The Barefoot Mile (x2)

I recently finished reading the book "Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen" by Christopher McDougall.

This is a very inspiring book. I recommend it to anybody who is interested in Running or being healthier or even those who just want to read a good story, because it is full of those as well. It tells the story of a race with the Tarahumara people of Northern Mexico who live in very humble conditions yet are quite possibly some of the greatest runners on earth.

My brother has read it multiple times, and 3 years ago he ran 3 marathons and a long mountainous relay BAREFOOT. (blog hasn't been updated since then, still good stuff) The relay he ran is pretty much the main reason I'm trying to become a better runner, since I'm doing the longest and (possibly) hardest legs, so I need the training.

ANYWAY, to the point of this post - Some members of my relay team have been running weekly, I ran 7 miles a few weeks ago with them and since then my knees have been acting up. Plus I think I need more than once a week to get optimal results. So starting Monday I have been running at least a mile every day (woohoo 3 days so far) and I decided to mix it up a bit by running barefoot occasionally.

Monday was my first barefoot mile - and it was great! No problems at all except for a slight discomfort near my second smallest toe. I thought it was from the shape of that toe and stretching it more while running, but it turns out I had a little thorn up in there that as soon as it came out it was fine. Great experience!

Tuesday I ran 3 miles with the team, a great run through a wooded trail behind the local amusement park - the only problem being that it is getting darker and darker every week so we might change locations. We keep it slow and easy because a lot of us are really just getting used to running!

Wednesday, last night, I ran another barefoot mile, but this time wasn't QUITE as nice as Monday's run. Why? BUGS. There were swarms of gnat-like bugs all over, but they are bigger than the normal gnat, and they flew in my eyes, mouth, nose, hair, etc and made it quite difficult to concentrate on form (which is important when barefooting) so I ended up with a quite large and painful blister on one of my toes. When I got home and looked in the mirror there were TONS of the little beasties in my hair - quite gross.

It is nice to be running more often, and I hope that by running shorter distances more often for the next couple of weeks will strengthen my knees (and my form) enough that I can increase the distance. I also think doing this more often will help me shed the final bits of poochiness that I have hanging on!

Speaking of that - I recently completed a Health Evaluation at work so I want to go into that a bit in another post. You'll hear a lot more about my health than you might want to! Woohoo! Until then!