Barefoot Running

I tried my first fully barefoot run tonight. I'm in California for the week, and my bike is 852 miles away from here. I've been predominantly barefoot for the last two years since I started working at home. A few months after not wearing shoes very often the shoes I had started hurting my feet. I tried various shoe types but my feet would always ache afterwards. I began seeing people (my brother included) wearing Vibram Five Fingers and I was intrigued. I tried some on at a Summit Hut and fell in love. Finally I found a shoe that felt pretty close to being barefoot!

I've been wanting to try running barefoot for quite a while, but at home it's much easier and more calorie intensive for me to bike so I've been doing that instead. I took my trip to California as an excuse to try it for the first time. Last night I ran almost 2 miles wearing my VFFs (GPS Results). I stopped when my calves felt like they were going to seize up. Running without traditional shoes takes calve muscles that I never use while walking or biking. I was also disappointed at the slow pace I was keeping. I didn't even make a 10 minute mile! I was taking real pains to make my landings as soft as possible so I presume that was partially responsible for my slowness.

I expected to wake up this morning barely being able to walk, because whenever I foray into running that's how the day after always is. I was surprised when I rolled out of bed this morning and felt nothing aside from a slight tightness in my calves. I didn't run very far yesterday and I took it very easy, but it was still heartening to feel great this morning.

Tonight I decided to try a completely barefoot run (GPS Results). The neighborhood I'm running around has relatively flat sidewalks and is meticulously maintained (no rocks)! I ran barefoot from the hotel parking lot to the neighborhood and then around a couple loops barefoot (about .68 mi each). During the second lap I felt like I had a small rock stuck to the side of the big toe on my right foot. By the end of the lap I realized that it was more likely a blister forming, but I wanted to finish the lap off to figure out my time. I caught the blister before it could form, but the skin on my big toe feels a bit raw. After the second lap I sat down, put on my VFFs and ran one more lap so I could compare times.

I was surprised at the difference in running barefoot versus running in Vibram Five Fingers. Running barefoot feels MUCH nicer. My feet never really hurt except at the end when the blister started to form. I think after enough runs I'll quickly grow a callous there and be home free. On the pure barefoot run landing on my feet felt much more natural and I didn't feel the need to concentrate so hard on my landing. As such, my pace increased quite a bit and I was able to keep it just around a 10 minute mile. Hopefully this blister will heal quickly and I can try again Thursday!