My account was approved earlier today so I suppose that I should stop lurking and say "hello".
I went for my first BF run today after a couple of walks last week (one down Park Avenue during the Summer Streets event!) and a walk/run at the beach this past weekend (a short part was asphalt, though). Not a long run; I'm trying to avoid BRES and TMTS
http://runkeeper.com/user/346874908/activity/228915720
I'm still getting over some social anxiety about being out there barefoot, which is uncharacteristic for me. Reading through your experiences on other threads helped, so I thought I'd share my own from today: almost completely uneventful. I accidentally surprised a couple people by coming past silently, a few people watched as I passed but otherwise I did not catch scornful glances or hear snide (or positive) remarks.
I've not historically been much of a runner. I ran track in high school but repeatedly injured my IT band and gave it up for swimming. A few years ago, I got serious(-ish) about cycling, eventually progressing to Cat 3 amateur racing on road and track. I really love riding and commute about 20km daily. Running has always seemed like a an elusive activity for me. It's never captured my enjoyment like riding has, but the simplicity of running has continued to be alluring. Barefoot is my attempt to address form issues which have prevented me from enjoying running is the past.
I've read several of the popular BF running books and will be looking through the forums for other good info on technique. Today's run resulted in a couple hotspots and a nice blood blister on my big toe, but otherwise things feel fine (arches, ankles, calves, knees are alright). I'm taking tomorrow off and will go again on Friday, hopefully after some analysis about my form that can be tuned to avoid a repeat of today's blister. (Thinking that my cadence was too low -see attached screenshot- and that I was pushing off too much with my left foot).
Anyway, it's nice to see this community; it will be a helpful reminder when having all the skeptical conversations I'll likely be having.
Cheers!
-Robert
I went for my first BF run today after a couple of walks last week (one down Park Avenue during the Summer Streets event!) and a walk/run at the beach this past weekend (a short part was asphalt, though). Not a long run; I'm trying to avoid BRES and TMTS
http://runkeeper.com/user/346874908/activity/228915720
I'm still getting over some social anxiety about being out there barefoot, which is uncharacteristic for me. Reading through your experiences on other threads helped, so I thought I'd share my own from today: almost completely uneventful. I accidentally surprised a couple people by coming past silently, a few people watched as I passed but otherwise I did not catch scornful glances or hear snide (or positive) remarks.
I've not historically been much of a runner. I ran track in high school but repeatedly injured my IT band and gave it up for swimming. A few years ago, I got serious(-ish) about cycling, eventually progressing to Cat 3 amateur racing on road and track. I really love riding and commute about 20km daily. Running has always seemed like a an elusive activity for me. It's never captured my enjoyment like riding has, but the simplicity of running has continued to be alluring. Barefoot is my attempt to address form issues which have prevented me from enjoying running is the past.
I've read several of the popular BF running books and will be looking through the forums for other good info on technique. Today's run resulted in a couple hotspots and a nice blood blister on my big toe, but otherwise things feel fine (arches, ankles, calves, knees are alright). I'm taking tomorrow off and will go again on Friday, hopefully after some analysis about my form that can be tuned to avoid a repeat of today's blister. (Thinking that my cadence was too low -see attached screenshot- and that I was pushing off too much with my left foot).
Anyway, it's nice to see this community; it will be a helpful reminder when having all the skeptical conversations I'll likely be having.
Cheers!
-Robert
