Wednesday, November 04, 2009

I got all trendy a couple of weekends ago.

First, I got suspended from Twitter, which made me immensely proud. The previous day I had written some software to automatically post messages to Twitter for a work project, and Twitter shut it down for violating their terms of service in less than 24 hours. Suspended from Twitter! I feel so modern! I haven't been that proud since I got banned from blackjack.

The other trendy thing I did was to buy a pair of these ridiculous looking running shoes.

There's a school of thought that says that normal modern running shoes are the exact opposite of what our body needs when we go running. They believe that humans evolved to become excellent long distance runners as-is, and by encasing our feet in normal running shoes, we're altering our gait and preventing our body from doing what it's designed to do. Even companies like Nike are making entire lines of thin-soled shoes, and it's easy to find articles about barefoot running. It's what all the cool people are doing now!

Barefoot running in an urban environment probably isn't the safest thing to do (unless your feet are rusty-nail proof), so I bought the next best thing, these Vibram "Five Finger" shoes that theoretically allow my toes to grip while I run, and ensure that I run in the type of gait that my body has evolved to perform. Of course anyone who has ever actually seen my awkward and twisted running style would immediately and correctly point out that my specific body has not evolved to perform any type of running, but that won't stop me from throwing money at the problem.

I busted these babies out for a run a week ago and promptly injured myself. Turns out, if I start running a new way, utilizing any of my hundreds of under-developed muscles, I've got to start really slowly. Despite reading a dozen articles explaining that to me, I still overdid it my first time out and temporarily hobbled myself. I'll be back at it in a week or two though.

For what it's worth, it is pretty damn amusing walking down the street in these things and have people gawk at your feet as you go by. Maybe they're not actually thinking that I'm cool, but we know better.

Right?

Hell, I'd "tweet" about it if I could.

9 comments:

Sister--Helen said...

I don't know Mike. I looked them up on the net and they are not as expensive as I suspected...but they do look stupid...I doubt if you will see Hank in a pair of them...I am sure you will be the only person that I know that will EVER own a pair of them...and don't buy a pair for Daisy because the kids will make fun of her....

tinyhands said...

Try these next -- http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=210522396&listingid=52261845

Mike said...

4th Sis, no, they are not particularly expensive running shoes (most good running shoes cost more than these), but they do indeed look very very stupid. However, let me know when Patsy starts wearing a pair.

Tiny, those look like they have excellent calf support!

J2 said...

Well Mike, at least you are in good company... http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/11/19/this-season-crazy-monkey-shoes-are-the-new-hotness-at-the-chrome-os-event/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29

Mike said...

Yeah, I heard the Google guys wear those shoes a bunch. I'd recommend wearing a pair to any Google interviews you have lined up.

Ms.PhD said...

crazy monkeys, indeed.

sometimes more technology is not a good thing. which sort of ties together your tweet-fail and shoe-fail into one big theme.

Mike said...

Lookit you tying together my paragraphs thematically!

Grumpus Zissou said...

Those damn shoes have haunted my thoughts for days...

That is the most disturbing pair of shoes I have ever laid eyes on.

Sheesh...

Mike said...

Pilaf, only your days? Apologies in advance for when the night terrors settle in.