Born to Run Barefoot?

I’ve been running for a long time, for all different reasons and in tons of different kinds of footwear. There were football cleats and basketball shoes in high school, combat boots in the US Marines and then years of the most expensive running shoes I could find. Though it kept me in excellent shape, running had always been fairly painful for my feet, knees and back. It truly served as a means to an end. No pain no gain right?

After reading Christopher McDougall’s book “Born to Run”, though, I decided to chuck the shoes and head out for some barefoot running on my own. After my first run, my feet were exhausted! I felt as though my feet had gone, on their own, to a gym and done their own intense workout routine. After about a month or two of running on grass, sand and eventually smooth pavement my feet felt stronger. It was amazing to finally feel the fitness of my feet catch up to the fitness of the rest of my body. I also realized that the pain in my feet, knees and back had slowly started to dissipate.

These days, I run for the joy of running. Though barefoot running had finally relieved me of knee and back problems, I soon discovered a flaw in my plan. Sharp rocks, the possibility of hypodermic needles, broken glass and let’s not forget the most dastardly of barefoot running hazards… dog poop. These, and countless other gash and/or disease causing hazards, were keeping me from the bliss of true barefoot running. Enter aqua socks.

I ran in aqua socks for more than 300 miles, but they were really more of a foot prophylactic. Just a thin, rubber-soled barrier between me and a trip to my local medical center. I wasn’t ready to put conventional running shoes back on. As a matter of fact, I tried once after a bad bruise to my foot pad took me out of running for almost four days and oddly enough…  it hurt my feet even worse.

I was out for my daily run at Green Lake Park in Seattle (One of my 3 favorite running destinations), when I saw a small crowd around a red tent. The good folks from OnlineShoes.com were busy peddling New Balance shoes and you could probably imagine my reaction.  Yea right… no way am I gonna stop. Look at all of these people and their “shoes”.  I can’t even run in “shoes” anymore. Morbid curiosity compelled me to take a glimpse as I ran past on first lap. On my second lap, human nature got the better of me and I stopped at the tent to see what was going on.  I mean come on… who doesn’t want to see what’s going on at a shiny red tent?

I tried on the unconventional New Balance Minimus shoes they handed me and was quite surprised. My first thoughts were caution, followed then optimism. The toe box was wide and flexible and the first thing I did was wiggle my toes, stretch them and make grabbing motions with them. You know…the monkey foot test. Check, check and check. These shoes were thin-soled enough and wide enough that my feet could play in them fairly easily. Still, I experienced a little claustrophobia when I tightened the laces, and I couldn’t feel as much of the ground beneath my feet as I could in my aqua socks (which can be a mixed blessing depending on the terrain). I was pensive when I got ready to take my first couple of steps of running in the Minimus.  The last time I’d tried to run in what someone might call a “real” shoe, my old New Balance 700 series, it only took my feet about 50 yards before they cramped up something fierce and rejected them.  I immediately took them off and finished the run barefoot despite the bruise on my foot pad. It was time for me to find out the Minimus would fare as a minimal running shoe for a finicky footer.  Stay tuned for the full review.

In the meantime, check out a few of our other online blogs and reviews of barefoot runners and see if you’re ready to try minimalist running shoes.