[at-l] "Hey! Newboots!"

[Steve Landis]

Tom McGinnis wrote:
> --- On Mon, 11/16/09, Jim Bullard <jim.bullard at gmail.com> wrote:
>> <liteshoe at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I guess my question is... it it? Barefoot, that is.
>> Looking at the picture, there's all that vibram on the
>> bottom, including each toe. And, all that STUFF between each toe.
>> How is it like barefoot? It looks like a shoe with toes.
>> I'm only going by the photo, since I haven't held a pair. 
>>
>> Then there's the sock question. 
>> Or does one go au naturel?
>>
>> They make 5 toed socks to wear with them.
>>
>>  Jim Bullard
> ### In reverse order, Injinji makes toed socks intended for athletic use (meaning no meaningful toe-area seems). These have been around for a while (5-6 years?) but I thought they were too cute for school, and although some runners I respect spoke highly of them, I still thought of them as "fad" and therefore likely to "fade". In late August, I was shoe-shopping, found myself recommending them to a woman with a specific, particular complaint, and thought "Put your money where your ... foot is," and bought a pair. Wore them over Labor Day running a tough, downhill 19 miles in the Smokys, and fell in love with them while still within sight of Newfound Gap. (The point is, you can love the socks separately.)
> 
> ### Does one go au'natural'? That is what Vibram designed/intended for the Five Fingers shoes. I bought my size 45s with socks on, and find I could do with a 44 I think. I will need to wear socks with them.
> 
> ### Is it a shoe with toes? More like a sock with a sole. I think I mentioned that on Saturday, I went over sharp rocks, gravel road, asphalt, sticks/underbrush, and it just felt like a thin-soled shoe (like a moccasin, as LeeIJoe observed). If the Barefoot Sisters had had these available, I'm sure they would've worn them when hitting those areas where they breached barefootedness (Whites, and sneaux?)...
> 
> ### My foot will still go into Limmers this winter, thank you...
> 
> sloetoe

My interest in these is also as a kayak shoe.  As I squeeze into smaller 
boats - whitewater and squirt boats - the foot space is limited.  On 
long paddles it helps to be able to wiggle the toes to ward off that 
dead sleeping foot feeling. Saw them first being worn by a fellow 
paddler during a 7 hour circumnavigation of Manhattan Island this past 
July.