Hello from Rhode Island, USA

BFGD

Barefooters
Nov 6, 2017
79
104
33
54
Barrington, RI
Basically stumbled into barefoot running a couple of years ago. My wife joined a bodybuilding competition in 2015 and frankly, until that point, I had never exercised in my life. I had tried a few times to exercise regularly, but it never took. When my wife started a 12-week weightlifting regimen to prep for the competition, I joined in with weightlifting and would try to get a bit of cardio in on the treadmill.

At the time, we were also having trouble with a difficult neighbor. To relieve some of my anger and stress, I forced myself to run on the treadmill. One thing I had noticed, however, when walking the dog (which I do barefoot anyway), was that when I sprinted with him, I would always run on the ball of my foot. So I tried it on the treadmill and in spite of the knotted calves that resulted, I was HOOKED. For the first time in my life, running felt natural and my feet and body felt good about it.

Regarding the barefoot lifestyle, when I was in 3rd grade my family lived in Hawaii for a year. Spent most of the year barefoot like all the other kids, and I guess the barefoot lifestyle just stuck with me. Of course, I could still go on and on and on about struggles with footwear (wore sneakers that were very snug to mimic barefoot control) and of course the college kids working part-time at a sneaker store having no problem diagnosing pronation on the spot and "prescribing" just the right expensive running shoe for my "problem".

Now my biggest problem is dealing with the inevitable question "Why do you run barefoot?" I vacillate between wanting to educate and wanting to berate the questioner. Amazing how SHOCKED some people are by barefoot running. So far, my basic response has been that I've compared both styles of running: the style I was born with and learned to walk/run with VS. the running shoe style, and ultimately I discovered that I prefer running WITHOUT pillows and blankets on my feet. ;)
 
Good story. Gotta love difficult neighbors and doggies to get you motivated, right? Welcome to the BRS!
 
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