3.5+ Miles Barefoot = ??? find out!!

They aren't even all that ugly... SERIOUSLY!!! Here is a slightly poetic "review" of my first real run in the FiveFingers.

With trepidation I wriggled my toes into their separate little pockets, scrunching, spreading, squishing... until finally, voila, they were perfectly fit to my feet. I was going to run 3+ miles today plus 4 strides. I felt a pang of concern -- what if they ate my feet and chewed them into hamburger? I'd be out in no-man's land with bloody feet and nothing but black asphalt and burning sand between myself and home. Bad ideas with potentially painful outcomes are kind of my specialty, so I went ahead with the plan.
Our plan for today was to run 3 miles at an easy pace, then do 4 "strides" -- where you run very quickly for a very short distance. In this case we would all but sprint for 100 m.
Melyssa, Katie and I met up and headed toward our "stretching rock", a line of giant boulders along our running path where we stop to stretch after warming up briefly. The slow jog to the rocks was... uneventful. Nothing hurt. Nothing felt funny.
After stretching we headed down the asphalt path along the river. I concentrated on running silently and smoothly. No toe-slapping like I had fly-swatter feet. Just a soft silent roll from mid-foot to my big-toe, then pushing off, and doing the same with the next foot. I expected some indication that muscles were being called to action in ways they hadn't before. Nothing. Just quiet steps.
We cruised through our 3 miles easily. We even ran some of it in some grass, and I ran on a gravel road for about a quarter mile. The grass and the gravel road provided great surfaces for experiencing one of the strengths of barefoot running -- stability! In the past, running on sod has me running with my arms out in some sort of gorilla-hug, jerking from side-to-side, constantly trying to offset the wobbling of my legs as my ankles roll from side to side. My knees would always, ALWAYS hurt after a grass run. I figured it was because of the lateral tweaking that they endured. Today on grass I just cruised along. I didn't even realize it until after the run -- the grass didn't cause the least bit of pain!
We finished the three miles with a little kick up a hill and then got ready to do our strides on the flat road above.
The strides went just like every other stride session. You start off rested, you accelerate until you break the speed of ecstasy, and then slow back down for a recovery. You recover by panting, "THAT was FUN!!!" until your heart rate comes back down to something manageable. Can you tell I love strides?
We did 5 strides because 4 was fun but 5 was better. Then we jogged back to work.

1. the Fivefingers were great on every surface. I did FEEL pebbles, but not in a painful way.
2. the shoes were awesome on those wonky surfaces that I normally loathe. My toes were so dang happy to get to manage my stability, and they did a fantastic job.
3. The wear pattern on the bottoms of my shoes show that I definitely was landing mid-foot, and rolling off the big toe. the toe soles are black on one side, with a bit of a fade pattern to the other side -- darkest on the outside of my foot, and lightest on the inside. i think that indicates good stride, or at least good foot work.
4. The other cool thing is that you get a way better tanline pattern with the fivefingers than with shoes and socks. Ugh.
5. When i got back i washed them in the sink and they are drying right now.

So, 3.5 + miles in the Fivefingers = BLISS! I am hereby proclaiming these my new running shoes. Not quite ready to retire my "old" running shoes to lawn-mowing duty yet... but close. Tomorrow's a rest day and Thursday is a one hour run, so about twice the distance. I'm just going to keep running in them.