Good question. Socks and five fingers. Injini’s are the brand that I have tried. If I wear them I find two benefits and only one issue for me. My feet last much longer on rough trails in five fingers and I can go faster. The second benefit is that on cold days it makes the run much nicer. The negative for me — they make my feet feel too hot. Interestingly enough though, is they are one of my favorite socks to wear to church in my loafers. LOL!

Blisters and uncomfortableness on the back of my heal has always been one of my main concerns with any running shoe. I have cut-out and modified shoes to work with my Achilles Tendon before. Fiver fingers? They feel great on the back of the foot. Now my Achilles is significantly stronger than when I ran in non minimal shoes, but I do not like anything rubbing there and FF’s don’t for me. As I have mentioned in my posts about FF’s I feel like I am getting hot spots, like I will have a blister on my big toes, but when I look the skin is intact and whole.

I believe that the the stronger my feet get the fewer blisters I get. Not that I am getting any when I run barefoot, wear FF’s, or BFT Huaraches, or dress shoes. Interestingly I went for a run in my old Solomon’s, insert pulled out, and I had no blisters anywhere. Just for the record — when I was a heal striking, padded shoe wearing fool, I had blisters.

Michael Carroll

Don’t be afraid to go barefoot especially on pavement. You will five finger much better if you can transition to them from barefooting. I often start and end my five finger runs barefoot. Why? Because it imprints the correct running memory into your muscles. Five fingers still allow you to cheat and often allow bad habits from running in cushioned shoes to be carried over. I ran for a year in Solomon trail shoes thinking I was mimicking the barefoot running after reading all of Barefoot Ken and Ted’s posts. Boy was I wrong.

Good luck – Let me know how the experiment goes…

Michael Carroll