Running Barefoot:

I have been reading blogs, and magazine articles about running barefoot.  It is the new craze, and I am not sure why.  I witnessed a guy running barefoot a couple months back.  It was freezing outside, he was in shorts, a t-shirt, and no shoes or socks.  I thought he was crazy.

So last night my wife and I were headed out for our normal nightly run when I decided to give it a shot.  I decided to become one of the crazy people running without shoes or support, for at least one night.  We are not new runners, but not veteran runners either (only about 4 months in).

So my wife strapped on her running shoes, and well I dusted off the bottom of my feet.  First let me say I love being barefoot, taking walks with the family barefoot, and do not have tender feet.  Rachel was not feeling well so we decided on doing our 1 mile course.

We ran the first mile in just over 11 minutes.
We walked a second mile in just over 18 minutes.

I thoroughly enjoyed running barefoot, and must say it is easier on my feet to run barefoot than walk barefoot.

I can't say I will be running barefoot every night, but I will say that I think I understand why some people in enjoy it.  I enjoyed feeling the cool pavement on my feet, after being shoved in boots all day long.  I enjoyed feeling the different textures on my feet also (strange I know).

Not sure I would recommended running at night barefoot, because you can not easily watch out for big rocks.  At one point I came down on a fairly big rock on my heel, leaving my heel a little sore today and a little bruise.

My entire body is a little sore today, something I have not felt for awhile.  So not sure if running barefoot kept me tense, or if it caused me to use some other muscles that I normally do not use.

All in all I think I will be running barefoot again sometime.  Not sure it will become a every run kind of thing though.

-Jimmy