Complete story of Rae Heim's trek across the country barefoot

[Barefoot TJ]

http://www.runnersworld.com/general-interest/18-year-old-runs-across-country-barefoot

 

[deviantrunner]

Nice story. If I've had any adventures, I can't remember them.

 

[Bare Lee]

Great achievement, but disappointing message:
"running barefoot so kids don’t have to"
I have to work so hard to get my kids barefoot or in minimalist shoes, even when they're inside at school or daycare--everyone's against it--that it's really frustrating to hear someone capable of such a great barefoot achievement say that running barefoot is wrong or best avoided. Instead of a celebration of barefoot running, and a more natural lifestyle in general, Rae's amazing accomplishment is being used to dismiss it out-of-hand. Unfortunately, only us narwhals will appreciate the irony.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

True irony for many of us yes. Rae picked up running barefoot because she had a toenail removed and it caused a lot of pain when she wore shoes. So, I wonder if she ever gave thought to, "Hey, shoes cause me pain; maybe they cause others pain too," while she was out there running all those many miles.

 

[Sid]

When I first heard about her, an article indicated that she was doing it as a personal challenge, and then she added a cause.
“A couple of months before I started, I decided I had a huge opportunity to help people along the way,” Heim explained.

Okay so at age 18, she doesn't understand the implications of the massive shoe-industrial complex. I'm pretty sure that I wasn't doing anything that personally challenging at age 18, much less for any causes. Hey, more power to her! This seems like a solid character building experience for her.

 

[Hobbit]

So it was a baby stroller she kept her belongings in! I always wondered when seeing photos of her running barefoot across this or that part of America, how she carried her day to day necessities. I'm astonished it wasn't rather the backpack sort of thing - I imagine it must be very hard to push a baby stroller on any other surface than clean asphalt? (Actually I have no idea - I have no baby and therefore no baby stroller to try out! )

 

[Barefoot TJ]

I've pushed singles and doubles loaded with my kids, and it was difficult enough. I can't imagine her being able to do that, but she did. She's truly an incredible athlete, and person.

 

[JosephTree]

I can't fault her ideology in the least.

Also, I think that, more than being an athelete, as impressive as her stringing so many double digit running days together certainly is, she has definitely the heart of a hero, to get her up and out despite the enormity of the challenge.

Just the thought of her accomplishment makes me proud to be a runner and her fellow human being.

 

[Bare Lee]

Just to clarify. I'm not trying to take anything away from Rae's accomplishment. As someone who did something somewhat similar, I can appreciate all that went into it.

And I'm certainly not blaming an 18-year-old for not being fully away of all the issues involved in her chosen cause.

I was simply lamenting the irony of it, not blaming anyone personally. It's part of the general culture, and a very minor problem in comparison to all the other stuff that's going on.

 

[Tristan]

Wish there were some more details about the trip. I can't imagine all the planning that would have to be done to figure out where you would be each day and coordinate with the families all across the country. I mean thats 227 nights and different accommodations that would have to be made. I wonder what kind of diet she had during the run? How often did she do other stuff? Did she have any company during some legs of the run? Did she take any days off? Must have been an amazing journey that we barely have been shown a glimpse of.

 

[Sid]

Wish there were some more details about the trip.

http://flavors.me/raeainslee
Look under Rae's Day-To-Day Stops

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Those are some of the questions we put to Rae, Tristan, but we are still waiting to hear back from her.