We recently made a life changing discovery. If you’ve spent any time around 3MPH, you know we like to walk. But until recently, anything over 3 or 4 miles and my feet would start hurting. I had to plan walks for less than that or take breaks, to stop and massage the little piggies. Then we discovered wide toe-box, neutrally balanced shoes and everything changed.
Now we crank out between 5 and 8 miles almost every morning, with no foot pain. The concept these shoes are built on isn’t new; minimalist foot gear’s been around for a decade or so. A lot longer I suppose if you consider that the Tarahumara Indians in Chihuahua, Mexico have been running ultra-marathons in their rawhide sandals for hundreds of years, perhaps longer.
Chris McDougall’s best selling book about the Tarahumari, “Born to Run” in 2009 helped inspire the whole barefoot running craze. I didn’t give it much credence back then; sure that it was just some fad that would fade into obscurity like the Atkins diet, but it’s no fad folks. The reason it’s taken so long to catch on is that the barefoot concept is in direct opposition to what the big guns in the running shoe industry preach.
Stability, stability, stability. But they may just be wrong. Could it be that we’ve been making shoes wrong since we started making shoes. From Hob-nailed Boots to Nike’s over-padded, over-stabilized, over-priced Air Jordan’s, the shoe doctors have been promoting over-stabilized shoes with too much drop from heel to toe, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. It took me a decade to finally awaken to the beauty of bare-footedness but I am now convinced that the closer we are to nature, the better.
“To walk barefoot is sacred.” ― Michael Bassey Johnson
And you can’t get any closer than barefoot. Before I embraced the chunky, wide, ugly anatomic toe boxes on these life changing creations, I was constantly searching for shoes that didn’t hurt my feet. I migrated to New Balance because they made wider shoes than anyone else. The thing is my foot isn’t all that wide. I just needed more room for my toes to splay out because they swell up after three or four miles.
The too big shoes weren’t the answer. I was always tightening the laces, attempting to get a snug fit around the ankle but still have room for my toes. Then I bought my first pair of barefoot style shoes. They were like a gift from the angels. My toes, ankles and knees all thank me everyday for making the upgrade.
Presently we’re using shoes from Altra, Topo Athletic and Vivo Barefoot and are very satisfied with all of them. There are a few others out there that might be of interest but at the moment, we don’t see anything that looks more suited to our lifestyle than what we have in the closet. And besides, I’m pretty sure there’s no more room in there. We share a closet and we both collect shoes!
Shoes are one thing you shouldn’t scrimp on, you should never compromise when it comes to your feet. Your feet are your connection to Mother Earth. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to go barefoot all the time, toes wriggling in the beach sand or the green grass? Sorry, unless you live in Hawaii you’re probably going to need some shoes. You owe it to yourself to try some “outside the box,” wide toe box shoes.
I’ve been wearing the wide toe box Altras for about 5 months now. Huge difference!
The Altra Lone Peak 6 are my current favorites.