NickW
Guest
So I've been having this internal battle with myself for the last month or so, which I have not really talked to anyone but my wife about. Finally, this last weekend my wife told me that I live in this make believe world of black and white and there were no shades of gray. She said sometimes you can believe in something even though you have to do what is right for you which may not follow exactly what you believe. I don't know why or how this happened, maybe it's part of my PTSD from being in combat, but she was totally right, I don't see shades of gray in the world and that's not necessarily a good thing.
Most of you that know me, know that I've battled with one injury or another over the last year of my barefoot transition. The last couple of months I've been battling internally with an idea that I may need to actually have some sort of footwear when I run. Lomad was going through these same feelings after his injury which was at the same time as I was. I then read a couple of blog posts (one from Jason) that made me start to think that maybe not everything is black and white in the world of barefoot and maybe shoes aren't as bad as I think.
During the last year I've had a hole in my left foot that I just thought was related to a form issue and I was doing something wrong. Well, while I was off for another injury for 3 weeks that hole closed up and finally healed all the way. My first or second run after that I noticed something weird, the 1st metatarsal head on my left foot was wearing through the skin, from the inside out. Hurt like hell. After feeling it and then comparing this to my other foot I noticed that the met head was much more pointy than the other side. I've started experimenting by running in my huaraches or my Neo's or my Adams (I feel like such a traitor wearing shoes). Funny thing happened, not only did the hole in my foot heal up, but the constant ankle ache that I've had this last year finally eased up, the heel pain from my supposed Achilles Tendonitis eased up, and I started enjoying myself AFTER my runs more because I wasn't hurting so much.
I've been wrestling with myself about all this footwear use because I do identify myself as a barefoot runner. I've been feeling guilty about running in shoes. I feel like I am letting down my friends here from the OR chapter that I run with occasionally. I am still going to run barefoot, but any runs over 3-4 miles I have to wear some sort of footwear otherwise that met head will wear through the skin. Most of my runs now are over 5 miles so this means I won't be barefoot but maybe once a week or so. I will be running mostly shod in a min shoe and I am trying to come to terms with that. I love running barefoot, I love the stupid looks some of the old bittys on my route give me, I love being able to run through puddles and splash and not worry about shoes getting soaked. Man this is tough for me to accept.
Most of you that know me, know that I've battled with one injury or another over the last year of my barefoot transition. The last couple of months I've been battling internally with an idea that I may need to actually have some sort of footwear when I run. Lomad was going through these same feelings after his injury which was at the same time as I was. I then read a couple of blog posts (one from Jason) that made me start to think that maybe not everything is black and white in the world of barefoot and maybe shoes aren't as bad as I think.
During the last year I've had a hole in my left foot that I just thought was related to a form issue and I was doing something wrong. Well, while I was off for another injury for 3 weeks that hole closed up and finally healed all the way. My first or second run after that I noticed something weird, the 1st metatarsal head on my left foot was wearing through the skin, from the inside out. Hurt like hell. After feeling it and then comparing this to my other foot I noticed that the met head was much more pointy than the other side. I've started experimenting by running in my huaraches or my Neo's or my Adams (I feel like such a traitor wearing shoes). Funny thing happened, not only did the hole in my foot heal up, but the constant ankle ache that I've had this last year finally eased up, the heel pain from my supposed Achilles Tendonitis eased up, and I started enjoying myself AFTER my runs more because I wasn't hurting so much.
I've been wrestling with myself about all this footwear use because I do identify myself as a barefoot runner. I've been feeling guilty about running in shoes. I feel like I am letting down my friends here from the OR chapter that I run with occasionally. I am still going to run barefoot, but any runs over 3-4 miles I have to wear some sort of footwear otherwise that met head will wear through the skin. Most of my runs now are over 5 miles so this means I won't be barefoot but maybe once a week or so. I will be running mostly shod in a min shoe and I am trying to come to terms with that. I love running barefoot, I love the stupid looks some of the old bittys on my route give me, I love being able to run through puddles and splash and not worry about shoes getting soaked. Man this is tough for me to accept.
