The Running Barefoot

Anyone from DC going (or want to go) to the 50K HOPI spirit run in Arizona on September 11th?  It is a 36 hour drive and I am looking for someone(s) to help drive/ share expenses – if interested reply to dcyoga@yahoo.com

Hey just seeing if anyone could help me out with some questions…. Today was my first day actually going on a run barefoot. I’ve played countless number of disc games barefoot and doing stuff barefoot running round thought my feet were all good…

I don’t know why I started just running on the street, but I said screw it. Why not and after I ran like six blocks, which I probably was running for like 5 min. I couldn’t run cause I was in pain noticing my toes were bleeding and torn up and big blood blister on the ball of my foot…

I’m in pain but definitely not discouraged to do it. I love being bare foot and I actually enjoyed the run a lot besides the pain and cut up toes… So just was wondernig anyone have ideas on if maybe I was runing wrong first or should start on grass? just any suggestions would help thanks alot.

Barefoot running has been really great for me. I’m young, only 20 years old, and had thought after some painful running experiences that at 6′ 4” I would just never be a runner. Running barefoot has been a great workout to add to my normal regime.

My question has to do with tightness in my lower right leg. I would call it calf pain, but its definitely not the calf pain I experienced when first running. A while ago when I first became interested in this I would run (in Vibrams.. ended up with a bad injury before switching to barefoot running) and experience that tremendous burning in my calves and could hardly WALK for a few days! Now, after starting over and slowly building up as a barefooter, what i experience in my lower leg is not really what I would call a pain, and my calves are never sore the next day, they are just a little tired. In my right leg though, around the calf and Achilles and sometimes up the hamstring, I just sort of experience a tightness, or uneasiness that I can’t quite seem to fix. It can get pretty uncomfortable and tire me out, and it is really the only thing preventing me from really having a great enjoyment running.

My left leg is generally just fine. I’m sure its a technical issue of mine, but I just can’t seem to fix it, and I can’t understand why I don’t have this problem in my left leg! Anybody have any idea what could cause this? Or should I just get back to work and do more experiments!

Thanks,

Andrew

Okay, So my left foot is angled outwards about 10 degree (not too bad, I’ve seen worse) but when it comes to running, the problem becomes that on every landing, the ankle rolls inwards (you can see it when I stand barefoot).  Unfortunately this causes a problem when I run and has a little bit of pain. I try to get around it with only thinking about loose ankles, but its not a full workaround.

My question is, will this go away as I strengthen my foot and is there anything that I can  on the side to help it out?  I haven’t looked at the gym here at my college yet (just got here), but I know there are weights and stuff to help build muscle.  Does working the calf help?  (I can tell that the calf muscle <posterior> is much weaker on my left foot while the outside muscles <peroneus> is much stronger on the left leg)

Thanks SynAck

I am new to barefoot running.  I love running but a year ago I started experiencing Achilles pain of both feet.  After relaxing for a couple weeks the pain went away.  Unfortunately, the pain returned in just my right and it is being going on and off.  I want to try barefoot running but since I have flat feet I am scared that it is not good for me.  Also I just purchased a pair of five fingers but I haven’t used them yet because I have a huge blister on my right arch.  I am tired of the aches and pains and doctors.  I want to be able to run without injuring myself and enjoying the peace, quite and fresh air while running.  Stop running is not an option.  Any suggestions????

Lili

I need to know how the lifting of the feet and knee is done. are there any videos to watch?

I completed the America’s Finest City Half Marathon (AFC) this past weekend in San Diego and FINALLY conquered the Southern California Half Marathon Triple Crown (Carlsbad, La Jolla, and AFC all in the same year). It had been a goal of mine for the past four years but I kept getting hurt. I started my transition to Running Barefoot last October and haven’t been hurt since. During the race, I also reached my 500th mile barefoot. At the end of the race my feet felt fantastic. Not a cut, scrape, or blister anywhere, only a little street grime. By the way, AFC is a beautiful run, barefoot friendly, and I definitely recommend it. Miles 2 thru 5 are all downhill so your downhill form will definitely get challenged.

