Barefoot Anniversary

Two years ago today, I did my first barefoot run. It was only 0.6K, but it was the nudge that got me going. It was early in the morning, with the streets still wet from an overnight rain, and my suburban neighbourhood was absolutely quiet. I had been running shod until then. That morning, though, I felt stale. I was scheduled to run, but I just didn’t feel like it. I’d been reading about barefoot running for a while, so decided that I’d give it a try. It felt better – much better – than I expected. So I just kept on going.

Two years later, I’m a better runner by far for having gone barefoot. I run barefoot from about mid-March to mid-November. (This is Canada, after all.) I run barefoot on my treadmill in the dark winter months, and do occasional cold-weather runs in Invisble Shoe huaraches and Injinji socks, as long as the sidewalks are clear of snow and ice. I’ve run a 10K race and a half marathon barefoot, and have two 10Ks and another half coming up soon. I’m run-commuting to and from work barefoot four days a week, and doing one or two long runs as well. It’s all pretty unstructured, but it’s working really well.

Couldn’t be happier, couldn’t be fitter, couldn’t be more at peace. That’s pretty good for an old guy. 🙂

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