Continuing my theme of reflection, now comes the time for me to get something off my chest – it’s time for the inevitable rant.
At this stage I feel I have to comment on some of the posts I have seen, on this site and others, that fill me with dread. They’re the kind of posts that say ‘ran two miles this week, I’ll try three next week but my feet are really sore, my progress is so slow, maybe when I get my fivefingers/huaraches I can increase my distance’.
Believe me that I am absolutely sincere when I say that I am not being critical of anyone’s aspirations or enthusiasm, but the one thing I have learned about barefoot running from my own experience, and from reading the posts of long established barefooters, is that it takes T I M E. And this doesn’t mean a couple of weeks or a couple of months – we’re talking years.
I can understand that many runners (myself included) will find it frustrating that they can go and run 10 or 20 miles in regular shoes but then are held back to a measly 1 or 2 miles by barefoot, but that’s life. Our bodies may have been designed to go barefoot but most of us have ignored or modified that design throughout our lifetimes. There’s no getting away from the fact that shoes have become the norm in many parts of the world.
Try and add up the number of hours, days, years that you have been walking and running in shoes. Think of the countless steps taken – each one articulated by bones, muscles and tendons encased in shoes. If you take away that protection, support and preset locomotive pattern, everything changes. It’s not just about blisters, it’s about impact on bone and soft tissue, new ranges of motion putting tension on ligaments, and muscles having to adapt to new ways of carrying weight.
Your body needs time to change, to adapt, to grow – three hours of barefoot running spread over 15 weeks doesn’t even begin to make a real inroad to a body propelled for 43 years in shoes.
So take it easy – be kind to yourself and your body, and give yourself a chance.
Rant over.
It’s only because I love you…
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