Barefoot running

I've been reading Born to Run.

It's really interesting, about the Tarahumara Indians living in the Copper Canyons of Mexico and how they are arguably the greatest distance running culture in the world.  Anyway, to make a long story short there's a section in the book that extolls the virtues of barefoot running, listing it as the magic bullet that will solve all running-related injuries, make you faster, make you taller and grow your hair back if it has left for greener pastures - okay so the last item is not completely true but all the rest is there.

This morning was my long run and I decided to build in a segment of barefoot running, just to try it.  I figured I'd throw in 2k on a nearby highschool track, after finishing 18-20k or so and just before heading for home.

IT HURTS!

Running barefoot is not easy if you've spent your whole life in big, heavy, clonky "motion-control" thumper shoes.  It takes some time to build up the outer sole toughness to be able to run barefoot.  I managed to get in 2k (but not without slowing down a bit by the end) and my feet are still "crackly" at the end of the day.  I also feel some muscle pain in the arch.  Logically this is where the benefits are supposed to be felt.  After all if the arch of the foot is fully supported every time you run then that muscle doesn't get worked at all.  With no shoes the foot muscles have to do all the work.  In the long run (no pun intended) this is supposed to strengthen the foot, improve form, economy and posture, eliminate all those pesky runner's injuries (ITB, PFS, etc.)  As well, the elimination of injuries and their associated downtime and the improved form is supposed to make the runner FASTER, which is the ultimate goal.

What they don't do, is make your feet any prettier, and mine were bad enough to begin with.  There will be no pictures posted of feet here, but I think I'm going to keep giving this a try.  We'll see what comes of this.

Six days to Milton - opening of the season!

Peace.