Therapy or Torture?

Today I finally started getting the looks and the questions. Of course today was also the first day I really took the FiveFingers into public. Yes, I know, running around the neighborhood is public, but it's not like grocery store public or ward activity public (both of which I did today). And I was amazed at how self-conscious I was in the store, till I realized that nobody just looks at your feet. I'm sure there were a few double-takes but nobody really said anything.

The ward activity was a different matter. We were having YMCA night (no, not that kind of YMCA night).

Just sports night down at the local YMCA. I got involved with the volleyball game and kept getting comments about being a distraction on the court. However, afterwards, there was some more serious conversation as two of the ladies are avid tri-athletes and I was able to tell them about my experiences with them. Some of the conversation got me thinking though - I had been wearing these things all day and I'll admit that after an hour and a half's pounding on a hardwood floor did leave my feet a little sore. Surprisingly not as sore as they use to get when I worked retail in my Florshiem wing-tips, but still sore from all the running and standing. I started wondering if I really wanted to keeping putting my feet through that kind of work out all the time. And this time, because they had been on for so long, I could feel my pinky toes on both feet getting pulled out away from my foot, getting a little bit stretched. Not uncomfortable, just different. A quick jont to Wal-Mart after and we were home.

I pulled off my FiveFingers and noticed something strangely normal about my right foot. Yes, read that again - strangely normal. See, I have this one weird toe on that foot - I guess it'd be like the ring toe, the next to last one. It's always had this curl in it - it curls under and my pinky toe slides over almost on top of it. Been that way for as long as I could remember. And because it knuckles under like that, it looks like it's shorter than my pinky toe, till I force it straight with a finger. Well, when I took of my shoe, I saw that, low and behold, it was straighter. Not perfect, but it didn't look weird. I guess the toe box for that toe helped to force it straight and having my pinky toe pulled out of the helped it stay that way. So, sorry if I gross anyone out, but this is what I saw.

First, how my foot normally looks. I actually had to force my toe back into this position.

How it looks now.

So, in the end, I'm going to go with therapy. I really think this shoes help.