The Inspiration

This will be my first blog post, and I hope that there will be posts in the future.

I decided that this might be a good idea to keep a log of my progress as a barefoot runner (and a runner in general). I have started barefoot running only just this week after completing Christopher McDougall's "Born to Run". This book might not have been entirely factual, but a lot of the ideas were still very inspiring. It talks a lot about 'studies' that were completed saying that the more expensive your shoe, the more likely you are to get injured in it. This makes sense i suppose, but might be a over exaggerated a little bit. Running with expensive running shoes creates a cushion for your foot which allows you to run sloppily. With these big pillows on your feet, you can't feel the mistakes that you are making in your stride which causes you to develop terrible running form. Terrible running form is a cause of injuries.

Running barefoot is a great idea for every runner, in moderation. Since you instinctively run with greater form while you are barefoot, it will help create better form while running in shoes by making you think about your form more and listen to your body.

Listening to your body goes hand in hand with barefoot running. Running with shoes on your feet dampens the ability to listen to your body because the shoe is supposed to do all of the work for you. This is one of the reasons that I have come to love running barefoot. It allows me to feel everything that I should be feeling, and creates an environment in which my body is one with the earth below me. It is so peaceful and painless, like everything I do is perfect. The stars are aligned above me and everything is in place when I am barefoot. I want to be able to harness that energy and use it to run in shoes more effectively, but I don't think it will be easy. Until then, I will be running barefoot in between my regular workouts in order to ease myself into becoming a permanent barefoot runner and a complete hippy!

It is going to take a lot of patience and perseverance to become a barefoot runner. Lowering my weekly miles and really understanding my body will be the hardest parts about it, but i think that the work will pay off.