1) The picture you have is of the Bikila, which is a fivefingers model that won’t be available until 2010. Incidentally, that photo originated on birthdayshoes.com, but I don’t see any attribution on this post as to where you got it from (Please add a link if you want to keep this photo on this site as that is simply polite!).

2) Since you don’t have the ones pictured here, which model did you use to test?

3) Regarding how you run, you never actually mentioned how you run – do you heel-strike when you run? If you do, it’s not surprising that you’d be hurting so much after a 400 yard sprint. You simply can’t heel strike running barefoot or with VFFs.

Why would ankle or arch support make it 100x easier to run?

4) Why do you estimate it will take you over a year to get used to them? Depending on how slowly you take it transitioning to VFFs, you should not experience much pain — maybe some soreness as you rehabilitate atrophied muscles, but this isn’t very different from training any other muscle of your body.

5) Lots of people wear socks with fivefingers — but they are necessarily toe socks such as injinjis. If anything, wearing socks actually reduces chaffing and seems to make it less likely you’ll get blisters while wearing VFFs. On the other hand, they add weight and heat to your feet and just make for a tighter fit. Plus, who has 5-toed socks? At $10+ a pair, it’s easier to just toughen up and grow callouses. But yea, you can and people do wear socks with VFFs.

Interesting you like them for rock climbing — I’ve heard mixed reactions to their application in rock climbing as they apparently make things like smearing very difficult.