Barefoot Farce

I see a lot of people pointing out that running in minimalist shoes isn't barefoot running. I'm not going to argue the point. I'm just going to say howI feel.

Last year, I ran on the treadmill barefoot but used VFFs on the roads. I felt like a poser claiming to be a barefoot runner when I was not actually running barefoot. So, I made a pact with myself that I would be barefoot by the end of the summer. I did it a lot quicker than I thought I would.

VFFs are pretty good. But, I had a surprising revelation once I went totally bare. Everything about my foot strike got better and smoother. I even noticed that when I ran in my VFFs (when necessary) that everything about my stride was better. I don't feel confident enough to tell you why or how but I agree that in learning how to go barefoot, there is nothing better than actually being barefoot.

This year, I still need to build up some tolerance for roughness. My efforts over the winter to maintain my tolerance didn't work. I'm only about33% barefooter but I'm heading to 100% again.

Comments

This is an especially interesting blog to me, since I too am minimalist (yet consider myself barefoot in essence). I don't think I could ever run barefoot on trails-especially after seeing what the bottom of my running partner's feet look like- but, I have been thinking about trying it on pavement. If for no other reason than to experience the difference that BFers insist is there.
 
Ah yes, but how did your running partner's feet FEEL after that trail run? I'm willing to bet they felt great even if they did look a little beat up.

I wasn't a runner very long when I developed a knee injury... maybe just a few months, but I went 100% cold turkey off shoes and started over. I didn't transition, I went from normally running 6 miles to running only half a mile at a time. And stayed there for a week or two, but now it's 2.5 months and I'm running 5 miles barefoot with no pain by disciplining myself to keep it short, slow and every other day at the most.

A friend I made over on Dailymile took my (gently persuasive) advice and removed off her shoes for the first time last night on her run and had what must've sounded like an Herbal Essences commercial, from the sound of her post. She sounded, kid you not, ecstatic, in all caps, etc.

The hardest part of taking those first barefoot run is suspending your disbelief. The rest feels so keen and interesting and (eventually) good you'll have a hard time resisting it.
 
Since he would never admit tohis feet FEELING anything less than good...I will have to use a visual pain/pleasure scale to ascertain an objective answer -lol.

An Herbal Essence commercial reaction! Wow. I had better make sure that first barefoot run is not in a crowded public place then -lol.
 

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1972roses
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