Observations while running...

I was running along a trail after a hike yesterday and made observations that I found interesting...

1). Form. ‘Lifting’ my knees to advance has become so ingrained as a habit that when I tried to push off on the balls of my feet I couldn’t do it- it felt clumsy, stiff, and unnatural.

2). Still regarding Form. There’s a definite smoothness to my gait regardless of terrain. Yesterday’s trail run involved a lot of exposed roots, rocks, trees and branches across the trail to jump over, and varying degrees of muddiness- it was all easily absorbed, no pounding.

3). Downhill. On the majority of my downhill stretches I found myself running very much as described by Ken Bobs book Barefoot Running Step By Step (Chapter 1 Born to Run Barefoot: The Life & Times of BareFoot Ken Bob)- the “bent knee” shock absorber way. I know I wasn’t achieving the deepness of kneebend as he described but I still felt a level of floating as I descended. With practice I suspect that will improve.

4). Impact. It was extremely interesting to note that the depth of my feet sinking into muddier areas was far less than that of shoddies with their hiking boots. I weigh 200 pounds, had about twenty pounds in my pack, and barely sank in a couple of inches. A mother and daughter I passed (I slowed down to a walk due to the narrowness of trail as I came up behind them) who I’d guess were 100 pounds less than me were sinking easily up to their ankles.

5). Thrill. It was kinda cool to see my highly noticeable footprints mixed in with boot prints as I was going along.

Barefooting is Fun :)