My First Barefoot Run

I might have just finished one of the most fascinating books I have ever read, Born to Run. If you are a particularly avid runner I recommend reading this book subtitled: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen. If you don't run, hate running, or any variation of that, I highly recommend this book.

The novel follows a tribe of very native Mexicans in the Copper Canyons who are perhaps the greatest marathoners ever. Really, ever. They can run hundreds of miles at a time through rugged mountains in nothing more than cut out tire treads. If you want to know more, read the book.

This whole story begins with me deciding to radically change my career path. Until this point hated running. It was a pointless, meandering excercise that did nothing for me but hurt. I have loathed running since high school when I tried out for the soccer team and encountered continual knee pain and terrible shin splints among other common running ailments. Luckily the football team was looking for a kicker, you know the player who only takes a few brisk steps toward the ball and thats about it, so I gladly volunteered.

Fast forward few years and not much had changed. I only run out of necessity. But now I am in the process of training for a Deputy Sheriff position and need to run 3 miles. To the great shock of many people, I can't remember seriously running more than one whole mile at a time, if that. Not to mention years of absolutely no running left me in a difficult position. The only thing I could think of was to buy $90 running shoes with as much cushioning as possible to brace my feet and legs for the gaunlet I was about to put them through.

Sure enough, here I am a few runs later I was keeled over cramping, shins burning and quite miserable. So naturally after reading about indians who can run fantastic distances practiacally barefoot with little to no injury I thought I would give it a shot. Up until now I had worked my way up to just barely running one and a half miles so I knew that running for such a short distance posed no real threat to my otherwise already beaten down legs.

Moment of truth. I got ready for my run and felt really awkward starting out around my block with out shoes. At first I was running along the grass near the sidewalk but all the roots from the near by trees made this impossible. So I just ran on the sidewalk. As it turns out I was able to easily run my 1.5 mile course, no shin splints, no ankle or knee pain, nothing. My legs were definitely sore, but they weren't hurting as usual. I was in shock, so I googled it.

There is a lot of recent scholrly information about reducing and eliminating running injuries by just going barefoot. There is even a Barefoot Running "University" with endless articles on the subject. And in an istant I went from a passionate hatred of running to a barefoot running enthusiast.