Running... barefoot

So, most of you know, if you've been here in the past year, that I'm a bit of a running addict.  I have used running as therapy for so long now that I literally cannot live without it.  I'm not overstating it.  Case in point... I just ran the Music City 1/2 Marathon a couple of weeks ago (my time was underwhelming and I was very disappointed with the run overall, but that's a whole other topic.)  Anyway, I trained for this half with a stress fracture in my right hip and I can honestly say I've NEVER experienced the kind of pain I was in while running for the last three weeks of training.  Child birth was a walk in the park compared to running on a fractured hip bone.  Aye-aye-aye.

So, I was told that I need to rest the hip for 6 to TWELVE (that's right, I said, 12!!!) weeks.  Gulp!  I can't run?  At ALL?????  You say what?  So, here I sat for the past 2 weeks, getting more and more depressed.  When your body is used to a certain level of adrenaline and exercise induced endorphins, it's very difficult to go cold turkey.  SO... I have filled my sad time with a book, Born to Run (which I highly recommend to ANYONE who has even the tiniest interest in running... it's not a book about how to run, but rather a book about lots of different people who run, these "running people" come from every single country and culture, but they are very interesting characters.)  In reading the book, I have become CONVINCED that my injuries are primarily from wearing running shoes.

There's tons of science and explanation behind it, you'll just have to read the book if you want to know all the data, etc.  Or Google "train to run barefoot" and you'll get an overload of information.  But basically, what I've realized is that God created our feet to be the perfect running platform.  He put the arch in the middle of our foot.... ever wonder why?  Because the arch is the strongest structure and can bare the most load in architecture.  That's right!  The more weight you put on an arch, the stronger it gets because it presses in on itself.  But what happens when you put a support beam under an arch?  You destroy it's strength because you put the weight on the support beam... eventually the arch will collapse.  Helllllooooooo!?!?!  Isn't that exactly what we've done to our feet?  God's design, of course, is perfect and ingenious.  So, I'm going back to the basics.

Before you chastise me about glass and sharp objects, I bought some VERY flimsy, flat, minimalist running sneakers.  I am wearing them all but 1/2 mile on very short runs right now.  I did 2.5 yesterday, 2 in the flimsy shoes, .5 totally barefoot.  I'm building up my thick soles, I'm trying to do this the right way (for once.)

So, if you're not a runner, this blog post has probably been the most boring ever... but if you want a fascinating read about people who can run up to 300 (yes, I said three HUNDRED) miles at a time... pick up Born to Run... it's great and very interesting!