Hi! I'm Jen, I'm from Colorado and I'm new to Minimalist/Barefoot running.
3 years ago I decided to try running and I was quickly hooked and pretty much perpetually injured... (Much to the delight of my family and friends who are convinced that running is bad for the knees and other such nonsense, I can't wait to see their reactions to barefoot now, hehe). I've tried at least half a dozen different kinds of running shoes, all with different problems. I've had shin splints, horribly painful arches during runs (but not after), Achillies weirdness, an official diagnosis of Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome (and subsequent orthotic prescription), and once the TTS settled down I managed to develop a nasty case of Tendonitis after running a half marathon. During my downtime I've ditched my orthotics, quit wearing most shoes - initially out of necessity; the pain started out so bad I couldn't wear shoes that touched the top and sides of my foot even if I wanted to.. Basically I could wear nothing but ballet slipper style shoes if I needed to cover my feet. While being injured, I've been researching barefoot running, and I feel like this is the way I need to go, and what better time than now.
So far, I've been a wuss about actually running barefoot on more than just my treadmill. I've spent nearly 4 months barefoot or in minimal shoes with no running but lots of walking, I went through many weeks of physical therapy for the tendonitis, and started running again 3 weeks ago. So far, there's been zero pain. Yay! I'm finding running to be a easier than it used to be. I'm up to a mile at a time outside in VFF's. One of these days I'll suck it up and try running truly barefoot outside rather than only on the treadmill.
3 years ago I decided to try running and I was quickly hooked and pretty much perpetually injured... (Much to the delight of my family and friends who are convinced that running is bad for the knees and other such nonsense, I can't wait to see their reactions to barefoot now, hehe). I've tried at least half a dozen different kinds of running shoes, all with different problems. I've had shin splints, horribly painful arches during runs (but not after), Achillies weirdness, an official diagnosis of Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome (and subsequent orthotic prescription), and once the TTS settled down I managed to develop a nasty case of Tendonitis after running a half marathon. During my downtime I've ditched my orthotics, quit wearing most shoes - initially out of necessity; the pain started out so bad I couldn't wear shoes that touched the top and sides of my foot even if I wanted to.. Basically I could wear nothing but ballet slipper style shoes if I needed to cover my feet. While being injured, I've been researching barefoot running, and I feel like this is the way I need to go, and what better time than now.
So far, I've been a wuss about actually running barefoot on more than just my treadmill. I've spent nearly 4 months barefoot or in minimal shoes with no running but lots of walking, I went through many weeks of physical therapy for the tendonitis, and started running again 3 weeks ago. So far, there's been zero pain. Yay! I'm finding running to be a easier than it used to be. I'm up to a mile at a time outside in VFF's. One of these days I'll suck it up and try running truly barefoot outside rather than only on the treadmill.
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