Jon from PDX

Like running? Want to keep running well as you age? Consider running barefoot. Here's one of many possible arguments why: Ankles, not knees or hips, are the joints that are primarily responsible for age-related declines in running performance.^1 Barefoot running requires more effort from -- and...

Everything is new and exciting to me as a novice runner. I feel like I’m constantly running along a knife’s edge between the joy of accomplishing new feats and the drear of taking another week off due to injury. Sometimes, the benefits are completely unexpected, like seeing the sooty majesty of...

I never gave much thought to the social aspect of going out into the world with bare feet. But, this is a thing, at least here in Portland, Oregon: people look at me. Some of them just stare at my feet. If they were in the middle of a sentence, they stop talking. One guy today came around the...

Today I went for a three mile walk, unshod, which included 1.3 miles of gravel path. I’ve walked that route dozens of times in shoes but it wasn’t nearly as smooth as I remember it. This barefoot walk was possibly the most intense experience of my life, surpassing the exhilaration of topping a...

Last time I posted, I was going off to see my mother for the first time since I started this barefoot project, and I was wondering how she would react to that. Turns out, she was very interested. She’s always had knee pain as well, and my testimony that I was finally able to jog without any knee...

I’ve decided to start a blog because I have recieved so much from the barefoot community and want to return the love. I’ll be working on documenting my experience so that others can learn from my joys and mistakes — probably mostly mistakes. For now, though, I thought I’d ask a question of the...