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I felt great on today’s run. The weather was perfect, my leg felt good and I cruised through the miles. I probably could have gone faster, but I don’t want to get injured again. I don’t think today’s run could have gone better.

I forgot to mention on here that I got a pair of Merrell Trail Gloves and I’ve been wearing them for my past few runs. They are great and I’m starting to like them better than the FiveFingers. I felt like the FiveFingers caused my small toes to splay out in a way that wasn’t natural, which affected my gait. My toes want to splay out some as I touch down, but the FiveFingers spread the small toes so much that they became useless for balance. It’s amazing how much different my stride feels with the wide toebox on the Trail Gloves. I have enough room for my toes to spread out, but they don’t have material in between them like they did in the FiveFingers.  I feel like I have more balance and my foot isn’t rolling around on the ball like it was with the FiveFingers.

I still think running completely barefoot or with minimalist shoes is the best plan for me. I think my toes just happen to be of a certain length and orientation that makes the FiveFingers somewhat of a hinderance. If I could get the shoes in a custom fit to my toe length I’m sure things would be different. That’s not the case, so I’m going to stick with the Trail Gloves for now.

I have an 8-miler on the schedule for tomorrow and I’m really looking forward to it. I wasn’t sure if going the whole distance was a good idea, but after today’s run I think it will be just fine.

Happy running!

The stats
- Daily: 5.08 miles at 9:50 pace
- Week total: 7.16 miles
- January total: 30.91 miles
- 2012 total: 30.91 miles
- Distance to 2012 goal: 2,469.09 miles