Hi, I'm Chris and I'm a barefoot runner.
"Hellooooo, Chrissss...."
I'm 37, live in Sarasota with my wife and three young daughters (2.5yr old twins and a 4 month old), and have been running barefoot for about a month now. As happens with most any of my 'hobbies,' I'm obsessed with it.
My short story is that after many years of abusing my body with booze, drugs and zero interest in exercise, my new role as father has clicked that switch inside me, the one that reminds you you're mortal and more importantly, have something to live for besides yourself.
I quit 10 years of 2-packs-a-day cigarettes cold turkey almost 3yrs ago when my wife got pregnant with the twins by switching habits from smoking to juggling a soccer ball. It kept me busy, sweaty, and reminded of how badly out of shape I'd gotten. So now, I'm cigarette-free and learned to do some nifty tricks, and in so doing, got hooked on watching (and trying to play) soccer, which got me injured right away playing pickup games (atrophied muscles don't play soccer very well.)
I decided that after numerous injurious setbacks, all driven by my ego telling me I could do it just because I wanted to, and sort of looked the part, I'd get smart and get back into soccer shape by jogging. I'd no intention of learning to love running... it was a means to an end. I totally fell in love with it, though, and was soon "challenged" by a buddy to run a half marathon... 11 weeks from now. My ego said, "Do it!" so I downloaded Hal Higdon's 12 week training program and, after four weeks of running and getting to the 6mi mark, promptly blew out my right knee with one of eight different Youtube-diagnosed maladies. I'm pretty sure it was Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome but regardless, no more race, no more nothin... I couldn't barely walk after that.
So in researching how to self-rehab whatever ruined my knee, I came upon BFR... and all the sites, the forums, the eBooks, the Youtube videos, wisdom, warnings, minimalist shoes, everything. In the last four weeks, I've not worn my hardly-used Brooks Ghosts once, been barefoot everywhere besides work, seen a decrease in my ever-present lower back pain (herniated discs, stenosis, arthritis... bad news), and learned that this, barefoot distance running, will be my latest (and maybe greatest, besides raising my girls) endeavor. I'm happy as a clam running shorter, humble distances, and guess what.... zero knee pain.
Very, very glad to be here... and I want to thank you (as others rightfully keep doing) all for the collective wisdom that's kept me (sort of) from TMTS (I write this as I'm at a solid "week off" from my unhappy left achilles/calf).
"Hellooooo, Chrissss...."
I'm 37, live in Sarasota with my wife and three young daughters (2.5yr old twins and a 4 month old), and have been running barefoot for about a month now. As happens with most any of my 'hobbies,' I'm obsessed with it.
My short story is that after many years of abusing my body with booze, drugs and zero interest in exercise, my new role as father has clicked that switch inside me, the one that reminds you you're mortal and more importantly, have something to live for besides yourself.
I quit 10 years of 2-packs-a-day cigarettes cold turkey almost 3yrs ago when my wife got pregnant with the twins by switching habits from smoking to juggling a soccer ball. It kept me busy, sweaty, and reminded of how badly out of shape I'd gotten. So now, I'm cigarette-free and learned to do some nifty tricks, and in so doing, got hooked on watching (and trying to play) soccer, which got me injured right away playing pickup games (atrophied muscles don't play soccer very well.)
I decided that after numerous injurious setbacks, all driven by my ego telling me I could do it just because I wanted to, and sort of looked the part, I'd get smart and get back into soccer shape by jogging. I'd no intention of learning to love running... it was a means to an end. I totally fell in love with it, though, and was soon "challenged" by a buddy to run a half marathon... 11 weeks from now. My ego said, "Do it!" so I downloaded Hal Higdon's 12 week training program and, after four weeks of running and getting to the 6mi mark, promptly blew out my right knee with one of eight different Youtube-diagnosed maladies. I'm pretty sure it was Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome but regardless, no more race, no more nothin... I couldn't barely walk after that.
So in researching how to self-rehab whatever ruined my knee, I came upon BFR... and all the sites, the forums, the eBooks, the Youtube videos, wisdom, warnings, minimalist shoes, everything. In the last four weeks, I've not worn my hardly-used Brooks Ghosts once, been barefoot everywhere besides work, seen a decrease in my ever-present lower back pain (herniated discs, stenosis, arthritis... bad news), and learned that this, barefoot distance running, will be my latest (and maybe greatest, besides raising my girls) endeavor. I'm happy as a clam running shorter, humble distances, and guess what.... zero knee pain.
Very, very glad to be here... and I want to thank you (as others rightfully keep doing) all for the collective wisdom that's kept me (sort of) from TMTS (I write this as I'm at a solid "week off" from my unhappy left achilles/calf).
