Running Barefoot

I was wondering if anyone knows of any minimalist/next to barefoot shoes for school aged kids.    It seems like there still isn’t much of a market for these.

I have had PF for 1 year following my 70 pound weight gain during my pregnancy. I have tried “everything” except barefoot running. It scares me and I find the website a little daunting. Could someone please tell me how long to run, how often, and if running on sand is a good idea.

Thank you,
Linda S

Hey I was wondering if i could get some insight from some more experienced barefooters.

As a child I have always gone barefoot, but have worn shoes when going running and often other times as I have gotten older. But recently have gotten a lot of foot pain and knee pain from the shoes I have been wearing so I have decided to make the transition to being barefoot.

But I need some help. I started out a few days ago and have noticed alot of tightness in my arch and a dull aching in the balls of my feet and my heels. I was wondering if there are any stretches I need to be doing or exercises that would be beneficial.

Basically any guidelines for how to get started and how long it would take for me to get on my feet, no pun intended! Thank you!!

Cool!

That’s what it was this morning, nearly as cold as 50F! Us southern Californians sure are wimpy, aren’t we?

Photos:

This is a barefoot fun run, at low-tide and sunset (bring your cameras ).

Ideally, if we could run without ever touching the ground, we would eliminate all running injuries – except for the odd, being run over by cars, falling off clifs, etc..

Seriously, puncture, abrasion, impact, etc., virtually all running related injuries are the result of the forces, the friction, and impact of our feet (or shoes) interacting with the ground.

Most of us do attempt to keep our feet off the ground, by wearing shoes. But, that simply moves the ground forces, to the bottom of our shoes, which are attached to our feet, which are attached to – well, you get the idea… And we continue to pound, skid, twist, push, etc., barely aware, that we are pounding, skidding, pushing, etc..

The next best thing to keeping our feet off the ground, something a bit more attainable, would be to barely touch the ground, to reduce, if not eliminate friction – skidding, excess pushing, twisting, slipping of the feet. If we could distribute the forces across our entire sole, our foot landing on the road at precisely the same speed and direction as the road is traveling underneath us, perhaps even decelerating our foot, as it touches the ground, just like a space shuttle docking with the space station.

The difficulty, of course, is that we are rarely aware of these problems. Most of us run in a kind of dazed condition, not really paying attention to these ground forces.

Some of the wealthy, or elite runners could have coaches watch, and let the runner know when their running technique is getting sloppy. For most of us, this sort of personal coaching is far too costly. And even if we could afford it, for many of us, it takes quite a bit of repetition before we learn something new, and make it habit – as soon as the coach is gone, we go back to our old, sloppy ways of running.

If only we could have a coach, who worked very cheap, maybe for food, and could be with us constantly, someone to remind us, emphatically, perhaps by hitting us on the palms of our hands, or the soles of our feet, with a ruler or something, with each and every step, when the ground forces change, so we could make adjustments, and keep on running gently.

Maybe, something like those shoes with computer chips that change the tension in the springs depending on how hard we are pounding our feet into the ground? If only we had something like that, but even more sophisticated (hey, as long as we’re dreaming, let’s go fully sci-fi!), built into our body – a complex system of sensors, maybe concentrated on the soles of our shoes, in direct contact with the ground, sensing every little detail, of each and every step, and some sort of very complex computer (the most powerful ever built) attached to those sensing devices, to process the information, and maybe a way for that computer to communicate directly to our muscles, so we could make the necessary adjustments to the way we run.

Then we could step more gently, like we’re sneaking up on someone. We might actually start running more efficiently, more gracefully, more “naturally” (oh the irony!), like, maybe, in some ways, better than, any other running creature on this planet.

We could even shift our weight, instantly, when we stepped on sharp pointy objects – if we could figure out a way to implant these sensors in our skin, we might even be able to run, dare I say it – - – BAREFOOT!

And with this kind of instant, and continuous interaction, we might just find running more stimulating, exciting, maybe even, FUN!

But, of course, that’s all science fiction. We’ll have to wait until scientists perfect artificial intelligence before we could have anything like that.

If only we had a brain!

I just did my first Half Marathon Barefoot Sat the 14th in Huntsville AL. Out of 900+ runners I was the only one Barefoot. I’ll run my first Full Marathon on the 28th of Nov in MS.

Back in 2008 I got a pair of the Vibram Five-Finger Classic and started running in those because I wanted to start running barefoot. But it was not until this year when I just took off the shoes for good that I was able to truely see what Ken Bob was talking about. If I had just took off the shoes and FFs almost 3 years ago things would have been much quicker. I know that most of us have to wear shoes at some point and I see that time as a good place to use the MINIMALIST footwear. Just kick them off before the run.

