My brother in law sent me two articles over the last few days. Both deal with these 'finger shoe' things.
First up is the guy that wrote the 'Four Hour Workweek'. He claims that running barefoot or with these shoes is better than running in sneakers. The basic idea is that your foot arch is designed to handle and return energy properly, and by using sneakers, you're hindering that.
Similarly, this article talks about sneakers and says they're a big honkin' waste of moola. It goes on to say that no sneaker has been shown to prevent injury, etc etc.
What do you guys think? I've heard that running barefoot or with a minimum shoe is the way to go, but that's just from various articles or nuggets on the Internet.. hardly a reliable source.
Honestly, if there was a closer place to try on a pair of Vibram shoes, I think I might give it a shot. Yes, I'm that crazy. My feet are so wide though, I just hesitate to order something like that sight-unseen.
I think having a minimal shoe like these VFFs would be ideal, because you're pretty much running barefoot, but if you step on something that might cut you, etc, you can skate by (hopefully) uninjured.
And now.... in my effort to "theme it up" (read: make sure I have content on Tuesdays), I give you.... AT! Also known as "Alcohol Tuesday". Perhaps you had something tasty over the weekend. Perhaps you can't imagine why Friday is so far off. Feel free to join me in celebrating Tuesday!
The first entry for AT is for Denise, who I left out of my shoutouts before traveling. Sorry girl!
When I previously discussed Chimay, I had sampled the red label and the white label. I figured, "That seems like a decent assortment."
Well, she went and asked if I had tried the blue label.
Well.. no, I hadn't. So, I went and picked up a bottle.
Daaamn. That is, without a doubt, the best variety of the 3. Chimay makes Belgian style beers. (I'm learning to appreciate the good ones more and more. Yeah, I may need extra study time on them.. all for the sake of research)
The blue label is marked the "Grand Reserve". It packs a decent punch, being 9% ABV, and pours a nice dark color. It's got some nice malt and caramel sort of flavor. The beer is incredibly smooth, and it leaves you wanting more. Certainly not a hoppy beer. This rolls to the other end of that spectrum.
The other two Chimay varieties were good, but wouldn't make a standard rotation in my fridge. This one will.
My bro G correctly noted that the big problem with Chimays is that getting a bottle is going to set you back a bit. Yea.. one of these is going to rock your wallet about $10.
A very good beer if you want to try a Belgian style.
Alright everyone.. keep on rockin!
12 comments:
Love AT!!! I'm glad you tried it and enjoyed it!! I drank my fair share of it the other weekend after I ran Broad Street. Mmmmm!!
headed to dogfish head brewery this wknd! have you been there?
I'm more of a cheap beer drinker. I'm actually more a wine girl.
I don't have anything about the finger shoes, but my friend who ran the Boston Marathon saw somthing strange out of the corner of the eye during the marathon, looked over and saw the barefoot runner guy. She had a little chat with him- he said it's not for everybody, but he definitely preferred to be barefoot.
The finger shoe thing looks weird. While the shoe itself looks comfortable I am not sure how my toes would fee.
Blue label Chimay is my favorite beer!
Have you tried Kona Brewing Companies "Pipeline Porter" - that is pretty yummy. I think it is a fall/winter seasonal beer, but we get it at BevMo.
Yea.. one of these is going to rock your wallet about $10.And if you're like me...you drink the whole thing (red label Chimay) in one sitting. I justified it by saying that it was never going to be as good as it was after being freshly opened, so OF COURSE I had to drink it all. And it was very, very good.
I think that after the marathon is done (Sunday...5 more days) I am going to work my way up to the Vibram Five Fingers via some racing flats or otherwise less bulky shoes. I read a paper at work in which the author conducted quantitative research on running barefoot vs. running with shoes, and he found that it takes less energy to run barefoot. And we all know that the less energy you expend, the fresher you feel, the farther and faster you can run...etc. So, science has spoken.
The one thing that jumps out at me about those shoes is that there is no protection at all for your toes if you clip a rock, curb or the back of someone's shoe. Ouch! They might be worth doing some training work or speed work in to help with proper form, though.
I made two batches (it'll come out to roughly 4 cases, all told) of a Noble Trappist Ale, and I finally got to sample some last weekend.
Nowhere near as good as a Chimay, sadly, but it may need more time conditioning in the bottle. I really didn't expect it to be Chimay-level good, but I was hoping for a bit more tasty than I got.
I'm not disappointed; just a little less happy than I'd hoped.
But I really do think I may need to let it age a bit more in the bottle.
Count me IN for Alky Tuesday, brother!
Oooh - and here I am drinking wine in honor of AT!
I have to get flatter shoes, I think. My bulky shoes aren't helping with the whole fore/midfoot strike thing.
But those Vibram's are freaking hideous ;)
when i was looking into the midfoot/forefoot strike, I also came across these shoes. but i'm injury prone enough, that I'm not sure I'd be brave enough to try them. I've read about the benefits of barefoot running though, so I'd love to hear about it if you try it!
i have seen those shoes, but I won't lie...I like the cushion and I don't care if it's better for me to run without it!
elliot really likes these beers! we were at a cigar bar (LOL- btw, have you ever been to one?!... i do NOT smoke and i was one of 2 girls in the whole place, i went to meet up with the group b/c we were going out dancing after, but the cigar bar was INTERESTTIIIING and expensive!) and chimays were a huge hit there. can you just buy these at an alcohol store? i'd love to surprise elliot with some! i need to do a google search.
did you post about the 4 hour work week before? i read it somewhere and it could've been from your blog. i can't see those finger toes shoes going mainstream, but definitely finding a niche in the running world, for sure! :)
too bad about the garmin, hehehe. next time!
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