Today I find myself in Hermosa Beach, Ca. What better way to soak up my surrounding than a barefoot run on the beach. Woo Hoo! Barefoot? Yes barefoot! Especially on the beach. I’ve been tooling around with barefoot running for many years and its probably been the most influential aspect of my running routine. While I don’t run barefoot 100% of the time, I do go on at least 2-3 barefoot runs each month because of the benefits that it provides. What benefits? Here are a few:
- Better body alignment
- Full-foot running rather than heel running
- Greater awareness of self
- More efficient running
I wont go into great detail here because there are plenty of websites that explain it better than I ever could, but I can tell you it works. As I circled back on my out-and-back run this morning, I paid close attention to my foot steps from my first half of the run. The first thing that I noticed is that I no longer had that heel skid into my foot placement that I used to see. What I did see was a foot print that was even but with the toes digging in at the end (push-off). Also, my arch seems to have become less apparent. Is this possible? One thing that I here from non-runners (no not I’ve got bad knees) is the fear that running will cause their arches to fall. What!?? That is pure running shoe propaganda there. None of my shoes have any arch support what so ever and I have what appears to be a strengthening arch. Please note that I say “appears” I’m not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV but from my limited knowledge, the arch is a series of muscles and tendons. It seems that its only natural for muscles and tendons to get stronger as the are worked, correct? So why do we need arch supports?
Bottom line is that barefoot running has changed my approach to running in drastic, but very positive ways. Here is the website that started it all: Barefootrunning.org.
1:16:19 / 7.52 mi / 4:30 A.M. / 4 minutes of 50 lunges and 50 squats at middle point of the run