A very cool side effect (to me) is how fast the races seem to go by now because I spend so much time talking to other runners along the way, most of who have heard of Running Barefoot, or have read Born to Run, and some who are even wanting to transition themselves. 99% of the response is very positive, but you always got that one guy. This race I had a guy come up to me and told me to meet him after the race so he could give me his card. As he pulled ahead of me, his wife pointed to the logo on his back and laughingly said, “He’s a sports medicine doctor!”. My reply was, “Sorry dude. I used to see you guys on a regular basis, but since I ditched the shoes, I don’t need you guys any more.”

For those of you who are questioning whether or not you can do this, trust me: you can! I’m 6′1″ 215lbs and have a history of injuries including plantar fasciitis (PF) for 3 years (which was 100% cured within 30 days of my transition to Running Barefoot) and ankle surgery two and a half years ago. I was able to complete my first barefoot half marathon about 3 months after my transition started. Use this site, start slow, and listen to your feet.

Cheers!

Barefoot Damon

Barefoot Damon - 2010 AFC mile 10

Barefoot Damon - 2010 AFC final stretch

Barefoot Damon - 2010 AFC finish line

Barefoot Damon - 2010 AFC post race

Harlem to Brookly Barefoot

On August 11, John Durant and Christopher McDougall led some 75 barefoot (and minimalist) runners through the streets of New York City, from Harlem to Brooklyn.

Barefoot Run from Kris wood on Vimeo.

Next big New York City Barefoot Run!

Another, even bigger, barefoot/minimalist/shod fun run is being planned on 2010 October 10 Sunday on beautiful Governor’s Island. The course will be a 2.2. mile loop, so folks will be able to run any distance they want (in multiples of 2.2 miles). Registration will be the day before in Central Park.

Note from Dr. Lieberman to Barefoot Ken Bob

“Ken, … We’ll plan a very special experiment for you in the lab.” – Dr. Daniel Lieberman

Video

Barefoot Ken Bob, slow-motion running

Note the subtle fore-foot landing. I’m not running “up” on the balls of my feet. My knees are bent, which changes the angle of my foot just enough for a fore-foot landing. Note also, that my foot travels in front of my body, then begins to move backwards – as my knee bends more, just before landing – this reduces impact, and the backwards motions gets the foot traveling the same speed as the surface, before landing.

At the tail end of my stride, though my heel comes up before my fore-foot, I’m not trying to push my fore-foot into the ground. It actually feels more like I’m lifting my foot, somewhat parallel to the surface. This purposeful lift reduces theall-too-typical stress on the foot that causes stress fractures in folks who insist on running up on the balls of their feet. Relax those calves, let your heel touch the ground. If you feel your heel pounding, bend your knees. If your heels aren’t touching the ground, relax your calves.

Also keep in mind, this is SLOW-MOTION video. Do not try to imitate my running at the speed you see in this video. Cadence should be faster than 180 steps per minute.

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Barefoot Ken Bob

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For 4 years I worked in the Quality Assurance department for a major manufacturer that supplied switch assemblies and readout displays for commercial aircraft control panels. The title of this article might make you believe this story  is about some magically wonderful machine that never fails. You might feel justified in asking, “What’s wrong with that?”

But THAT was the problem!

This was no ordinary piece of equipment. This was TEST equipment! It’ s purpose is to fail – or more precisely to let us know when there is a problem, much like the purpose of a circuit breaker to fail, to prevent something worse from happening, like overheating wires in the walls of our house setting our home on fire.

In the case of this tester, possibly to prevent a commercial airplane from crashing.  Specifically the purpose of this particular machine was to let us know when a bad switch assembly was being tested – to “fail” that switch assembly. If a malfunctioning switch assembly was inserted in the machine, the machine should light up red to indicate a failed switch assembly.

However, the manufacturer’s test procedure read something like, “if the machine passes a known good switch assembly, the machine is working.” Note: the manufacturer who wrote that was the same guy who had designed, and built the tester, and who also worked at the bench next to mine.

I happened to be filling in for the Customer Returned Materials (CRM) processor on the day that one particular switch assembly was returned to us from the aircraft manufacturer.

