Barefoot running: 8 months later
You may be wondering why in the world would anyone want to run barefoot and not gonna lie I wouldn't blame you. With new innovations from major brands like Nike, you'd assume I was going backwards in technology. Well after 8 months of adapting to this lifestyle here are the benefits I've found, some of the hardships, and overall why I'm not going back.
Like many of you, I started my journey off by reading the infamous book, "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall. Last year I digested that book, got obsessed by the idea that I could be the next barefoot Ted then got to youtube to continue the brainwashing by some hipsters running in the hills. The next step was to get to the internet and get my first pair of shoes (your boy Noah wasn't that brave to go in the deep end running like a hobbit on the streets of Manchester) so I bought a pair of minimalist shoes- the Primus Lites by VivoBarefoot (I still have them today and use them as my daily casual shoe, look very snazzy and good to dip your toe in the lifestyle).
Coming from Vans and Nike trainers the first few weeks hurt like heck. I was very much regretting my journey into this barefoot lifestyle, however, with a little trip to Reddit and shortly realised it was simply because I had no patience and was doing way too much too soon. So for any budding minimalist runner don't get frightened that the benefits aren't immediately apparent. Take your time and don't attempt a cheeky 10km out of the gate. Thank me later when you aren't injured.
So post my initial aches and pains and the knowledge that gradual building up of distance ingrained in me, I began to make some progress and felt some benefits. My feet immediately felt a lot stronger albeit developing some gnarly looking callouses (but shows that I'm doing something right I guess?). I also recognised my running form was changing. With big cushioned shoes you can often find yourself heel-striking due to the shape of the shoe. This is okay when you have a big pillow there but when you go minimalist/ barefoot everything is going to be in agony landing on your heel. So naturally, my form moved to a more forefoot strike. This helped me not only run quicker but exert less energy. Getting quicker times and finding longer runs are less draining. Additionally, I found that I never really needed to do any form of warming up and cooling down other than the occasional slow jog and I didn't get injured. When researching this, evidence-backed me up saying it was the bulky shoes that were causing injuries for runners more than anything. Other things I didn't expect also came up like enjoying the feeling of the different ground surfaces, feeling more primal and one with nature, having more fun, not having to squash my feet together in a tiny shoe, feeling really lightweight when running as well as more connected and natural to the human form. All together these added up to me not needing more classic running shoes and being very happy staying in the barefoot movement despite scepticism and judgement from some fellow runners.
So progressing on from then to now; where am I? Well, I've done more research into new brands, I'm following more runners and turning to somewhat of an evangelist for the whole movement of barefoot running. I'm also buying and trying out new shoes so for those interested in what I am wearing, my daily casual shoe is the VivoBarefoot Primus Lites (super minimalist, lightweight, aesthetically pleasing and go with most outfits), my training running shoe is the Vibram Fivefingers (look a little weird, closest thing to going fully barefoot, great for strengthening my feet), I cooldown with no shoes and for race day I wear Altra Escalante Racers (a zero drop wide toebox shoe which are great for a little cushion and getting PB's whilst not sacrificing on that form and barefoot style of running). I've additionally gotten faster gaining a PB for my 5km of 18:48 as well as now increasing the distance training for my first marathon, both of which I believe would've been harder (or at the very least more detrimental to my body) had I not begun this barefoot running journey.
So what's next? Continue running, continue researching and continue sharing my experience with running and my thoughts on shoes or a lack of them!