It's all your fault<g>
By Spinningwoman
OK, so under the subliminal influence of this forum, I have metamorphosed from someone who just wanted to find out more about barefoot mechanics to fix a threatening bunion into an Actual Runner. (In much the same way that my teenage son poking a piece of bacon around in a pan is an Actual Chef, but it's a start.)
I have downloaded a couch-5K app for my Android phone and have done the first two walky-runny sessions. Actually, I did the first one with an ipod touch app and then realised that as I had GPS on my phone it made more sense to use that and get a map and stats. (I like stats<g>. It's part of the genetic combo that comes with my long fourth finger and my slight Morton's Toe, I believe. The too-much-androgen-in-the-womb bit that once made my husband say with all seriousness and with no apparent expectation of being hit, 'Well, you're not really a woman in that sense, are you?' when I complained about some statistic about 'what women liked'.)
The change between the two apps had one interesting effect. As I did the session today, I was feeling quite grateful that the Android app had more intervals (8 rather than 6) as that meant the tiny runs were slightly shorter - I really struggled to get to the end of each run first time out and couldn't do the last one at all. This time I managed them all and didn't have to struggle to complete each one. Then when I looked more closely afterwards I realised that the intervals were exactly the same length as the ipod app! So not only did I find it significantly easier, but I actually did more! Still piddlingly little, but slow is good.
Both times I did the run in VFFs and then took them off to cool down and walk a bit more and experiment. This is partly because I don't quite trust my trying-to-be-a-bunion toe to keep pointing in the right direction without the gentle tutelage of the VFFs, and partly because I walked barefoot round the area I was going to run and I didn't think I could cope with a lot of it barefoot yet. It is in the grounds of a local 'stately home' type place with beautiful grounds and dogs only allowed on leads. I checked that they didn't have any rules that would stop me running, but didn't mention the barefoot thing as I felt that was one of those times where it is better to apologise afterwards than ask permission before - I doubt if anyone here has even considered adults going barefoot so any answer I might have elicited would probably have been on the spur of the moment and likely negative). I bought a season ticket at a very reasonable price and plan to go there in the quiet hour before it closes or just after it opens. It is a fabulous place but lots of the trees are beautiful chestnuts which generously seed the grass with little spiky shells, and the woodland paths have been gravelled in places.
However, I have discovered that it is quite true that form which comes naturally when I am actually barefoot goes all to pieces when I am shod, even with the VFFs. Running the intervals with the VFFs I found it quite hard to keep anything like good form; I had to think about it quite hard and my feet felt clumsy. Running around a grassy area barefoot afterwards, even though I was quite tired by then, I didn't really have to think about it, it just happened. So I think next time, nice though the woody bit is, I might plan to start running barefoot in the more formal part of the garden and maybe just put the VFFs on for a couple of intervals up the hill into the woods.
Usefully, I have discovered that I am much less embarrassed at running/walking barefoot if I have shoes in my hands<g>. Psychologically, that seems to say, 'Hey, I didn't just forget to put my shoes on and I'm not so poor I can't afford any. I just like to feel the grass between my toes for a bit.' So carrying my VFFs actually makes it easier to run barefoot. Well, I didn't claim I wasn't crazy.
I did see another runner there; a guy, quite a way in front of me, wearing shoes.
