Barefoot

You guys! Barefoot running is the best!

It's late, but I really feel like sharing. I just got back from a really good run, 8 miles. The best part about it was that it is, thus far, the farthest I've ever run without shoes on. So far, I've been getting blisters at about mile 5. Tonight, I knew it was late -- I set out at 11:05, but just really didn't want to miss a run today, with the half marathon I'm doing one week away -- with the intent in just going like two miles out or something and turning around when I could feel my feet having a hard time. But I just kept going. It helped that for about a half mile at Gravelly Point Park or whatever it's called I ran on the grass, but most of it was pavement and asphalt. And then I ran across the Potomac and up to the Lincoln Memorial, which marked four miles from my apartment.

What I really want to say is about how much we humans really are capable of adapting and adjusting. I've noticed this more than anything with my relationship to running over the years. In the seventh grade, the mile and a half run was torture. Pure torture. That was probably the nadir of my feelings regarding running. It was truly a thing I hated and dreaded. Happily, slowly but surely, I learned to like running more. And what I thought was possible changed. In fact, the norm changed. A three mile run is now the very bottom of what I expect myself to do, when I can remember just back in college when I worried about finishing that much.

The point is: with time and work, there can be a new norm. What seemed monumental can become the bottom line and we can push ourselves even further. I know it sounds goofy for someone like me to be saying this -- tons of people these days run marathons and do triathlons like they're nothing more than a stroll through the park. But with my own training for a couple half marathons, I've noticed that our perception of what is hard can become familiar. Just like when backpacking, the pack you pick up day after day becomes a "familiar load", as my friend Marshall put it on our Lost Coast hike last year.

The same with barefoot running. In short, I started barefoot running as an experiment to try to find a way of running more comfortably. I have an issue with my left foot that I've noticed happens when I run in shoes, it's hard to explain. Every now and again I get a sharp pain that feels like I'm pulling a tendon too far in my left foot. The long story short is that when I run barefoot, or in these barefoot sandals I made for myself, I don't get that frustrating acute pain. But I can remember the steps leading me to running barefoot. First the sandals were a sort of crutch that taught me that if my feet were freer and allowed to run with natural form, my left foot didn't hurt.

But I remember first taking my shoes off for a three mile run. It felt crazy, like I was doing something dangerous and thrilling. You know, like TPing a house or cliff jumping or something like that. I didn't know what I was doing and kind of tip toed my way through the run. I'll be honest and say that my feet hurt a lot the next day. But now, I leave the house barefoot and it feels right. And once you go barefoot, it's so hard to go back. A different post is required to explain what it's like. But I think everyone knows experientially what it's like -- because everyone knows how great that feeling is when you take your shoes off and run through the grass, or take your shoes off and slide your feet through warm sand -- it's like that, but with a variety of hard and smooth rocky surfaces too.

Not my feet, but you get the idea.

Disclaimer: I still don't run in gravel. Not exactly sure how people do that... takes a level of hardcore I'm nowhere near, I guess. But still. The fact remains that was once far out of my reach is now easily within my grasp. Our bodies are amazing.