Why BFR is a BFD to me! (My
Why BFR is a BFD to me! (My conversion story)
It all started back when I was less of a kid and more of a teenager. I tried to run track, and I hated it! I’ve always loved playing sports, so I'd run, but I was never a "Runner". Running and running and ending up the same place...well that's just NASCAR for folks without a vehicle!
8yrs ago, when I was older than I believed myself at a time sooner than expected, I was chasing a ball like I was as young as I thought. The field was indoor, the game didn't matter and grass was fake, but the pain...the pain was real! I'd just gone from a full on sprint to a dead stop in one step...well...some of me had! I’d blown out the ACL in my left knee. The doc "cleaned things up" and relocated a strand of hamstring muscle to replace the vital ligament because this youngish boyish 30yr old had plenty of athletic exploits left to realize. From then on, my knee would ache all the time, so not a lot of running or exploits. 6yrs later, a friend introduced me to Glucosamine with Chondroitin. What a magic elixir that turned out to be! My knee felt great! He said let's run, so we ran, and...egh...I still hated it!!! My arches would ache, I got blisters, my shins pumped up and exhausting my calves, my lower back would tighten up and my knees would be sore for days after, one cause of the surgery and the other from years of compensating. I stuck with it, though! I ran from the spring to the end of summer, 3 or 4 days a week. I walked and ran and ran and walked until I could run, Jog...it was...it was more a...a jog. Yeah...so...I could JOG, non-stop, for an incredible...2 miles. Yeah, all that time and I could only do 2 miles without stopping. I know. It was sad. I did lose 25lbs, though.
Flash forward to January of this year. I’ve done no lifting for 9mo and no running for about a year and a half as I heal from shoulder surgery and settle into laziness. I’m the heaviest I’ve ever been at 247lbs, but I can finally hit the gym again. Lifting weights and doing the elliptical, I proceed to put on 20lbs of muscle and take off about 10lbs of fat. If your 1st grade math is up to snuff, you can see I’m headed in the WRONG direction. How do you put on 10 more pounds getting in shape?!!! 258lbs??? Ahhhhh!!! Then, one of the guys I work with ran a half-marathon. He's not exactly a "little guy", so I figure, hey...if he can do that, maybe I can work up to it too. Besides, I lost weight last time I ran! I just need the right shoes... brace... band... stuff! So, I Google "running" and "Pain" and "knee". Ok, maybe it was "Fainting Goats", but you know how Google is! I find all these "runners" talking about barefoot running, minimalist shoes and Vibrams in particular as having alleviated years of pounding abuse for guys and gals who’d run marathons and more! My first reaction was...Bwaaahahaha! Barefoot? Ah...nooooo...no no no. My feet are soft and ticklish! Then I recall, my Brother-in-Law has some of those crazy Ninja toe shoes. Hm...could THIS be the magic pill I've been looking for? I research like crazy, VO2 tests, high speed slow motion, impact plate data, account after account of personal experiences, etc! Everything points to barefoot/minimalist style running being the most oxygen/energy efficient method and the easiest on the joints, but...will it work for ME??!!
3/23/11 I buy a pair of Vibram Bikila's that look like blue panda feet. (Seriously! Are they using the guy who came up with the mentos commercials to design these things??) So I wear them out of the store and, wow! Walking, driving, jumping, etc all feels really cool! It's...I don't know...new! I can feel more and it makes everything fun! I get home and decide to try running. I researched "correct form" and getting into minimalist running quite a bit first, so I had an image of what the correct form should look like and not to do too much too soon (TMTS). I run about 200yds. Crazy looking shoes aside, I must have looked like the biggest dork! I was giggling and looking all around and back down at my feet the whole time!! I ran a circle and ended up where I'd started. I felt it...and it was...ABSOFREAKALUTIN AMAZING!!! It was like being a child again, having escaped out the front door and running down the street in my socks! Yes! Wait...I... LOOOOOOVE... carless NASCAR??? What the??? I had to double check this...see if the fun wears off or the pain kicks in.
I did start slow, but I surely went all in! I get a pair of black Komodos for wearing to work and walking around to slowly strengthen my feet, ankles and let my achiles lengthen. I no longer "JOG"! No no! I RUN!! Not only is it great...nothing hurts!! Yes, I’ve been in soft cast like shoes for 38yrs, so my calves get sore and my feet get tired, but that's normal stuff I go through just lifting weights. Quickly, my arches get stronger, my calves get bigger and EVERYTHING starts to get thinner!(I lost 20lbs the first 2mo) 5/12/11 I run my first 5K race in McKinney, TX in 32:55 and it was easy! 2yrs ago, I'm killing myself to run 2 miles and in less than 2mo, I'm running 3.1 miles for time, on purpose and I LOVE it! Wait...it gets better!
I thirsted for more info from more experienced like minded runners, so I found and joined barefootrunners.org. (My wife says I'm obsessed...she may have a point.) I read that running barefoot could improve my form. Something about ground feedback and my feet telling me what to do. I figure it's worth a try. I'll just run with my Vibrams in my hands and put them on when I get tender. I run 2.6miles over 2 runs forcing the form and get some decent blisters, still crazy fun, but I'm not giving up my toe shoes! At the advice of a couple of board members from the site, I stop trying to force it, relax, listen to my body’s feed back and just have fun. My 3rd barefoot run changed me for ever! It may sound crazy to those who have yet to experience this, but I ran 5 miles with no problem!! I’m kicking myself; Why didn't I START with THIS!!! I feel every step. My body responds like it already knows what to do. I let go and just start enjoying the experience. I leave the iPod at home and do another 5 miles later the same week. It’s amazing!! I push it up to 6.2/10K the next week and I’m just loving it! I run my first barefoot race, a 5k on rural Texas pavement on 6/18/11. That surface was a challenge, but the feed back was incredible! Overloading a bit, but I didn't get cut, one little bruise, learned a ton about my form and actually felt my feet get stronger as the conformed and flexed and relaxed into the ever changing surface! I’m hooked!!!
These days, my wife and I do our long runs together and we talk and laugh the whole time! We are training for a half Marathon in December, she in her Vibrams and me "Feet Streak’n"! My wife's experience has been equally positive. So far, she's run 5 miles without stopping, where her previous best was a 5K. I never would have thought I could or would want to run for an hour or more straight, much less be able to carry on a conversation the entire time! We’re currently signed up for a few more 5Ks this summer, a 10K in September, a 15K in October and a half-Marathon in December. My goal is to run a barefoot Marathon next year, before I turn 40.
So, that’s how I ended up here. Why do I keep running barefoot? Let me explain it like this: Shoes are to running as earmuffs are to watching a movie. I think of it as running in HD! Not just that, but my body moves naturally now. I feel like I’m silently "flowing" and not fighting the paths I take. Miles are no longer just markers on my runs to be clicked off, but are the end of a page I just read with my feet! My neighborhood is like a good book that I want to keep reading to see what the next page holds and how many pages I can read, and there
are so many "books" I can read! I no longer try to shut out the run with music or distracting thoughts my attention can get tangled up in just trying to "get through it". I notice everything. I love it. I get lost in the run, and it makes me feel like a wide-eyed kid again!
Wow...that sorta turned into a book. Sorry! Feel free to cut it down to size if you decide to use it.
-Jonny