Gravel, the unappreciated barefoot running surface

[JosephTree]

I ran the towpaths by the

I ran the towpaths by the Delaware near Princeton for my first 4 months of BFR, before getting a pair of Vibram Bikailas for my upcoming trail race. By the time I was finished getting used to the Vibrams and done with the race, my feet were deeply reverted to wimpy softness and took almost 2 weeks to get right with the towpaths' gravel/crushed stone/packed dirt surfaces. I've recently started back on the towpaths just to experience the joy of gravel. It's the best, I agree, to fine tune form. It's also just fine for keeping my mind right on the moment of running.

For anyone in south Jersey, I highly recommend the Delaware and Raritan Canal towpaths and on the PA side of the Delaware, I've found the Delaware River Towpath Park above Yardley to be lovely - it's the fine crushed redstone kind which is nicer than the crushed dolomitic limestone that's common across the river in NJ.

 

[chuckcwall]

I am a newbie and still

I am a newbie and still "challenged" by gravel. I'm pretty comfortable going barefoot on pavement. Where I live (western MA), there are both asphalt and dirt roads, and the dirt roads are mostly hard-packed dirt with scattered gravel on top. To date, I've been switching to VFF's when I encounter this surface and switching back to barefoot when I regain the asphalt.



Are there some techniques for learning to run barefoot on this kind of surface? Just take off the shoes and go for it?



I feel like I could avoid some of the individual pieces of gravel, but then my head would be looking down the whole time and I wouldn't be able to enjoy the scenery...

 

[JosephTree]

I ran my newly discovered

I ran my newly discovered towpath along the Delaware (north of New Hope) and found it good again. It's just about the perfect gravel - fine and consistant, mostly. I came to a point where it reverted to crushed stone scattered on a hard substrate and came crashing to a halt. No way was I going to subject my feet to that! It was an interesting run, too, in that it was a day of flooding and I had to run through 2 areas where the trail was under water and I went up to my knees crossing them. The river was rocking along, too.

@Chuck - Slow and steady is how you do it. Every one of us here is somewhere on the path to gravel-competence. Last year at this time I had been running strictly BF for 4 months, around 20 m/w. I remember that I was scared of acorns and thought that nobody could step on them without hating it. Now they just go crunch. I'm still not up to "crunching" Black Walnuts.

Good luck!.......btw, I had a wonderful run near Lenox on my summer holiday there. What great country! With some practice you might be able to run some of the AT!

 

[Barefooting Bob]

I am running a Half Marathon

I am running a Half Marathon this weekend which is almost entirely gravel roads, last year I ran the Full Marathon of this race and finished 18 miles of the 26.2 miles barefoot. I really like the challenge of the gravel roads, plus who can pass up the free pedicure and foot massage. ;-)

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Like JT said, it's a

Like JT said, it's a challenge to all of us, depending on what "kind"of gravel we're dealing with.

Just bend those knees and step lightly!