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| Yours truly at the end of a trail run in my Five Fingers shoes. |
The Real Running closet is littered with running shoes. I have stability shoes for long runs, trail shoes for off-road shenanigans, racing flats for 10Ks, and my “regular” shoes for everyday training runs. Ok, ok, I have three pairs of those. They come in different colors, what was I supposed to do?
Given my love for buying shoes and other gadgets, it was only a matter of time before I got sucked into the “barefoot shoe” world anyway, but after reading a few articles on the benefits of barefoot running, and once Cap'n Ron started running around in his minimalist shoes, I knew I had to give it a try. So I broke out the Real Running credit card and ordered up some of those popular minimalist shoes where each of your five toes gets its own little place to live.
(Dear company, send me some shoes and I’ll mention them by name).
Why would I want to run barefoot? Good question. Feel free to ask questions.
1. Going barefoot is a big leap of faith when you have been raised in soft, supportive, cool looking shoes. Those shoes, though, have taught us to run incorrectly, or so the argument goes. Modern running shoes encourage heel-striking and are engineered to allow this. When you strike heel first, you are impacting your skeleton with 2 to 3 times your body weight (you are also slowing yourself down and wasting energy, but that’s an issue for another time). This is why running shoes have so much cushion and padding in the heels. Running on the balls of your feet, which you have to do when running barefoot, reduces the impact considerably because the joints and structures of your feet and ankles can flex to absorb the blow.
2. Running barefoot gives you immediate feedback and forces you to stay within your body’s limits. When you start heel-striking while running barefoot, you notice. Supportive shoes may actually let us run faster and farther than we should, and the rest of the body takes a beating.
3. Your skeleton was designed to walk and run barefoot. Granted, it was also meant to walk and run on soft ground and live near the equator, but we can adapt.
4. Most importantly, it’s cool. And let’s face it, that’s what this is all about.
The day my barefoot shoes arrived it was (of course) 33 degrees and snowing in Seattle. I tore open the box, snugged each toe into its little pocket, wiggled them around a bit, and took off out the door.
The best thing about running in minimalist shoes is that you really do feel everything, and you have to pay attention to where your feet are hitting the ground. This is also the worst thing about them. I never knew how much broken glass was on the shoulder of my street before. How does that get there? I also found 15 cents on my first barefoot run. Free money! This barefoot thing is going to pay for itself.
Those little pebbles that get stuck in the treads of your other shoes? They like to poke you right in the middle of your foot. Avoid those. Giant beds of nails? Avoid those. Half frozen slushy puddles? Your call, but I’d avoid them.
Steep downhills? Avoid those too, for a while. It’s almost impossible not to pound your heels on those. For your first couple of runs, find a nice flat or slightly uphill route.
And please, trust me on this one, too: take it easy your first few times out. If you aren’t already running off the balls of your feet, your calves are going to take a beating at first. All of the shock that your shins, knees, and hips have been absorbing over the years is transferring right to your calves. In the long run, this is better for you since the muscle can take it. But the days after your first few barefoot runs, your calves are going to be a little angry with you. Stretch them out, give them some love, and you’ll be fine.
Of course, given the ebb and flow of medical research and educated opinions, we’re probably going to learn that running barefoot causes cancer. But for now, it all seems pretty good.
Check out some of the variants of "barefoot" shoes out there:
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