Huntsville Half-Marathon website

Just finished debating with Kevin A. Kirby, DPM the pros and cons of Running Barefoot, moderated by Amby Burfoot, for Runner’s World Magazine.

It was a lot of fun. Kevin, was more open minded about running barefoot, than many of the podiatrists we have heard from. Amby asked us each questions, in some cases, the questions were more for one of us, than the other, but, mostly we each got a crack at each question.

Obviously, neither of us got to talk about everything there is to know – heck, I don’t even know if I know everything there is to know (pretty sure I don’t) – but, for a one-hour debate, we managed to get 7000 words worth (the whole thing was transcribed by a court reporter).

I’m looking forward to seeing this in print… I may have to renew my Runner’s World subscription!

Think of trying to sing a song while wearing earplugs. Sure, you can sing with earplugs, and sure, it doesn’t hurt your ears, but that doesn’t mean you’re singing on-key… If you were singing on-key, it won’t hurt when you sing without the earplugs.

Likewise with footwear… You’ll be able to learn how to run “on-key” much sooner, when you don’t block your soles from feeling the terrain… If it hurts, that’s because you’re running off-key. If you block that feeling of pain, you’re blocking the message your body is trying to tell you, that you should be changing your tune. Therefore, you are ignoring the best advice you would have received today … outside of this post

The point is, the purpose of so-called “transition” footwear, is not to help you learn how to run barefoot. It is to protect you from the pain of becoming aware that you have not, yet, learned how to run barefoot – essentially, it is protecting you from, your goal, of actually learning how to run barefoot!

If this was no danger, I wouldn’t mind so much. But, if you have been wearing shoes most of your life, depending on them for support and protection, then your feet are going to be weak. That might not be so bad, in and of itself. But, now, let’s put those weakened feet under a whole lot of stress, by running without the support of your normal shoes – the support you have grown dependent on, and with only a fraction of the feedback that would tell you to change the way you are running.

“Oh”, you say, “I can feel the ground, while wearing my transitional footwear, just as if I were barefoot.”

If that were true, then why did you just spend any amount of money for your “transitional” footwear? Isn’t it because it hurt to run barefoot? Or, at least it hurts to run barefoot, the way you are trying to run barefoot. If so, then you are blocking the message from your soles that wants to emphasize to you, that you need to change the way you run, BEFORE you start running greater distances, or faster speeds. It is the pain, that is the message! It is the pain, that is the teacher! It is the pain, that emphasizes the importance of changing. It is the purpose of the “transitional” footwear to allow you to run further and faster than you are ready to run!

Without the pain, without this emphasis of this message, you could go out and run several miles, without realizing that you are not ready to run several miles – and that’s probably exactly why you bought those brand new, expensive, “transitional” shoes. And that’s exactly why I get dozens of comments from folks whose feet are injured as a result of trying to learn how to run “barefoot” in transitional footwear!

If you want the full benefit of Running Barefoot, not just the foot strengthening, but the immediate feedback, which emphasizes, with each and every step, how urgent it is to change your running technique, and how important it is, NOT to start running several miles, until you have, at least, somewhat mastered a much gentler technique – even gentler than what the transitional footwear will allow, go BARE foot, literally – not “barefoot” as the term is used to sell footwear.

When you can run barefoot, comfortably over gentle surfaces, and not uncomfortably over most every kind of surface which you hope to run on, then, and only then, are you ready to attempt to run, with MINIMALIST footwear, blocking a large portion of the message your soles are trying to send to your brain. But, then, you won’t really need minimalist, or any other kind of footwear, except in extreme cases, like if you want to run hundreds of miles over very harsh terrain!

Because you never know what’s going to stick.

I’m not sure what I mean by that; that’s the thing with analogies and metaphors. Some readers may read the above statement and nod sagely, uttering “so true, so true.” Others ask,”why would you throw pasta on the wall?”

But we (I) love analogies and metaphors all the same, because when they do work they provide a real Eureka! insight into the topic at hand/foot. “The rough surfaces are your vegetables, the smooth are dessert,” or “learning how to run with shoes on is like learning how to sing with earplugs.” I believe Barefoot Ken Bob Saxton came up with both of those, by the way.

Sometimes, however, the best analogy is an instruction for an entirely different task. Like how to clean your feet without dirtying up your tub.

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