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I'm a runner, sure I'm other things: fitness enthusiast, sports fan, lover of animals and most importantly father and husband, but when it comes to staying in shape, I'm a runner. It's an incredibly gratifying thing to cover vast distances persevering through the elements, long before everyone else is awake or after they have all gone to bed, when the world is your own. That is, until you get shin splints or sore aching joints. I can't count how many times I've had to stop mid run with severe aches in my knees. Many of you, whether you are a relative newbie to running or you've logged thousands of miles suffer these same aggrevations and disappointments. I may have a solution if you are one of these poor, tired, injured masses - Lose your shoes!
Don't get me wrong, I don't think the entire world should forever more be barefoot, I'm just a runner who's tired not being able to make it up the steps after a five miler.
It started out by accident, I was temporarily out of commission after injuring my right knee on a night run, and while doing some much needed work on my house, I broke a toe on my right foot. I spent much of the next few weeks without shoes whenever possible to prevent the crushing of my severely swollen toe, and honestly I found it to be pretty comfortable. So much so, that when I felt my body was phisically ready, both toe and knee, that I decided to stay in and have a go barefoot on the treadmill.
The result was four miles resulting in zero pain. This concept was very foreign to me, usually I feel a pretty good hurt after four miles, especially if I'm coming off any kind of extended leave.
Being the skeptic I am, I was unconvinced so I tried another test the next day - six miles - and guess what, same result. I kept trying like a masochist looking for the pain; eight miles, nine miles - still no problem.
I began to do some research, and found that there are people who live by this method of running. They are hippies, naturalists, maybe on some level geniuses or lunatics, but I've found that there is serious validity in this practice.
Now I personally don't take to the concrete running barefoot yet, perhaps that is because I'm a few blocks away from an unsavory neighborhood and I'm somewhere deep inside fearful that I'll step on a used hypodermic and start the onset of my untimely demise. What I can tell you though, is that I had never run more than ten miles in one day before I took up the barefoot trot on my treadmill and last weekend I topped ten on Saturday and fifteen on Sunday.
The basic lesson to be learned is - our inherent fear of hurting our highly sensetive feet causes us to step lightly when we are running without shoes, all but eliminating the constant pounding caused by normal shod running. Our joints are then able to absorb the light impact rather than be punished into submission. Perhaps over a period of continual running without shoes will both strengthen the sensitive soul and teach us a "lighter" way of running, all but eliminating the nagging injuries associated with the sport.
So if you've had joint problems normally associated with running or just think it might be fun to act like a kid again, give barefoot running or walking a try, you won't be disappointed. |