Since, all of these switches must meet stringent military standards for quality assurance, it was easy to trace the failure back to the piece of test equipment about which this article was written, which is the reason I called this article, “The Test Equipment that Failed to Fail”.

This machine worked so well (according to the manufacturer) that it not only passed good switch assemblies, it passed most bad switch assemblies too, as long as they weren’t more than 75% bad.

In other words, the test equipment failed to fail!

If you ever flew on commercial airlines  in the 1980s, you’ll be happy to know that each of these switch assemblies had quadruple redundancy built in – there were 4 individual switches working together in each switch assembly – in case one of the 4 switches failed, the other 3 could take the load.

Naturally, as these stories often go, that which is designed to protect us, is also the reason that bad components would get past the inspection process.

I took the switch assembly that was returned as bad, and retraced it’s route. I plugged it into the switch tester that had passed it. Green lights. I once again checked each of the 4 individual switches with an ohm meter.  The first failed to do anything, the other 3 worked fine. When I put 4 individual switches into the tester and actuated each one separately,  all 4 lights lit up green – not just the green light for the particular switch I was activating, but also for each of the other switches, whether I activated them or not.

I soon figured out that when the pins of a switch were inserted, the contacts on the tester would spread out and short against the contacts for the adjacent switch. Basically, if at least one of the four switches worked, that would satisfy the test equipment!

The switch tester, due to a design flaw, failed to fail assemblies that weren’t at least 75% bad. If any one of the four individual switches worked, the test equipment lit up green, indicating, falsely, that the switch was 100% good!

The more important failure, for this story, is that the switch tester passed it’s own test, due to a faulty assumption on the part of the manufacturer – the guy that worked at the bench next to mine.

If the switch tester didn’t complain when the switches worked, it was assumed everything was fine!

So, what does any of this have to do with Running Barefoot?

Practically everything!

Our bare soles are saturated with sensitive nerve endings – any of you who have siblings that you tortured by tickling their bare soles, or who tortured you by tickling your bare soles. know what I’m talking about!

These nerve endings are part of our own personal quality assurance test equipment. Their very important task is to let us know immediately, emphatically,and with each and every step, among other more subtle issues – which we’ll discuss later, how hard our feet are pounding into the ground while we are running.

Shoe manufacturers test the design of their shoes before they start production. The problem is, their test is similar to that of the test equipment above, “if we don’t perceive significant impact in our soles while running, the shoes are fine”.

Sadly, shoe manufacturers actually take this a step further. Their goal is actually to eliminate the feedback from our soles, even when we are pounding too hard – when we are manufacturing bad steps!

Much like my co-worker thought he was doing our employer a favor, by insuring that nearly every switch was shipped, whether they were 100% good or not, running shoe manufacturers are mistakenly trying to eliminate the sensation of impact, no matter how badly we are running.

“That’s wonderful!” you might be thinking, “I don’t want to feel impact while I’m running.”

But, again, the problem is that we really should be feeling impact, among other things! That’s why we have so many nerve endings, of all places, in the soles of our feet. This information, is vitally important if we want to improve our running technique, to learn to eliminate pounding (not just the sensation of pounding), sheer forces, and excess strain on the rest of our body. These messages ultimately can teach us to run more gently, more gracefully, hopefully, reducing the risk of serious injury!

Just like the test equipment I wrote about above should be letting us know when assemblies are bad, so that we don’t ship them to our customers, that information can also be fed back to the assembly line to improve the quality of future products.

Without this information, who knows how sloppy our running technique might become, and how many bad steps we have shipped to your customers?

Our customers know!

At least eventually, when their airplane is crashing … or our knees are damaged and in chronic pain, as a result of years of senseless pounding – literally senseless, because, by wearing shoes that protect us from these sensations, we have blocked our first line of defense against long-term damage. We are, literally, running without some of our senses – with any footwear we are running to some degree, “senselessly!”

So let’s take off our shoes, even those so-called “barefoot” shoes and allow our quality control inspectors – the nerves in our bare soles – to send the necessary feedback to our brains so we can insure that we are, or begin, running gently and gracefully!