The Vibram Fivefingers, Image, and Authenticity

I'm a big fan of running, and recently (relatively) I purchased a $100 pair of Vibram Fivefingers. Quite pricey (or "spendy" if you're from the Pacific Northwest). Here's the thing: as much as I love running, I love it even MORE in the Vibram Fivefingers. If you're not familiar, here's a link:

http://www.rei.com/product/811202/vibram-fivefingers-komodosport-multisport-shoes-mens

Those are exactly the ones I have. I don't recall them being $110 when I bought mine at REI, but no matter.

So why do I like my Vibram Fivefingers? Here's the gist of it:

The Vibrams simulate barefoot running, which forces you to land on your forefoot when you run, rather than your heel. While for many people it might initially feel unnatural, it's actually more biomechanically efficient. Landing on your forefoot utilizes your joints for a springier running experience, which consequently absorbs more of the physical impact of running. Basically, it's the way we as a species evolved to run... or so the theory goes. Additionally, the most biomechanically efficient running cadence is 180 steps per minute, and running in "minimalist" footwear makes you take shorter, faster strides. This gets your cadence much closer to the 180 steps per minute that most people are WELL below when they run.

If you made it through that last relatively technical paragraph, I want you to know that the biomechanical efficiency of it all isn't the primary reason I am all about these shoes, however. I really just ENJOY running a lot more in them.

Tonight I ran 4 miles in them at Loyola's Fitness and Aquatic Center (FAC). Invariably, the weird shoes draw perturbed stares from many fashion-conscious strangers, but as long as you have the emotional fortitude and self-confidence to pull them off, they are fantastic. I lapped everybody on the 1/10 mile track. Granted, there were only 2 other people... but that's irrelevant to the fact that these shoes rock.

So I think the essence of what I want to talk about here, going along with the theme of exploring life, isn't so much what I did today or what I was wearing while doing it. It's really more about WHY I enjoy these shoes. The fact that they are weird--and the fact that as the wearer I typically inherit that impression--doesn't at all prevent me from running in them. I really love running in them. I think the fact I wear these shoes also says a lot about me. Bear with me here...

We all do different things for different reasons. Someone might wear these weird looking shoes because they are into the latest trends. In fact, when I was in Los Angeles over Spring Break I was on Venice Beach and saw a woman running in them. But she was running in them totally wrong. She was heel striking, and landing heel first in these shoes is even WORSE than doing it in regular running shoes, because these have so little cushioning on these. What I deduced from that observation was that she was wearing them because they represented the newest trend in running--which they did and still do--and she delved into that trend without actually educating herself first. She wore them not because the style of running they are conducive to is more biomechanically efficient but because they were cool.

Okay, you might be reading this and be thinking, "Chris, that's a lot of assumptions to be making about a stranger you saw for a full 8 seconds," but given the details I just shared and the fact that this was taking place on Venice Beach in Los Angeles, I think my assumptions are sufficiently justified. We'll never know, and that's really not the point of what I'm trying to make, anyway.

The point I'm trying to make--after I point out right now that as evidenced by the previous two paragraphs I can very easily fall into unnecessarily intellectual tirades--is that I would never wear these shoes for that reason. I think that reason is entirely, purely, COMPLETELY about IMAGE, and I am NOT an image type of person. I would consider myself a SUBSTANCE type of person. This is what I think my reason for wearing the Vibrams says about me.

I don't wear these to look trendy. I don't wear these to look cool. I don't wear these to look fast. I DEFINITELY don't wear these to look stylish.

Those reasons are all about image.

I wear these because they increase my enjoyment of something I already enjoy. It's about the experience. It's about substance.

So, are you about IMAGE? Or are you about SUBSTANCE?

If I had asked myself that question a few years ago, I think I would have told you I was all about substance. I mean, who wouldn't? But the real answer was that I was all about image. I was all about what others thought of me. Being liked, making a positive impression, gaining approval--these were things that were at the forefront of my decision-making process each day. And who can blame me? Everyone wants to be liked, and everyone wants to be right. The approval of others makes you feel both of those.

But when I ask myself that question now--and I am confronted with that decision every day, all day--I can honestly say that it is substance that appeals to me, not image. I value integrity. I value authenticity. Image for me represents that mask we all wear when we want to look good. Image is cool. But substance is so much more than being cool. It's about being true. True to yourself. Extremely cliche, I know, but it's cliche for a reason. Substance represents authenticity and integrity. And that is what I am all about.

Wow, who would have thought a post about shoes would transform into a post about integrity. Not me when I started writing it, that's for sure!