Humble Beginnings
By BassDoc
Where to begin...
About a year ago I discovered a page on Facebook called "Run This Town" It was set up as an event by Nike for runners to log their runs and were they ran. Subsequently, the group became quite close and friendly and one of the posters set up a page by the same name so we could continue to post our running tales. We have no affiliation with the brand other than it brought us all together.
I tend to ramble on and wax poetic as the muse urges. Members of the group have suggested I start a blog, so here goes. The following post is one I made to that group and will now share with you. I suspect I will move my story telling here and see where it leads. So, for your reading pleasure... here goes nothing. 
17 May 2013 –
While I was out of my trail run this morning I was pondering over some of the comments from the RTT family. One comment was in regard to awareness on the trail in contrast to an inattentiveness on the road.
I agree that on the trail one should pay more attention to the surroundings. Mostly because the likelihood of tripping over roots, stumps and large rocks are slim on the paved venues. On the other hand, I believe it is essential to maintain an awareness of self or body sense, as Danny Dreyer teaches. We owe it to ourselves to know our body's alignment with itself and with the planet. This is what keeps us up right regardless of the path we follow while running. Once this sense is established our own gyroscopes and proprioception will guide us along. Developing this sense will make us more efficient runners. In fact, in winter, it pays off when I can't see the road in front of me. The sense allows me to travel along quickly and easily.
Another comment, or rather, query, was my opinion on a good trail shoe, but one with support. As a barefoot runner, support is not an issue with me, so I found myself thinking on this one. The first thing that popped into my mind was the Hoka.
Essentially this is nothing more than a lace up pillow for the foot. Since this really wouldn't answer the question I thought I'd do some research and then produce some sort of short report. But instead, I put together a bit of a tale on how I came to my present state of running from the beginnings way back when. So with that, this is your opportunity to move on to the next post, or go make up a big batch of popcorn and start a refreshing beverage. Hold onto your hats.
Somewhere in the mid-80s I got it in my head that riding a bicycle would be a real cool thing to do. So when the ship I was cruising about on returned to terra firma I headed off to a bike shop near my place in Chula Vista, California. After pondering all the bikes the shop proprietor convinced me that a mountain bike would be a good place to start. So I got the bike and began the painful transformation to becoming a cyclist. After some work and dedication, I got good at it. I could also take my bike on the ship when we got underway, thus giving me transportation when we hit ports.
It wasn't long when cycling became an expensive fitness tool. I rode everywhere and often. That was, until 1989 when I got a call at 3:00 AM with instructions to pack up and report for duty. I was quickly deployed with the United States Marine Corps to somewhere in the middle east right smack in the middle of the desert. Needless to say, my bicycle would not fit in my sea bag.
The diet I had to live on out there was huge on calories and my midsection soon became my most prominent feature. It was apparent that I had to do something, so this cyclist took to the sand in an old pair of running shoes that I had shipped from home. I had no idea what I was doing. I would run for a quarter of a mile, puke, run another quarter-mile, puke, and on and on. Meanwhile, everything hurt, but my endurance was growing.
My waistline began to shrink and my distance lengthened. It just so happened that we had a podiatrist assigned to our unit. One day after one of my runs, while he was walking behind me, he said something I'll never forget.
"Chief, you're an extreme over pronator."
I had been cursed. I started the research and began my quest for the right shoe. When I got back to home base in USA I got a pair of ASICS. They seemed to work. I also returned to my primary fitness method – cycling. This went on until I retired from the Navy. When I got a job in the civilian community, I would commute to and from work on the bike and get in a few runs a week of about 3 miles each.
Then my new life began. One day on the way to work the lights went out. To this day I am completely amnestic of the event, but I am told I was hit head-on by a truck and launched on a 28 foot trajectory that ended in a ditch with me unconscious. My helmet was split in two and my bike and body were smashed to bits.
The ER doc later told me that my high fitness level was the reason that that wasn't my last day on earth. Of course I just wanted to get back on my bike I asked, "when?" I got the look.
"At least eight weeks", I was told.
I had a number of broken bones, but all of them from the waist up, so I could walk (and run?). I was sent to orthopedics to follow-up on my broken shoulders. Cycling was not going to happen for the time being and I was again reminded not run for at least eight weeks.
After about four weeks I was feeling sort of good and started running again. It hurt, but I just felt the need. I tried to ride my bike, but that was out of the question. (I should note that my local bike shop was kind enough to replace my frame and rims at cost.)
As the weeks went by my running got better and better. Riding the bike was not so successful. Besides the shoulder issues, I was always afraid on the bike. I just could not shake the trauma. Even with the amnesia, to this day, I am uncomfortable.
So with that I devoted myself to running. I also decided that I would run a marathon before I died. Since that had become more of a reality, I trained in earnest. I got some good ASICS stability shoes. The 2010 model at the time. As an over pronating flat-footed runner. I managed to tear my plantar fascia. Like all obsessive runners, I worked through it and became a chronic Motrin eater.
A year later, I ran my first marathon at somewhere around three hours 40 minutes. Not bad for a 42-year-old. Significantly, 42 became my lucky number. It is after all, the answer to life, the universe and – everything.
From that point on I was signing up for all kinds of races and running marathons all over the place. I was getting faster and faster and became quite an obsessive running maniac. This went on for many years. Through all this steadfast diligence I developed quite a bit of knee pain.
I had my stability shoes, which I swapped out about every three months. I supplemented this with a ton of NSAIDs. I just kept pushing.
Eventually, I was at a race, sore knee and all. I ran it hard. I also wound up with so much pain and swelling I could not bend my knee at all and walking was a chore.
As it turned out, I had torn my meniscus. So much for running. After a long downtime and a huge weight gain I got back to my old running habits and two years later tore the meniscus in my other knee.
I just refuse to learn. Running was out again. I tried cycling, but mentally, I just couldn't handle it. I became pretty inactive and started putting on the pounds yet again.
In time, I tried running again, but could barely get past 3 miles before knee pain stopped me. I was lucky if I could run once or twice a week. That eventually led to all sorts of attitude issues and depressive symptoms.
So what does this have to do with trail running and shoes with support?
This –
Along came Dr. Lieberman and Christopher McDougall. I studied the research, read the books about barefoot running and decide to give it a try. I hit my reset button and started from the very beginning.
My first runs were completely barefoot; five minute runs and three times a week. In spite of my obsession, I stuck to it. No longer did I worry about distance and pace, but time on feet. I ran with a stopwatch and stuck to the schedule.
In a months time, I was running 30 minutes barefoot. And now, more than two years later, I can run well over two hours without shoes. When I run trails I use the bare minimum of shoe. That means no support whatsoever and no padding, just the thinnest of soles.
And what does all this have to do with support? Simple. We are born with all the support we need. My flat feet – they are still flat, but the arches are strong and support themselves. Pronator – everyone pronates. It's part of a normal gait.
It's all just boils down to faith. Faith that we have everything we need to run if we just go slow and rebuild what nature gave us. It is like my Apple computer – it just works.
To follow BassDoc's blog, please visit: http://thebarefootrunners.org/blog/bassdoc.2982/
