As you all know by know (thanks to my incessant whining) I'm on the recovery road from an injury owie. It was a truly barefoot related thing involving asphalt, road construction, and scattered (boulder-sized) gravel. This led to chronic pain over a couple months and lots of self-diagnosing with Dr. Google, since I had horrible care from my primary (don't)care doc. Found out I had metatarsalgia, which is latin for "your foot hurts for no reason I can find," and was given a plan for recovery. Oh, and Morton's Toe (you, know, just for good measure) which made bfr sort of questionable due to 2nd metatarsal stress risk, blahblah...blah.
TL;DR: hurt foot, told BFR was bad idea for me.
For the past four weeks I've been a good boy, resting, using the metatarsal pad in my shoe (didn't use the traditional trainers or orthotics, though, blech), alternating days with the pad and without. Last week I ran 2 miles in minshoes a few days apart (mile mid-week, mile Sunday) and planned to match that this week. I have become very comfortable in my minshoes....
Here comes the fear. I am was scared to run barefoot. I had gotten my head so wrecked that I honestly believed bfr was out for me. I was beginning to accept it as the way things would be. I missed barefoot against ground, I missed running mostly ache and pain free (not counting the owie), and I missed being true to myself as a runner and a person (for reals.). But...if I ran barefoot, I was just putting my foot at risk and was going to end up hurt again. Then, one Chaser Williams had to go and run 50 miles in the mud and rain barefoot and then have the nerve to blog and share it here with the BRS. B@st@rd. Well, I got inspired, I got encouraged, and...
I went for a barefoot run this morning! It was 43 degrees, windy and raining (hey; it's the Pacific Northwest. If we didn't run in these conditions we wouldn't run at all). My feet were cold and my toes got a little numb; but I ran. And smiled the whole way. It was just a half mile. I do have to ease my way back, this much I know for sure. My foot doesn't hurt a half-hour later and it all seems good to go.
Sorry for the novella, but I felt I had to share with the communioty. You guys (and/or gals) have been so supportive and encouraging and I can't thank you enough.
Oh, and Pilot, you're right. Barefoot is best for sure.
TL;DR: hurt foot, told BFR was bad idea for me.
For the past four weeks I've been a good boy, resting, using the metatarsal pad in my shoe (didn't use the traditional trainers or orthotics, though, blech), alternating days with the pad and without. Last week I ran 2 miles in minshoes a few days apart (mile mid-week, mile Sunday) and planned to match that this week. I have become very comfortable in my minshoes....
Here comes the fear. I am was scared to run barefoot. I had gotten my head so wrecked that I honestly believed bfr was out for me. I was beginning to accept it as the way things would be. I missed barefoot against ground, I missed running mostly ache and pain free (not counting the owie), and I missed being true to myself as a runner and a person (for reals.). But...if I ran barefoot, I was just putting my foot at risk and was going to end up hurt again. Then, one Chaser Williams had to go and run 50 miles in the mud and rain barefoot and then have the nerve to blog and share it here with the BRS. B@st@rd. Well, I got inspired, I got encouraged, and...
I went for a barefoot run this morning! It was 43 degrees, windy and raining (hey; it's the Pacific Northwest. If we didn't run in these conditions we wouldn't run at all). My feet were cold and my toes got a little numb; but I ran. And smiled the whole way. It was just a half mile. I do have to ease my way back, this much I know for sure. My foot doesn't hurt a half-hour later and it all seems good to go.
Sorry for the novella, but I felt I had to share with the communioty. You guys (and/or gals) have been so supportive and encouraging and I can't thank you enough.
Oh, and Pilot, you're right. Barefoot is best for sure.
