Ninja Runner Unable to Avoid Attention in Black KSO Vibrams

Though many fans get tired of the constant looks and questions from strangers, having a conversation piece on your feet is a great way to meet people — and spread the good word about freeing your feet a la Vibram Five Fingers.

Dave from Illinois sent in the following commentary about his experience running in his Vibram Five Fingers KSOs:

I’ve been training in KSOs since Oct 09 but this was my first race. I had done several hundred miles of training in them but only about 50 on asphalt prior to the race (the rest had been indoors for the winter) so I wasn’t sure about how they would play out – especially because this is the hilliest sanctioned course in Illinois (which perhaps isn’t saying much but we’ll just call it a flatlander’s Everest). It went great, I beat my half-marathon PR by 5 minutes and I found myself flying up the hills. Think it was a combo of better form, stronger calves, and lighter shoes than everybody else. I received a lot of comments from other runners about how strong I was on the hills.

I found one other runner on the course in a pair of KSO treks and gave a shout out to him. Lots of runners were aware of VFFs but hadn’t tried them yet and had a lot of questions. I’m a fairly introverted guy but I found out this is a subject that really gets me out of my shell and I had a lot of great conversations about running and minimalist running. I’m very much a believer in letting everyone find their own way so I’d only rave about what they’ve done for me and that their mileage may vary but I had no regrets. My favorite was two ladies who didn’t actually talk to me but I could just barely hear them talking about how I wasn’t heal striking and then spent the next mile complaining about their attempts at various shoes and stores.

Fans often tire of the constant looks and questions from strangers, but having a conversation piece on your feet is a great way to meet new people — and spread the good word about freeing your feet a la Vibram Five Fingers.

Also, for anyone who thinks black KSOs are somehow more incognito than other colors, seems to me Dave has demonstrated the opposite! I will say if you’re gonna rock the black KSO Vibrams, an all black ninja get-up is the way to go!

Thanks for sharing your story Dave.

By Britt

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.

4 replies on “Ninja Runner Unable to Avoid Attention in Black KSO Vibrams”

“Fans often tire of the constant looks and questions from strangers, but having a conversation piece on your feet is a great way to meet new people — and spread the good word about freeing your feet a la Vibram Five Fingers.”

Absolutely agree. I’m not the kind of guy that enjoys initiating conversations with random strangers. But these shoes bring people to me! I don’t mind it at all. It’s become rather normal. Whether it’s at Chickfil-A, the movie theater, Whole or Foods Market, I get approached all the time.

The irony is i NEVER get approached at the office. It’s a massive complex of offices. I walk by dozens of people every day. And they all try to act like they don’t notice. Funny, and a little sad.

The all black get-up definitely attracts attention since people are usually expecting to see some big white / grey running shoes attached to your feet.

I love it when people ask me about my VFF’s! I can always tell when people are looking at me and commenting but are to shy to come ask me about them. I’ve never approached any of those people to strike up a conversation but I will admit that I would like to. Do you think it would be appropriate to approach those people or let them be? Its definitely more-so a question of how you go about it but any general opinion or insight would be greatly appreciated.

WEIRD! i was linked to this site from reddit in reference to the new VFF shoe release and low and behold i see somebody running in VFFs in my hometown. We’re moving back to cary soon and i was wondering which VFF would be good for the terrain there and i guess this answers my question

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