Barefoot by Nature??

So, as most of you who follow my blog know – I’ve been pretty unlucky in the injury arena.  I’ve had my fair share of injuries, as I know many of you have as well.  Injuries tend to make us branch out and try new things.  I am pretty willing to try just about anything at this point to see if I can improve my current situation and make sure I get to Disney for my marathon in January

Last week I had ART (active release therapy) done twice.  I also had a wonderful/painful massage on Friday.  I go to a VERY good massage therapist.  I asked her to work on my hip and she did.  I was literally bruised within an hour of the massage with about 15 bright red bruises around the top of my left hip, and a few more on the right.  I should note that I bruise pretty easily.  She spent 30 full minutes on just the hip, hip flexors, and psoas muscle.  During my run on Saturday I had very little pain in my hips and it was so wonderful.  By Sunday, the pain was back, but not quite as intense.  I am seeing some improvement.  I was encouraged by the fact that some of the things I am doing are beginning to help.

I have also started reading the book Born to Run – which is awesome by the way.  It’s not at all what I expected.  It’s a lot of really exciting running stories kind of pieced together.  I’m a little further than half way through the book, and I know at some point that talk more in depth about minimalist/barefoot running, but they have barely touched on it at this point.  However, that said I have been doing a little reading and thinking of my own about the whole minimalist thing. 

My husband Jim very adamantly thinks the minimalist running thing is a fad, and maybe it is.  I guess only time will tell if it is a fad that goes away in a few years, or if it is a fad that keeps going and becomes more of a movement.  Do I think that all running shoe companies have gotten on board to make sure they don’t get lost in the dust – yes I do, but is there something to the whole concept?  I don’t know.  I know I ordered my first pair of minimalist shoes this weekend – the new Brooks Pure Cadence.  I tried them on at Dick’s and they felt AWESOME.  Instantly AWESOME.  I figure even if I don’t like them for running, I think they are super cute and will be a great addition to my shoe collection if nothing else.



Brooks Pure Cadence - a minimalist stability shoe



Anyway, this morning – just for an experiment I decided to try barefoot running.  I only had a 3 mile recovery run on the schedule so it would be the perfect time to try.  I decided to run the first mile in my shoes to warm-up – which I did and my hip was hurting pretty good this morning.  After the first mile, I took my shoes off and ran in just my socks (while carrying one shoe in each hand – I’m sure I looked a little ridiculous).  I decided to see if I could run a half mile….I didn’t want to do anything too crazy to start out.  I ran a half mile just fine and you know what I felt GREAT.  Within 2 strides I had zero pain in my hip – ZERO!!  I’m serious.  It was not what I expected at all.  I figured without the cushion of the shoe my hip pain would be worse.  I thought well it might help my form in the long run, but it’s going to hurt bad, but it didn’t.  Maybe it was all in my head.  After a half mile I put my shoes back on and ran another half mile – my hip was hurting again.  Then I decided to try another half mile barefoot again.  Same response – no pain in my hip.  I ran the last half mile with shoes on – pain in the hip again.

So am I a barefoot runner convert?  No.  It was however a great experiment.  I seriously can’t wait to get my new shoes though and see how they impact the pain level.  Like I said, I’m willing to try new things at this point.  Isn’t that what the endurance world is really all about?  There are so many different things out there – different ways to eat – Paleo, Vegetarian, Raw foods, etc.  Many of us are Garmin addicts, but some never even wear a watch.  I think you keep experimenting until you find what works for you.  And what works for you may not work for someone else and that’s ok.