I wear the Vibrams because I'm almost always barefoot and I hate having to take shoes on and off all the time. Plus I like to wear them when I drive as I can feel the pedal better and I cannot get in trouble for not wearing shoes if I get pulled over.
Sure people rip on me for them... but I'm sure as hell not trying to impress anyone by the shoes I wear. To me that is fucking LAME
, unless I'm going out or something, then I bring something classy.
As for not seeing people lining up at races with them it's a training shoe, not a race shoe. When competing I grab my Saucony's.
I've been a personal trainer for a few years now, and while that doesn't mean anything considering I work with plenty of incompetent fucks, I would have to say they improve the way I run and I definitely prefer them when working out to normal shoes.
Then again I've never been one to rush out and by the latest trendy clothing or accessories, I just don't care. Before someone argues that I did just that by getting these, I inherited them from my best friend when he died and his mom gave them to me. He was also a personal trainer and swore by them.
Not trying to garner sympathy by the above statement, just stating my 'why'.
I had the original Nike Free's too, biggest waste of money. Cannot comment on the new ones though.