Barefoot Running

First and foremost so as there's no mistake: I don't run completely barefoot - yet.

Vibram Five Fingers act like a second skin that protects feet from road debris, glass, rocks, and the like. In effect, it is running as if barefoot. They have no real padding and therefore require a runner to change stride slightly so that one lands on the balls of the feet, tapping the heel slightly. It doesn't take much to begin to do this for the foot 'knows' what to do. A heel strike, common to runners in most running shoes becomes effectively impossible because it would simply hurt too much. I began, as recommended, slowly. I walked around in them for a week to get used to the feel. After that I began to jog a mile or two in them, then three, five, and now I am up to about seven mile excursions. Other than some soreness at first in the balls of my feet and some pretty intense calf soreness as I added miles, running in them feels normal, great, and perhaps most importantly, natural. Why I run in them is a whole other matter.

A while ago I saw a link posted on the Facebook profile of a friend that had something to do with alternative footwear. I clicked on the link and arrived at a radio interview from a public radio station in Texas. The interview was with an author named Christopher McDougall and the book he was humping is called Born to Run. I was surprised to hear the author's name because I actually know Christopher personally. Christopher and my sister's husband rowed crew together in college in the mid-1980s. In the intervening years, I'd had a few occasions to spend time with Christopher. The last time I saw Christopher in person was last summer, when he, his wife, and their children made a visit to the North Shore from the farm country of Pennsylvania where they now live. We enjoyed a day a night with them and my sister's family, the highlight of which was a traditional hula dance lesson led by Christopher's wife.

And then a year later, seemingly out of the blue, comes Christopher's voice over my computer speakers. I was heartened to hear this resonant and warm voice I knew. He was deftly answering questions about his new book with the same contagious and kindly enthusiasm I heard many times over the years. Soon though, I stopped hearing his voice and began to listen to the story. He talked about so many seemingly varied things it seemed impossible that all the topics could be at all related. He began talking about his own injury ridden experience with running. Then all of sudden he was talking about a lost tribe living in Mexico's Copper Canyons. Then he was talking about ultramarathoners - those that might run 50 or 100 mile races. He touched on conspiracies, biomechanics and, huh, the evolution of man.

Since I was a runner, had recently decided to run a marathon, and had also just recently incurred a slight injury to my leg (a strained posterior tibial tendon) I was more than intrigued. The timing and coincidence of my hearing that interview also tapped into something deep in me that compelled me to act swiftly and with purpose.

In the two months since I heard that interview, I not only read the book, bought a pair of Vibram Five Fingers, logged scores of running miles in them, and recovered fully from my injury, but have also begun to live a life closer to my internal compass. And while Christopher does a great job telling the story, I can't say for sure that his book will affect you the same way. I know what you're thinking: "Is this nutter saying that barefoot running has changed his world?" In a way, yes.

When we were toddlers, we all wanted to run. And we did. We didn't care if we wore shoes or could feel the ground below. Too soon though almost all of us learned, indeed it was inculcated, that to run meant wearing running shoes. We never questioned it. Until two months ago I never did. Then one day, I wake up, hear an interview, read a book, and start running 'barefoot.' My world IS different.

When something challenges our assumptions, it has the power to make us reconsider any assumption we've made. Look back on your own life and think about about a specific instance where your view of your world was significantly and irrevocably altered. Got it? Remember how fundamentally it changed your perspective, the lens through which you saw the world?

The important question now is when will be the next time in your life you'll allow that to happen?

Stay tuned.