new vibram five fingers on my foot

Waiting at a busy cross walk a man crouched down to try to read the new vibram fivefingers on my foot. I had a quick conversation with him. He seemed interested when I told him it felt as if I were barefoot but when I suggested he google five fingers he replied curtly and condescendingly that he would. I just laughed and waved him off.Inspired by Kevin's experience meeting people in the Big Apple, I'd like to offer up the following definition for Vibram fivefingers: Vibram five fingers [noun] — a rubber-toed foot in the door for sparking conversations with complete strangers (and making new friends).If any of you have a Vibram Five Fingers Classic or chance-meeting with another VFFer, tell us about it! We even have a forum topic about fivefingers sightings in the wild.I received the above photo of Alain, which was taken on a hike in Easter Newfoundland, Canada. I asked Alain about his experiences with hiking and his vibram fivefingers Sprints, wondering in particular how well the open-topped Sprint functioned in grittier environments. Here's what Alain had to say:I ve done quite a few hikes in my fivefingers and so far have not experienced many problems. This particular hike in Newfoundland was totally problem-free as I was hiking on giant rocks and large pebbles the whole time. I’ve done some portaging on canoe trips in my home province of Manitoba. As these were mostly on sandy trails, I got a bunch of little rocks inside my FF. In these situations, I’d have prefered the KSO’s I think.Ive been running in them for a few months now, on dirt trails, rocky trails, sidewalks and paved roads and have had no problems whatsoever.Frank Forencich, writer, philosopher, human advocate, and founder of Exuberant Animal (websitevibram book), has a fantastic post today about barefooting as meditation. He starts the post off talking about Mick Dodge a.k.a. the Barefoot Sensei (photo inset).