New Shoes

I've really been getting into the idea of barefoot running. I recently read Born to Run by Christopher McDougall and in the process of telling the book's central story of an epic race between the legendary Tarahumara indians of Mexico and a handful of the world's best ultra-marathoners, McDougall covers a variety of running topics including the rapidly-gaining-in-popularity idea that modern running shoes are largely responsible for the majority of foot and leg injuries and problems suffered by runners today. He points out that the modern running shoe with a thick heels and heavy padding in the soles was only invented by Nike in the early 1970s. Prior to that, humans ran for thousands of years barefoot or in shoes with little if any padding and thin soles. Track and field and marathon runners in the Olympics ran in very thin soled track shoes with minimal padding throughout the 20th century until the 1970s.

The basic argument is that the modern running shoe causes you to come down on your heel which is not the "natural" human running motion. Landing on the heel causes a tremendous shock that reverberates up the leg placing undue strain on the knees and hips. Barefoot runners naturally come down on their mid-foot or forefoot. This makes for a much gentler landing where the shock is absorbed by the arch of the foot and the calves of the legs. Landing on the heel barefoot on a hard surface is basically impossible; the shock to the unprotected heel bone is painful and can bruise or even break the bone.

Since I read the book I've been working on striking on my forefoot when I run. It takes some practice as it affects your entire running motion and works your calves a lot more than the heel-strike motion that is commonly used by most shod runners these days. You also have to use extra effort to run that way if your wearing conventional running shoes...they encourage a heel-striking motion. So I've been suffering from sore calves for the past month after my runs while adapting to this motion.

I've also been reading up on the options in so-called minimalist shoes. The shoe that had really caught my eye was the Vibram Fivefinger. There's really no other shoe like it on the market. It has toe pockets, no padding and very thin soles. It really is a minimalist shoe. The reviews you find online tend to be almost universally positive and many of the reviewers absolutely love them.

A couple of weeks ago I found a shoe store at North Park Mall near my work that carries them and this past Friday I went back and ended up buying a pair. I think I'm really going to like them although they will take a bit of getting used to.

My new Vibram Fivefingers

I went for a run in them today and was hoping to go for 5 miles or so. Unfortunately, my new shoes gave me a blister on the inside of my right foot. I had gone about a mile or so when I began to feel the blister forming. I went ahead and did a couple more miles but quit after that since it was getting painful and I didn't want to make a big mess that would keep me from running for several days. On the positive side I did like the shoes and my feet don't hurt even after three miles in them (they can make the soles of your feet sore if you overdo it in them before you build up your foot muscles). And my calves don't hurt either...I guess I'm pretty much past that now.

It was a beautiful day for running, sunshine and temperature around 60; still a bit windy, but not as bad as yesterday and the trees in the park shielded most of it. I guess this post is getting kind of long so I'll end it here with a picture I shot at the park today during my run so you can see how pretty it was out.