Hello All!
Just wanted to take the time to introduce myself: I'm Stephanie and currently in Watertown, NY. This is actually my second try, but first real attempt, at barefooting/minimalism running. I bought all the books (Born to run, Step by Step, and Barefoot running book) when the "fad" really kicked off in 2010/11ish. I am kicking myself in the butt because I never bothered to read them. I just jumped right on in to my first pair of Five Fingers and took off. Then the military banned those, so I bought some Vivobarefoot's and kept going. I actually never got injured but knew several "minimalist" runners who did (looking back, none of us had good running form) plus military started hating hard on minimalism which scared me right back to my traditional shoes.
Fast forward to two months ago: I finally read those amazing books. I was bitten hard by the barefoot bug and the desire to 1) learn to enjoy running and 2) become a better runner in the process. I think I've found a good plan to ease into it and my soles are starting to toughen up. I only wish that there were more barefooters near me to help analyze my form. Which is why I'm so happy that I found this community because I have poked around in a few threads and have already learned so much from others. I'm a very technical person and want to make sure that I'm doing evrything right. There is a fellow barefooter, very technical like me, who reached out about his form and all you wonderful people responded in the most helpful fashion. Someone wrote "learn to love to run" and went into detail that all the technical aspects will fall in line.
Since reading that line, that's what I've been trying to do- learning to love running. Running is something that was forced onto me because of work. But why not make running work for me? I've come to terms that I will never be able to 100% commit to barefoot running because of military regulation. My biggest struggle right now is taking a step back and learning how to run barefoot while going to physical training and running shod three times a week. I know I've just begun my barefoot journey but only time will tell if/when I truly find my zen when running, shoes or no shoes. I prefer the latter.
Happy Wednesday!
Just wanted to take the time to introduce myself: I'm Stephanie and currently in Watertown, NY. This is actually my second try, but first real attempt, at barefooting/minimalism running. I bought all the books (Born to run, Step by Step, and Barefoot running book) when the "fad" really kicked off in 2010/11ish. I am kicking myself in the butt because I never bothered to read them. I just jumped right on in to my first pair of Five Fingers and took off. Then the military banned those, so I bought some Vivobarefoot's and kept going. I actually never got injured but knew several "minimalist" runners who did (looking back, none of us had good running form) plus military started hating hard on minimalism which scared me right back to my traditional shoes.
Fast forward to two months ago: I finally read those amazing books. I was bitten hard by the barefoot bug and the desire to 1) learn to enjoy running and 2) become a better runner in the process. I think I've found a good plan to ease into it and my soles are starting to toughen up. I only wish that there were more barefooters near me to help analyze my form. Which is why I'm so happy that I found this community because I have poked around in a few threads and have already learned so much from others. I'm a very technical person and want to make sure that I'm doing evrything right. There is a fellow barefooter, very technical like me, who reached out about his form and all you wonderful people responded in the most helpful fashion. Someone wrote "learn to love to run" and went into detail that all the technical aspects will fall in line.
Since reading that line, that's what I've been trying to do- learning to love running. Running is something that was forced onto me because of work. But why not make running work for me? I've come to terms that I will never be able to 100% commit to barefoot running because of military regulation. My biggest struggle right now is taking a step back and learning how to run barefoot while going to physical training and running shod three times a week. I know I've just begun my barefoot journey but only time will tell if/when I truly find my zen when running, shoes or no shoes. I prefer the latter.
Happy Wednesday!