Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Feeling good, feeling the pain

It's been almost a month now, and I've had some time to experiment. I've tried running with just my Nike Frees, I've run whole runs barefoot, and I've had some half-and-half runs. I have to say that I'm getting used to being barefoot and my feet are rebelling against shoes a bit.

After a month of progress, I started a run yesterday in shoes, and I got blisters in the first two or three miles. To put that in perspective, I haven't had blisters from running since high school. I decided to sack the shoes and go the rest of the way barefoot, even though I was on a sidewalk along a busy road, three miles from home.

It went fine! Most sidewalks are great for barefoot running as long as you pay attention for obstacles (as you should do any time you run). I felt liberated, and had a great run after that.

Unfortunately, I decided to go for it again today, and those little blisters became big blisters. My right foot has at least three good ones on it right now. Who would have thought the first time I'd get blisters from barefoot running would be the result of shoes I'd worn a hundred times?

A couple of other notes from the last month:

I ran off road at Red Rocks State Park. It made me feel like a kid again, and I had a lot of fun, but the rocks on the path took their toll and I had raw feet for a couple of days. I should have a video commentary up soon from that day.

I've mostly been hovering between 2-3 runs a week, with biking and skiing on the weekends.

My feet aren't building up huge callouses like I expected, but they are getting tougher. I'm not sure if it's that I'm not putting in enough miles or if that just isn't going to happen.

I had my longest run of 2010 about a week ago: 9.6 miles. I ran 6 of the miles barefoot without any repercussions.

No ankle, knee, or back problems.