Author Archives: barefootzumbarunner

Hi there, just want to thank Graham for inviting me over here. I look forward to hearing your stories and sharing experiences with you as well as helping out with the book.

Name: Katie
Age: 30
Years running: 4yrs
Typical weekly mileage: 20mpw
Usual running terrain: road, bike path and treadmill
Experience going barefoot (whilst not running): I’m barefoot all spring, summer and fall when around my house, yard and neighborhood. Usually barefoot inside during the winter, prefer that over socks. Running barefoot just seemed like a natural progression of my preference to be barefoot and to run naturally.
Any pre-existing injuries, niggles. none
Usual running footwear. before barefoot, I ran in a neutral cushioned running shoe
Usual foot-strike style: midfoot mostly
Reasons for running barefoot. see above experience going barefoot. Desire to run more naturally, better form, more efficiently, prevent injury.

Thanks again for the opportunity!

Started my transition, whilst training for a half marathon, so was still running the bulk of my miles in Saucony Hurricanes (a stability shoe that I did NOT need).

Week 1: total barefoot miles, 1/4mi on the treadmill in socks (2 runs)
First run 1/8th of a mile on the treadmill :I was over the moon thrilled at how wonderful it felt on my feet to run without shoes. Fantastic little run
Second run: 1/8th of a mile

Week 2: 1/2mi socks on treadmill, at the gym so not braving breaking rules by not wearing anything on feet. Still getting shoeless feel. Form still feeling a little unnatural, forced fore/midfoot. Stiff sore calves

Week 3: No barefoot miles, race week.

Purchased Adizero PR racing flats, started wearing them immediately. Drastically reduced weekly mileage to around 10mpw.

Week 4: 1.5mi sock run on treadmill, still too cold to venture outside barefoot. Longest barefoot run thus far. Rest of the runs were in Adizero, still feeling a little forced onto the forefoot.

Week 5: First outdoor run, totally barefoot. It was freezing but I managed to squeak out 3/4mi. The bike path I run on usually is very rough, so I’ll admit I thought…oh boy, what am I getting myself into with this?

Week6: 4.5mi barefoot (nice enough out side…broken up into 2 runs), 4.5mi in adizero racing flats

Week7: Really increased weekly barefoot mileage. 11mi barefoot total for the week, 12mi in adizero. Had a fantastic 3.25mi run early that week pushing jogging stroller. Another run two days later on same terrain and it was horrible. Hurt! Had a huge epiphany that day and learned to really take it slow while transitioning feet and upping mileage on that particular surface.

Week8 (week ending March 27): weekly mileage 19, 12mi barefoot, 7mi adizero

Monday 2mi sock run on the treadmill
Tuesday 4mi barefoot run pushing jogging stroller
Thursday: 4mi adizero run
Saturday: ..9mi long run, 6mi barefoot (had to throw socks on for 1.5mi of it…path was really rough there), 3mi in adizero

Sunday: 4mi sock run on treadmill, it’s not barefoot but I’ll take what I can get at the gym. Ran at 6.5mph. Feet are a little sore, thinking it’s from the increased speed. It’s hard to swallow that since I’d worked on building my speed up over the past few years and that used to be considered a slow run, when in shoes. Baby steps….
Thursday: 9.5mi barefoot long run, mix of terrain. Some sidewalk, road, smooth pavement, rough pavement, grass (when the path was too rough).
Feet were feeling good until about mile 8 or so and were sore for 3-4hrs after the run. Now 9hrs post run, feet are feeling good.

Monday: 3mi in socks on the treadmill at gym, working on increasing speed. Under 24min to finish the 3mi

Wednesday: 10.25mi barefoot outside. Feet are pretty sore after this. The route consisted of mostly really rough pavement, stepped off to the grass from time to time to give my feet some relief. Took it really slow, 1h45min to finish, especially on the really rough parts and sped up on the smoother surfaces.

and hoping to get in some more miles this week. My weeks have just been insanely busy and getting my runs in has been a challenge. I managed 2 miles on the treadmill yesterday along with 2hrs of barefoot belly dance. The 2mi felt effortless, great run!

I changed my route up a bit to include smoother surfaces than last weeks primarily chipseal/rough asphalt. My feet feel MUCH better after today’s run than last week’s. Made a difference to incorporate more sidewalks on my route. Very enjoyable run indeed, feet started to get sore around mile 8 (when the route turned to all chipseal). Alternated between bike path and grass. Get a sore spot up between my left big toe and middle toe…it’s callusing up there so I’ll have to check my form to see where I’m getting it wrong there. Overall, feet feel good. Body fells excellent, tired from 3hours of workouts today (also co taught Zumba tonight for an hour), feet feel decent. So far so good, anxious for the rough paths to feel a little better.

Pushing a new jogger now, it’s a single and doesn’t have a swivel wheel. Makes for an interesting run.

Went out against the wind (on the way out), 22mph and gusts at 30mph…rough way out, smooth sailing back in. Overall good run, feet felt excellent during and afterward.

good run, felt strong going out (again against the wind 24mph, 30mph gusts…it’s relentless this week)

Feet started to get tender around mile 5 or so, the chipseal bike path makes for some raw/tender soles. Overall good run, feet are getting stronger…just waiting anxiously for plantar skin to toughen a bit more to withstand the chip seal/rough pavement/pebbles etc.

Monday 2mi sock run on treadmill.  Easy, quick run

Wednesday: 11.5mi long run, barefoot. Feet were great until about mile 9 or so..then the rawness and overstimulation kicked in and I felt every little pebble. Good run overall, feet recovered very quickly

Saturday: Wow, PR feel good barefoot run! No clue my exact distance somewhere around 6.5-7mi of pure bliss..Started off with dh and kids, running through puddles. Running right after the rain always charges me right up, though have never experienced running through warm muddy puddles barefoot! Awesome!
Dh and kids went home and I went out for another few miles, road was all mine..nothing but smooth buttery silky white line for miles ( I could have gone on forever!), on the way back, the smell of apple blossoms filled the air, sun shining on my face, butterflies flitting around me and a cardinal keeping me company. Absolutely beautiful fantastic run. I kicked it down hard for a few 1/4mi spurts on the road…it was so smooth and felt so awesome to get some speed into my runs for once.
Just thought I’d share, and still wondering who slipped the feel good into my breakfast…because, damn! can I have more of that on my next run??

Cross training: 2hrs belly dance, 1.5hrs yard work, 3hrs zumba

Sunday: Starting the week off with a 5mi evening barefoot run. New route, well old route, but newly barefooted route. Good one! Definitely run it again. Feet felt great during and after the run. Find I run on the painted road lines whenever possible, love the way that feels!

Monday: 2.5mi socks on treadmill before belly dance. Fast run 7.0-7.6mph increasing speed every mile or so.

Wednesday: 12.5mi long run, windy (25mph gusts) on the way out and up a long hill which felt pretty good on the way up. Feet started to get raw feeling around mile 9 or so. Overall good run, though getting antsy to have feet feel good for an entire long run. Gravel, pea rock, sticks etc really push my buttons toward the end of a long run lately. Arches are a bit sore, think it’s from the 1mi hill against gusting wind that did the trick. I’m used to mini hills, this sucker was never ending! Running on warm squishy tar was fun today, felt it useful when sticky tar pebbles stuck to my feet I’d run the tar line and unstick the pebbles from my feet.