I admit it, I have been sneaking runs in with my trail shoes. It isn’t my fault, they are grippy, light, green and black and call out to me every time I throw my running sandals in my bag. Well maybe they don’t call me, but they are brand new and being the frugal sort of guy I just have to use them. While I admit the first run was fun and quick, I only ran 3 miles, my arches hurt quite a bit. I did about 5 or 6 more runs in them because the weather in Colorado is getting colder.

It may sound like a great story for shoe manufacturers, but in fact my arches and ankles were bothering significantly ever time I ran more than 4 miles. I also find it weird that you can’t actually run on  your forefoot without your heels hitting the ground. The “high heels” on my trail shoes kept catching and pushing me forward, encouraging me to be lazy and drop my heels to the ground. After my last 5 mile run, I was grounded for 3 days with sore feet.

Image via Wikipedia

This week I switched back to running in huaraches and man, they are so light and fast. I actually run about 1 minute faster in the sandals than in shoes. The exception to this is cornering and downhill, however given my propensity to rolling my ankle I am nervous about running downhill and on tight corners. I believe someone at the Salvation Army will have a brand new fancy pairs of running shoes.

Now I just need to figure out how I run in the snow in sandals… I haven’t tried the Five Fingers yet, but I suspect they may be on my Christmas wish list.

I’ll probably run in Injinji 5 toe socks most days. I think those paired with my huaraches will suit most runs. If you haven’t tried Injinji socks, try them. I used to get blisters on my feet (toes, heels, in between my toes) on runs longer than 20 miles. Once I started running in Injinjis, no more blisters.