Page 18 | Michael T. Miyoshi

Out of the Mouth of Babes, Part 2 · 29 June 2013

Sometimes we get the most profound wisdom out of the mouth of babes. While my kids are not babes anymore, I am still amazed when they spout wisdom.

I suppose kids can give us wisdom because they do not have many filters to slow the impulses from their brains to their mouths. They do not often stop to think before they speak. As we get older, we certainly need to have those filters, but sometimes we engage them too much. Sometimes we wish we had been able to say that special something.

That special something recently came from my youngest son’s mouth about no drop shoes. I suppose it was not truly profound, but I was still amazed when he said he loved his new no drop, no support shoes. He said:

No drop
From heel to toe
Is the only way to go
Daddy-o.

While he may not have used those exact words (he certainly did not say them in verse), I was happy that he expressed his pleasure with his new minimalist shoes. He tested them out by just standing and then by running around the store. I marveled when he said that “normal” shoes were not good for standing. They made him feel like he was leaning and needed to move forward. Then, as he was running around the store, I was even more amazed by the answer he gave when I asked whether he was going to start running with those new shoes. Although he reverted to the non-committal preteen that he is, I was nonetheless encouraged when he said, “Maybe.”

I was encouraged on another level too.

I know that one person blogging about eating, writing, and running is not going to change the world as we know it, but it can change one life. Even if that one life is residing in his own home. In the case of my younger two sons, they are feeling the effects of my writing and my running. They are feeling those effects on their feet.

My journey toward health has certainly affected my kids, but their journeys affect me as well. I was encouraged when I heard my sons say that they like the way their feet feel in their no drop, no support shoes. I was encouraged because I know I am not alone. For even if they heard it from me first, it is great to hear my kids talk about no drop, no support shoes as the way it is supposed to be. It is great because they can feel it for themselves and pass on that wisdom.

After all these years of hearing my kids come up with such gems, I should not still marvel that much wisdom comes out of the mouth of babes.

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Nearly Barefoot All the Time · 28 June 2013

I got a couple new pairs of shoes as graduation presents for my feet. They will help my feet be nearly barefoot all the time now.

I was amazed that my feet have changed to now require no support for my feet to feel normal. And I was amazed that it took almost a year for them to feel that way.

When I first started this journey toward health, I did not get the Vibram FiveFingers shoes. I was ready for a change, but I was not quite prepared to get “toe shoes.” Part of the reason is because I did not think they would fit my funky toes, but the other reason was because I thought they looked funny. I did not realize how comfortable they would be and how my unusually short toes actually help the shoes fit my feet like gloves. But like I said before, I am not sure my feet were ready for them last August when I started running with minimalist shoes. After all, it took more than a nine-month training course for them to stop needing any arch support.

That nine months is why I think time is the main reason people think minimalist shoes are not for everybody. They think that just because their feet feel different in minimalist shoes that means the shoes are not right. They think that normal is abnormal. That feet were made for shoes and not the other way around.

In reality, not many people really need shoes except for warmth. Our feet are amazingly adaptable and strong. And they were designed to work without shoes. Unfortunately, we have been shoving our feet into shoes and trying to protect them when they just want to be free. They just want to be strong. They just want to be naked.

Unfortunately, our feet cannot just go around naked. So as much as I am like my FiveFingers, I also needed a pair of shoes that are more “normal” looking.

I did not really need the normal look. After all, I had already spent almost a year wondering, then finally deciding I was ready to step out and wear toe shoes. However, my wife was not quite ready. She was the one who said I need shoes that do not have individual toes. She was the one who said I needed shoes that look normal.

For my part, I was happy to get a pair of Vivobarefoot running shoes (The One Running Shoe). After all, they feel just like my casual shoes made by the same company (the model is called RA, for anybody who is looking). I love it that in both sets of shoes there is merely a thin layer of material between my feet and the ground. That my feet can feel what they are doing. That I can be nearly barefoot all the time now. So I was happy to grant my wife’s wish to get another pair of shoes that made my feet feel good.

Looking back, it is funny thinking that my feet had to take a nine-month course to get strong enough to be natural. But to celebrate their graduation I got them a couple pairs of shoes that help them feel naked all the time.

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Foot Graduation · 27 June 2013

My feet have graduated and are ready for being completely unsupported all the time now.

I did not realize it until recently, but my feet have been changing. They have been getting stronger by being close to bare all the time. Now, they are ready to shed even the little arch support that my Merrels have been giving me.

As I look back on the past year, I realize that my Merrels have been like training shoes. They were the bridge from conventional shoes to being barefoot or as close to barefoot as social norms and streets allow. They provided a little arch support as my arch and other supporting muscles became strong enough to support my whole body and I would highly recommend them as a stepping stone to going barefoot. However, I realized that my feet had graduated from my Merrels when I wore them for a couple days straight.

A year ago, I would not have known my feet were sore because of having too much support. I was blissfully unaware that my feet were longing to be free. But after a school year’s worth of wearing no drop, no support casual shoes all day, I knew what my feet should feel like. My feet felt great being in those shoes all day every day. They were strengthening my feet all day long just by standing and walking, and when I did anything athletic, my Merrels helped my foot muscles to develop even more.

Unfortunately, at the end of the year, my feet were aching to get out of my Merrels like they used to do when I wore conventional shoes with much more arch support. Those couple days led me to believe that I was ready to have all my shoes be the no drop, no support variety. But I had to test my theory first.

My test was running around the basketball court barefoot, running back and forth, cutting, and shooting at both baskets. When all was said and done, my feet felt great, aside from being sore from the asphalt bumps and bruises. I knew my feet were ready. I knew it was time to take off the training wheels. It was time for my feet to graduate to no drop, no support shoes all the time.

My feet have been working hard all year long to keep me supported at work and on athletic courts and fields. Now I have rewarded them for all their hard work by making sure all my shoes have no support. It is amazing that it took almost a year for my feet to get strong enough to be free. But it is fitting that the end of the school year brought my feet to graduate to being completely unsupported all the time.