Whew, am I tired now. I just read through this entire thread!
I am in the club, but after three years of running barefoot, I am having way less problems with this. My problems at the beginning were the callous forming over the 2meta, a feeling every once in a while like I was stepping on a rock at the point of the 2meta, a feeling like the top of the 2meta was grinding into the ground or like it was going to poke right through the skin. AND, biggest of all, really hurt when I ran on asphalt. It felt like the 2meta bone was just poking into all the nooks and crannies of the asphalt. I read about this issue on this forum a couple of years ago and worked on some stuff in my form.
Things that have improved after 3 years of BF running: 1. The pads on the balls of my feet have become thick and puffy and that has helped a bit. 2. I have learned to land on my entire foot while running on asphalt. I still have more of the weight on the metapad. It's a kind of maybe 70/30 distribution between mid-forefoot and heel. I pick my feet up. I land very gently and imagine my feet just being squishballs.
I NEVER thought I would be running on asphalt. So far I have about 3/4 mile of asphalt included in a 3 mile run and feel very comfortable. I plan to be increasing the amount of asphalt as I am training for the Disney 1/2 marathon.
(Actually, am not "running" but 15 min/mil power walking due to having torn my meniscus doing leap frogs in Kung Fu and being on the mend. But that's ANOTHER story)
I don't know what will happen as mileage increases, but I am very optimistic.
One very weird thing: My second toe is now permanently curled. The weird thing is that this happened since I have become a much more barefoot person. Not only do I run barefoot, but I go barefoot in the house and yard, and wear sandals out until it gets so cold that I have to use a pair of UGGs to go out on errands.
So, I would have thought that the curled toe thing would happen had my feet been enclosed in ill-fitting shoes.
Here is an interesting thing that I think may have happened. When I was running, I may have been curling that toe protectively to take pressure off the 2meta head. When I press down on the bent part of the toe and force it to straighten, the meta head digs into the ground. It may be this compensation developed and now the toe is permanently bent. It doesn't really bother me and the bent toe does not seem to be causing any problems running, but is a problem those few times I need to be wearing shoes. It rubs on the top of the shoe.
Just thought I'd put my experience out here to be included with the many MT-sorts of things that can happen among MT folk.
I am in the club, but after three years of running barefoot, I am having way less problems with this. My problems at the beginning were the callous forming over the 2meta, a feeling every once in a while like I was stepping on a rock at the point of the 2meta, a feeling like the top of the 2meta was grinding into the ground or like it was going to poke right through the skin. AND, biggest of all, really hurt when I ran on asphalt. It felt like the 2meta bone was just poking into all the nooks and crannies of the asphalt. I read about this issue on this forum a couple of years ago and worked on some stuff in my form.
Things that have improved after 3 years of BF running: 1. The pads on the balls of my feet have become thick and puffy and that has helped a bit. 2. I have learned to land on my entire foot while running on asphalt. I still have more of the weight on the metapad. It's a kind of maybe 70/30 distribution between mid-forefoot and heel. I pick my feet up. I land very gently and imagine my feet just being squishballs.
I NEVER thought I would be running on asphalt. So far I have about 3/4 mile of asphalt included in a 3 mile run and feel very comfortable. I plan to be increasing the amount of asphalt as I am training for the Disney 1/2 marathon.
(Actually, am not "running" but 15 min/mil power walking due to having torn my meniscus doing leap frogs in Kung Fu and being on the mend. But that's ANOTHER story)
I don't know what will happen as mileage increases, but I am very optimistic.
One very weird thing: My second toe is now permanently curled. The weird thing is that this happened since I have become a much more barefoot person. Not only do I run barefoot, but I go barefoot in the house and yard, and wear sandals out until it gets so cold that I have to use a pair of UGGs to go out on errands.
So, I would have thought that the curled toe thing would happen had my feet been enclosed in ill-fitting shoes.
Here is an interesting thing that I think may have happened. When I was running, I may have been curling that toe protectively to take pressure off the 2meta head. When I press down on the bent part of the toe and force it to straighten, the meta head digs into the ground. It may be this compensation developed and now the toe is permanently bent. It doesn't really bother me and the bent toe does not seem to be causing any problems running, but is a problem those few times I need to be wearing shoes. It rubs on the top of the shoe.
Just thought I'd put my experience out here to be included with the many MT-sorts of things that can happen among MT folk.
