A 7:25 pace at the end. That is really burning it up barefoot.
Dan maintained a blistering pace considering his recent injuries and that is was his first marathon in Vibram Five Fingers. He comments on his pace and strategy:
The race went great in the KSOs, I ran a 1:39 first half, was strong through the Newton Hills, and felt so good after mile 21 that I started to increase my pace. During all my training in the winter, my recovering IT Band and my transition to the Vibrams prevented me from doing ANY runs at a pace faster than 8:00/mile. I ended up finishing the marathon in 3:25:15, which is a 7:50 pace. I felt so great; my split between the 40K and the finish was 10 minutes, close to a 7:25 pace! I felt like I could have just kept running a few more miles after the finish and had never felt so strong at the end of a marathon (which I attribute to the efficiency of running in VFFs). I ran the last five miles with a huge smile on my face. I had forgotten how fun it was to run naturally and pain free! Two days later, my legs feel great, and my IT Band has not acted up at all. While this race was far from a personal best, it was the most fun I have EVER had running.
Just an incredible story. Thanks Dan!
13 replies on “Marathoner overcomes an IT Band injury and completes the Boston Marathon in his Vibram Five Finger KSOs”
Nice job, Dan! I too gave up regular running shoes after suffering IT Band pain after my first marathon. I joggled the Philly marathon in KSO’s and felt great. I just got a new pair of the black KSO’s, so now I rotate two pairs of KSO’s (they’re different sizes too).
Great story. I am now inspired to run the St” George in my KSOs.
Great story Dan! And congratulation for your performance. I felt the same thing while running the Montreal’s marathon last fall: I had fun! I think this is the best reason why people switch to barefoot or minimalist running.
That’s incredible, well done. I do think it bears repeating, though, that being able to successfully move to 100% of your running (especially when that includes 20+ mile long runs) in VFFs in such a short time is HIGHLY unusual. I got to 100% in VFFs in about 6 weeks and am paying dearly for it now (foot pain has sidelined me for the past 3 weeks). I have subsequently learned I should have taken more like 4-6 months to get to the point where I could do 100% of my previous mileage in VFFs.
Don’t get me wrong, props to you for being able to do it and for running a good marathon, but I just don’t want novices seeing this post and thinking this is how it usually works!
What’s the story behind the webbed version — two toes together? Curious….
I’m soooooooooo curious why he modded his vibrams and how as well… Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Helena & SM,
This link should help: Webbed Toe Mod
Great run Dan!
In Boston I tested the Bikilas for the first time. Being busy explaining the feel to fellow runners was inevitable. And enjoyable. That’s the great thing about marathons: totally exhausting yet socializing-friendly! It was a day of good fortunes as i lowered my most recent time by 3 minutes. If i manage to avoid a two week stoppage with 45 days to go, and manage to accumulate a few more long runs, next edition should be even faster.
Great site and wonderful community, Justin!
Good Health to All.
Hi Dan…We’re SOOOO proud of you. What a great story. We can’t believe how determined you were and how innovative your solution to your problem was. Bravo! Cathy and Achille
Wow, congrats! I kind of envy you for this rapid transition.
Awesome story, Dan! I think you inspired Mom to get those shoes for walking… Congrats on an awesome “1st Boston, 1st barefoot!”
And in case anyone else is wondering, the Webbed Toe model was Dan’s way of being able to actually wear the shoes. His two middle toes are webbed together, so he had to cut the middle toes apart and sew them together. Very innovative. I wonder if they’ll start to custom make these shoes for the webbies of the world.
Great finish! I never saw Dan so happy and energetic at the end of a marathon as he crossed the finish line in his Vibram FiveFingers KSOs. I believe that the shoes really made a difference. I do a lot of outdoor walking and am currently looking into getting a pair for me!
Dan
Just got pointed to your story. Well done for curing your injury and running such a fast Boston in your VFF KSOs. I ran the race in exactly the same shoes, except mine don’t have your webbed toes and, for some reason, nobody commented on what I was wearing anywhere between the start line and finish line! Mind, I wasn’t doing it for them but myself.
I made the switch – more or less instantly – last summer just because they made sense, and very quickly broke PRs from 5k to half-marathon. I ran Boston – my first Boston – in 3:29:22, only a minute & change off my PR. I get sore calves running hills in the VFFs but that’s a straight swap from sore quads in my old ASICS.
If anyone’s interested, I wrote a longer piece about my first Boston here.
Congrats again
Tony