Vibram FiveFingers Treks and Ultra Marathon

If you've ever seen Vibram's FiveFingers than you'll either be one who laughs or says "wow, that's a cool looking shoe!". I remember seeing them in a camping store one day together with my girlfriend thinking that I've got to have one, just give me a reason to buy them, and then the store clerk told me that some people use them when running... what!? Nooo, but how does that work, what about shock absorption when running on asphalt or what about support for my pronation? I had to learn more about this and after finding several people that used to to run marathons (www.barefootted.com being a prime example) I found the ultimate reason why I could run with them... we as humans have evolved over thousands of years without shoes, why should we suddenly have to have them for running? Suddenly I felt that I had been fooled by every single gym teacher, running shoe store and running magazine. I bought a pair (KSO) and haven't looked back, the sensation of freedom is simply incredible! They're so light and thin that it feels like they aren't even there and running in the forest off the beaten track makes you feel alive when you leap from stone to log to moss to gravel simple because you feel the difference on the soles of your feet. And as far as lack of support goes, well let's just say that if you land on your heel (rolling to the ball of your foot as many of us have been told to do) then you have to have support, but if you instead land directly on the ball of your foot then you'r in fact engaging the bodies own shock absorption system.

Now it's a year later since I got them and the snow has finally melted allowing my cold feet to finally run in the VFF's (if it's below 5 degrees celsius then I simply won't run), I had a blast running through puddles, snow, scrambling up and down steep hiles and climbing boulders. Yet a few days later when I was off to make a second run a stench out of this world struck me as I lifted them out of the plastic bag I had used to store them in... I had washed them and I thought that they where dry when I placed them in the bag, but.... dam it, they weren't... Which on the other hand gives me a terrific reason to buy their new model, Treks. So cool, meant for trail running and seemingly warmer and nicer looking than my KSO. So I've decided that once I get them my goal will be to complete a Ultramarathon race in a years time, wich may seem a tad bit optimistic but you've gotta have a goal. I'm just going to run a 50k (http://www.sormlandultra.se/) race so it's not significantly longer than a marathon, I'll certainly run in the Treks. The adventure begins!