A 10k road race on Sunday and a 5k road race on Monday, both run in Inov8 Terrocs.
I find it interesting that there has been quite a lot of coverage about Born to Run in the national press and there is also quite a bit of talk about barefoot running amongst runners I know. However, at these races, I think I was the only person who ran them in anything other than road running shoes. I had planned to run the 5k in my aqua shoes, but the race was a point-to-point which necessitated a 3 mile warm-up to the start after parking at the finish. On reflection I think I could have used the aquas without any problems; better to err on the side of caution I suppose. The feet did get a good barefoot workout, both before and after the 5k because I only put my shoes on immediately before running and took them off straight after. There was plenty of gravelly and stoney areas to walk around and my previously well-protected feet coped much better with that than they would have just a few weeks ago. Again though, despite the interest barefooting, I saw nobody else wandering around unshod.
Why is that runners will pay lots of money for therapists and fancy footwear in an attempt to cure their running related problem, and yet, when a cheap and natural answer is suggested few want to explore it? The american sports cable TV network ESPN, is currently running a simple poll for it’s website users, it simply asks: A recent theory in the running world proposes that running without shoes is better for you. Would you consider running barefoot? Out of the 6618 answers given, 66% said ‘no’. How odd.
Can’t get out for a run today, but hopefully a mile or two barefoot tomorrow as part of a longer run.
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