Hey, Who’s That Guy In The Foster Grants Gorilla Shoes?

OK, so if you saw my post from yesterday, and experienced your first glimpse of the, uh, unusual shoes I wear to run in, then I congratulate you on your return.  After all, some people wouldn’t blame you for quickly closing your browser and never looking back.

I have to admit that my shoes, which are made by a company called Vibram, are different.  I’ll be talking about these shoes more in the days to come but for now I want to talk about how people react to them.

You see, if I could get away with it I would wear these shoes everywhere.  They are the best shoes I’ve every worn.  I haven’t worn my regular running shoes in about 4 months and I haven’t worn any of my other casual shoes either.  I do have to wear dress shoes on certain days at my job.  But they actually recently changed the dress code so that on most days the guys are allowed to wear “sneakers”.  I have decided that my Vibrams qualify as sneakers.

So my Vibrams get a lot exposure to people that have never seen a pair before.  Since I commute to Manhattan everyday from the suburbs, they are seen by people on the bus, in the Port Authority Bus Terminal, on the subway platform, on the subway train, on the street, and in and around my office building.

Now I’ve long ago past the point where I care too much about what people think of me.  I’m pretty comfortable in my skin, settled with what I think, what I wear, and how I act, etc.  And that’s exactly why it is so fun to wear these shoes in all of these places.  I’ve pretty much come to the place where I almost forget that I’m wearing them until I notice that someone is staring at my feet, or they come up to me and ask me about them.

Here’s just a sampling of reactions and conversations that have occurred since I started going minimalist:

• A lady on the elevator at my office:  “Do your toes really go in those fingers”?
• A street vendor outside the gym where I go at lunch to change and shower, after watching me stand on the step adjusting my MP3 player and running watch:  “Me encanta tu tenis.”  (I had to look it up later)
• Two NYPD officers on the subway.  I overheard them talking about the shoes for a few minutes before one of them approached me to ask me if they could see the soles of the Vibrams.  The other one said she was going to buy a pair for her mother…..
• A guy in the Bus Terminal, who caught up to me to say he owned a pair but wanted to know what it felt like to wear them in public.  Evidently he was too embarrassed.
• A little old lady on the elevator:  “Don’t you think you should get some socks that match your outfit?”

Of course, I also get the obvious questions like “Are they comfortable?”  (yes), “Are thy warm?” (yes, especially when I wear socks too), and “Where did you get those?” (online direct from Vibram).  And quite a few women have said that they are cute.  But I’m sure that was just because they didn’t know what else to say.  No one in their right mind would call these cute.  Unusual, yes.  Unique, yes.  Eclectic, maybe.  But not cute.  Just ask my son.  He just sighs every time I walk into the room.  He just doesn’t understand.  Hardly anybody does.

So thinking about this topic has given me an idea.  I’m going to put up a list in one of my sidebars of reactions/comments/questions that Vibram wearers have witnessed.  So all of you barefoot/minimalist runners out there who have Vibrams I want to hear from you.  In the comments (or on the Contact page), describe a scene in which your Vibrams were praised/questioned/laughed at, etc.  Anything that is interesting, funny, embarrassing, you name it.  I’ll put them in a list, along with links to any relevant blogs that submitters author.  Maybe I’ll have a monthly or yearly “Vibram Hall of No Shame” or something like that.  We’ll see where it goes.

Tagged as: Five Fingers, running, Vibram