The confessional

Lomad

Barefooters
Sep 15, 2011
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Step in, and unburden yourself of your secret shame (I'd rather confess to the barkeep than a priest any day).

I'll start: I am no longer a barefoot, or even minimalist, runner. The only way I've been able to run without pain since my fall injury is shod. I can only guess I'm the yin to TJ's yang (or vice versa. or however that works). She can't seem to function at all in shoes, and I'm only able to find comfort/success with them. I still think barefoot running is a great alternative for many; it just hasn't been good for me. Don't worry; I won't be sullying the barefoot/minimal threads with "dude, you should just keep with your shoes" talk. This isn't the place, and it's not how I feel. If asked about my experience I'll gladly relate my journey, but have come to the opinion that each individual is so different that making recommendations based on my own experience (or any other individual's) cannot be predictive of results. I can say what works for me, but that's about all I'm willing to do.

I'll still be around. This is by far the best online community I've found and I enjoy the folks on the board. I'll play nice here and keep the poop flinging to RWOL boards. They thrive on it these days.

Take care,
Token Shoddie
 
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don't give up. come run with us and we can help you with your form, the root of all problems. hell two years in and i still work on mine. it's never ending.
 
Lol! You crack me up dude! Glad you are able to run. I thought you were switching to minimalist shoes and was having success? I tried switching to minimalist at same time, this you know already, but then my feet hurt more and my heel got worse. It's only been since switching to almost fully barefoot everywhere that I've started making great strides and healing.

I don't really have much to confess though, other than I've been feeling like a crappy father because we haven't had the money to go and visit my daughter in Spokane in several months. We talk regularly, but that's not the same. My wife's work cut their commission and the GI Bill was partially cut and the funding for the VA was cut back so we are not really in a good way right now. Been arguing with the wife about me quitting school for a while to go back to work, at least until she graduates in December and finds a new job in her studied field. Hope that wasn't to serious of a confession.
 
Naw, Nick; not too serious at all. Sorry for your frustrations. I get it. The student loan money has dried up, but my income potential can't be realized until the fall (that's if I get a job). Yay for teaching! As for the 'bad dad' bit, I get that too, except for me it's 'bad son, bad big brother.' My family's all on the East coast so it's been tough to get back this past couple years.

I was trying minimalist and bare, but my metatarsals can't take it. I've done form work, the big toe engagement exercises and everything else under the sun. I'm actually happy running the way I am right now, and that has been my total goal all along. If i ever feel total relief from my met issue I may try barefoot again, but as it stands right now I feel ok with things as they are.

Thanks, Mike, but I feel it's more than a form issue at this point...
 
Lomad, glad you are staying active and at least you are running. I have received a lot of good information from your posts.

My confession - I just haven't been into running lately and I haven't been very active in the forum. Work is crazy right now and any spare days I could manage, I would hike. Needed to do the low elevation trails before they got too hot. Need to get back into running though, the marathon I registered for in October is going to come up fast. My back has been sore for the last week, but this evening I decided to go for a run and it worked out the soreness. I love running, I just have to make the time.
 
Just so you're running healthy, who can argue with that?

Better that you are staying on as a BRS member. ;)
 
Confession? Well, I like to sing "Careless Whisper" while wearing high-heeled boots, a purple feather boa and nothing else. Early Wham! always makes me cry...oh George Michael, what was it that led you astray?

Oh? You...mean a confession in regards to running? Sh!t. Uh..well, forget what I said about Wham! :oops: You'll probably need to wash your eyes with bleach in order to get that visual to go away, too...

OK, real life confession: Even though I bike a lot (I commute to work), I've been fairly lazy in regards to exercise and I've been eating like crap for about 2 mos. Then again, this is something I've done on and off, so I reckon I'm just in one of the dips (nacho cheese, if you will) and eventually, I'll get back to healthier, more active ways.
 
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I guess my confession would be that I run, but that's it. everyone else seems to have these workout or exercise routines but not this guy. I run. I really want to try Insanity but I don't want to pay the $$. I can get it cheap on Craig's list but I'm worried about getting robbed (another confession?)
 
Ram, I hear ya. The only reason I do any other workout than running is that a buddy started leading Crossfit-type workouts in his garage for friends. He trains police officers for a living, so he wanted to put his skill to use for the rest of us too. if i had to pay dues (money kind, not sweat), I wouldn't be going...

Pirate, some things you just cannot unsee, so thanks for that image. i won't sleep for a week.
 
Pirate, some things you just cannot unsee, so thanks for that image. i won't sleep for a week.
'

That's Karma messing with you there, cowboy...I can only fathom what you did to deserve that sort of visual, but I'm sure it was very tacky...
 
Hey Lomad, at least you are still running. I'm totally minimal shod these days in prep for an ultra in July, which I'm getting quite nervous about having just had a week off to rest a case of runers knee.

As for confessions, my colleague I was working with this Monday/Tuesday was very shocked when I told her that I was thinking about turning vegetarian

Pirate, at least you're not dancing to David Bowie:D
 
I have a confession, well 2 combined.

1. I ran a 10KM trail race at the weekend, and I wore shoes (Brooks Cascadia 6). I really wanted to wear my VFFs but since my mileage in those is only up to about 5KM, I thought I'd better not risk it.

2. Also, I confess that where I said 'I ran' above, there was a fair amount of walking involved and it took me 1:28:44. I finished in 750th place out of 765 entrants. I still consider that a personal success though since I'm still 270lb+ and couldn't run at all a year ago.

;)
 
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Lomad, the most important thing is that you're outhere putting the miles that make you happy.
My confesion is I am still running barefoot 100% but not as much as I used and today is going to be my last running day for a while :( ...I'll be under the knife tomorrow morning.
Congrats vampire!!!
Heal quick Rusinque!!!
 
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Good luck with the surgery Dama! and thanks for the encouragement.

Vampire, that's a great effort. My times are still a bit slower on trails than on the road. I can get 5 miles in on pavement in about 45-ish minutes, but it takes about an hour on trails right now. I swear trail miles are much more work than road miles! More fun, too, though.


(I wear Cascadias on the trails too...since we're still confessing and all).
 
Thanks Lomad and Dutchie one good thing of all this is that I am going to have more free time while I am out so I'll be visiting more often. :)
 
Well, what the hell...

I only run once per week now. I still run barefoot, but I get enough cardio and running (although it's typically only 400-800meter intervals) in CrossFit. For the past month or so, I've only run on Sunday mornings. I run about 4 or 5 miles and that's it. The weird thing is that it's easier to run 4 miles now than it was a few months ago when I was running 3-4 times per week. I guess I have a new love.