a recent convert to barefoot running: it's great!
a recent convert to barefoot running: it's great!
At age 46, I have rediscovered shoeless running. My feet and calves are getting stronger and stronger as I gradually add in a little more each week. Yes, it feels really great. The big surprise is that my 2 long-term foot problems - insertional Achilles tendinitis on the left and hallux limitus (stiff arthritic big toe) on my right - have both been improving fast and I'm up to 75 miles a week including workouts. I am still doing the majority of my running in shoes, but plan to continue decreasing that, because the shoes are beginning to feel like exactly what they are: overbuilt, heavy, unnatural objects. I bought some Vibrams too and those are working well for a little protection on rough trails - expensive, but well designed and produced.
Check out the research done at Harvard:
http://www.barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/
Watch the slow-mo videos of the running Kenyans who have never worn shoes. That's the style I'm trying to emulate. Turns out that our feet and lower legs make excellent shock absorbers if we run correctly and stop pounding our heels into the ground.
Pretty interesting!
Mark