Review on Vibram V-Run Men's Running Shoe by Jake Pavelko

I only started running a few years ago and progress has been somewhat limited. Whether it was because of age, diet, weight, or declining athletic ability, I wasn't able to progress at a pace that made me happy. I don't feel entitled to call myself a runner yet. I'm mostly focusing on the 5K with occasional attempts at 10K. I'm only mentioning this so you can appreciate my review as I'm new to running. I think I paid $125 for the color I chose and it seems high but consistent with the prices of other running shoes I've tried. My main interest in their attempt came from the claims that running barefoot would improve foot strength and potentially relieve knee pain that forced me to refrain from running for weeks. The first time I wore them for a walk of about 3 miles just to get used to them. My heels hurt so much after walking that I had to put ice on them and take ibuprofen. By the looks of it, I'm a forward in heels. The pain was gone after a day or two, but I was a little concerned that walking in them would only make things worse. I was on vacation at the time and had only just started running/walking for a little over a month before trying Vibrams. When I got home my goal was to run the max mile the first time and complete the last 2. I was amazed to find that I could run all 5k's and run them at a pace that was decent for me. I got blisters on my Achilles tendon as others have mentioned but they cleared up after a week of running. The thread at the seam of this back loop seems to stand a little proud, but as I said, it hasn't been a problem since that first week. I continued to only wear Vibrams for a 5K every other day and I went from 35 minutes to 28 minutes in 3 weeks, the fastest time I've ever run that distance. Haven't tried 10k yet but looking forward to it. I was going to wear it in a few weeks and am happy the shoes have been the best for me but I'm glad I waited. I wanted to give them credit as I was running better than ever and improving faster than expected but decided to wait a little longer. I've had a couple of runs where it felt like taking a step back, so I had to reconsider how much value to give the shoe. I find that my diet is now somewhat commendable for improving my performance, knowing that on days when I wasn't feeling so well, I was eating things I shouldn't have been eating. I don't want to take anything away from the shoes. I love how my feet feel when I walk in these shoes, especially on rainy days. I used to avoid puddles in other shoes and socks, but now I walk right through them. I love cold water on my feet and puddle water drains quickly. There may be something left on my fingers, but I don't run long enough to be a problem. As I mentioned above, I play in heels, but I don't find them to be that bad. I can't say my foot lands perfectly, but I feel like I'm landing on my midfoot more than my forefoot and running uphill becomes a lot easier. I just feel like my foot is clearing the way for a fuller stride. You can walk downhill if it's not too steep. I've landed on my heels on purpose in other shoes because of the cushioning, but I can't do that in these. I don't wear my socks and had to wash them after about 5 weeks and that's probably because I didn't forget to wipe my feet before putting them on that day. I haven't had any knee pain at all since the switch and my ankles seem to have gotten stronger/thicker since the switch. I haven't worn any other shoes since I switched to these, and I don't intend to. I will buy another pair in the future but will probably choose a different color to save on price.