I bought this book as a gift for Jenny, to celebrate our decision to train for a half-marathon together. I heard about the story a while back, and while I didn’t think Jenny would enjoy a technical book about running, I did think the cultural context of this story would definitely interest her. I was right. She is loving it. Really loving it. She is almost done, and is upset that the story is coming to an end. And is thinking about rereading it again as soon as she is done. I would say that was a successful gift. But, this story doesn’t end there…
Jenny is so much in love with the book, that she said something crazy, “Brian, you should read this book.” I know, that’s nuts. But she says those things anyway. The details she has given me about the book are: that the author is over 200 pounds, is training for a ultra-marathon, and has drawn the conclusion that running shoes are inherently bad, because they require you to heel strike. However, running barefoot requires you to land on the balls of your feet, which is apparently connected to our primal ancestors, and as a result causes less injury to our bodies. And then a bunch of other blah blah blah.
So sure, I could have read the book, but instead I heard these key words: “heavy runner” “barefoot” “less injury.”
So, I woke up on Friday at 5:30, to do my 3m run on the treadmill, and I thought ‘why not?’ I got on in just my socks, and started running sans shoes.
It was very wierd and immediately reinforcing at the same time. I have been having a lot of heel pain. But when you run barefoot, you don’t land on your heels…just like Jenny said the author said. So there I am, running a bit slower than usual, pounding the treadmill, but on the balls of my feet. I ran the first mile at 12min, to get the hang of it, but then jumped to 9min for mile two. It was crazy. My lungs weren’t tired, and that is a fast pace for me to sustain. Jenny did mention that the book talked about runners either running too fast for their slow runs, and too slow during fast runs. Right. Confusing to me too. I believed it meant that I should run faster than usual. So I pushed the pace, and did another half-mile at 7.5min pace, before I did a cool down. I haven’t run that fast since starting this training. Again, my lungs felt great. The only immediate downside to running barefoot, was that I felt very uncoordinated, and a couple times I felt like I was going to fall off the treadmill. One time I wobbled while trying to drink from a water bottle, but I caught the handrail. That would not have been pretty.
But overall, I was really psyched by the experience. However as soon as I got off, I realized what I had done. The bottoms of my feet were on fire…in multiple places. Blisters were starting to form. My calves were aching. Really aching. I was hobbling to get to the stairs. I couldn’t tell if it was from the burning in my feet or the burning in my calves. I started up the stairs, but could hardly get from one step to the next. After getting cleaned up, I tried to put on dress shoes, but couldn’t do it. Jenny was up by this point, and in between laughing at me, she tracked down a package of moleskin from when we hiked on the Appalachian Trail in 1995. It wasn’t quite sticky anymore, but I was desperate. I covered the balls of my feet in it, got on my shoes, and proceeded in slow motion to my car.
At work later in the day, a coworker was walking behind me and said, “Brian…are you limping? And…on…both legs?” Yep. I was walking with a really wide-gate-side-to-side-hobble-motion.”
So that was Friday morning. It is now Sat night, and I still need to use both handrails to get up any stairs. I don’t know if I tore both calves, or if they are just extremely sore like when you lift weights for the first time in years. I’m supposed to do a long run tomorrow for the half-marathon, but that isn’t going to happen. I guess I’ll rest until Tuesday, and see how it goes.
So that is the situation. I guess if I can’t run for a while, I will now have time to read the book!
A character from the book, who is the guru of barefoot running: Barefoot Ted
The shoes that Barefoot Ted says I should have worn so I don’t get blisters. Imagine the looks you’ll get in these: Vibram FiveFingers
UPDATE: 4/13/10 Ok, so maybe I exaggerated just a little when I said my calves were possibly torn. Or, perhaps I am just a miraculous healer! But I after taking 3 days off, I was able to run this morning. My calves still hurt a lot, but it is more just muscle soreness. So if I want to have really developed calves, then I guess I should integrated barefoot running into my routine.
[...] my feet and legs have some strengthening to do, it felt great. I did not have the same failure as Brian. I still want to get a pair of FiveFingers, and my goal is to run this way in the Hood to Coast [...]