Hello!
I am so glad to find this place!
At this moment I only have a dream. I started running for the first time when I was 41. I found a store called RunTex in Austin, Texas that held classes for new runners. I was so excited, so I bought a pair of sneakers and joined the classes. Most of the people were about half my age and they tried to get me to compete with them on the track, but I wouldn't. I am not competitive. I ran strictly because of how I felt when I ran. Then I signed up for my first 5k and got a knee injury the day before the race. I went anyway, and limped through it. Then we moved to rural Louisiana and my dream of running fell by the wayside because the roads were too dangerous to run (or so I thought at the time).
Now here I am 11 years later and the dream of running marathons and (now) even ultras won't let go of me. I was just beginning to think about taking up running again when a man got hit by a car less than a mile from my home, so I backed off from it but still kept wanting to run. Then I just happened to stumble on something on Runner's World website about trail running. That was the answer I was looking for.
In March of this year, quite by accident, I saw a news ticker about an ultra runner who came up missing in New Mexico's Gila Wilderness. I found out his name, and then I got sicker than I've ever been. While I laid in bed for a couple of months, the dream of running trails kept growing. That led me to read about zero drop running shoes, which led me to buy a pair of Altra Intuition (for use in gym classes and for wearing places where regular shoes are expected). Then I found out that Micah True was found dead a few days after he went missing. So I bought the book Born to Run and bought my first pair of huarache sandals, a DIY kit from www.invisibleshoes.com. I am still waiting for both pair of shoes to arrive in the mail.
As far as know, there are no running clubs near where I live...especially no barefoot running clubs, so except for online support and books, I am basically on my on. I guess I'll now find out just how far this dream and the memory of how wonderful it felt to run will take me. If you saw me in person and heard me tell you of my dream, you would probably just laugh at me. I am a wife, mom, and grandmother who is fat, shy, somewhat of a loner, and fed up with always being the one to support other people's dreams while mine falls to the wayside. Is that selfish? Maybe. I just know that if I don't start running now, I might never run, and running barefoot makes the most sense to me because when I walk barefoot, I don't have the pain that I have when I walk around in athletic shoes.
I apologize for the length of this post. Thank you in advance for any encouragement or resources you can give me. Although at this point I've pretty much figured out that I can only depend on myself, any advice or encouragement you can give is most appreciated!
Thank you again...
~jo
I am so glad to find this place!
At this moment I only have a dream. I started running for the first time when I was 41. I found a store called RunTex in Austin, Texas that held classes for new runners. I was so excited, so I bought a pair of sneakers and joined the classes. Most of the people were about half my age and they tried to get me to compete with them on the track, but I wouldn't. I am not competitive. I ran strictly because of how I felt when I ran. Then I signed up for my first 5k and got a knee injury the day before the race. I went anyway, and limped through it. Then we moved to rural Louisiana and my dream of running fell by the wayside because the roads were too dangerous to run (or so I thought at the time).
Now here I am 11 years later and the dream of running marathons and (now) even ultras won't let go of me. I was just beginning to think about taking up running again when a man got hit by a car less than a mile from my home, so I backed off from it but still kept wanting to run. Then I just happened to stumble on something on Runner's World website about trail running. That was the answer I was looking for.
In March of this year, quite by accident, I saw a news ticker about an ultra runner who came up missing in New Mexico's Gila Wilderness. I found out his name, and then I got sicker than I've ever been. While I laid in bed for a couple of months, the dream of running trails kept growing. That led me to read about zero drop running shoes, which led me to buy a pair of Altra Intuition (for use in gym classes and for wearing places where regular shoes are expected). Then I found out that Micah True was found dead a few days after he went missing. So I bought the book Born to Run and bought my first pair of huarache sandals, a DIY kit from www.invisibleshoes.com. I am still waiting for both pair of shoes to arrive in the mail.
As far as know, there are no running clubs near where I live...especially no barefoot running clubs, so except for online support and books, I am basically on my on. I guess I'll now find out just how far this dream and the memory of how wonderful it felt to run will take me. If you saw me in person and heard me tell you of my dream, you would probably just laugh at me. I am a wife, mom, and grandmother who is fat, shy, somewhat of a loner, and fed up with always being the one to support other people's dreams while mine falls to the wayside. Is that selfish? Maybe. I just know that if I don't start running now, I might never run, and running barefoot makes the most sense to me because when I walk barefoot, I don't have the pain that I have when I walk around in athletic shoes.
I apologize for the length of this post. Thank you in advance for any encouragement or resources you can give me. Although at this point I've pretty much figured out that I can only depend on myself, any advice or encouragement you can give is most appreciated!
Thank you again...
~jo
We will help you in your journey.
