I'm an intermittent runner. I ran one year of cross country in high school. I didn't run again until my last year of college. I ran a bit when we moved to the south. I didn't start again until after my second was born. I've been much more on than off since then. I've run a number of 5k's, a 10K and one half marathon. I've won one legitimate award during that time. I'd love to tell you that it was for the Super Manly Death Race 5k, but it wasn't. It was for the City of Tomball's 1st annual Bunny Run 5K. I was third in my age group. I'm still pretty proud of it.
Around that time running became hard. It was sore a lot. My knees and my hips mostly. It was hard to just hop off the couch and play soccer with the kids. Running, which was supposed to be good for me, was making it hard for me to be active. It just didn't seem right. So I did some research and came across a group of people that were claiming that, perhaps, running without shoes was the answer. After reading hundreds of articles about which shoes to buy to cure specific running faults, it seemed counter intuitive that the real answer was no shoes at all. For me it was. Certainly the reduction in mileage that is necessary when you start running barefoot helped. I worked my way up to consistently running 4-6 miles at a stretch with no problems. No pains. It was beautiful. About a year after starting, the book Born To Run was published and a lot of other people were exposed to the idea of running barefoot, or at least with minimal shoes like Vibram Five Fingers. People still look at me like I'm a little nuts when I run, but at least a some of them know what's going on. I've seen a few people running and racing in five fingers since I started barefoot and I've had really nice talks with some of them, including a nice mile long chat with two gentlemen while running a night time trail 10K. They were cool guys.I've yet to see a pair of truly bare feet other than mine at a race. I'm still hoping. Since my 3 year old started preschool a month ago I've been able to run more. I'm now averaging once a week stopping to answer questions about my lack of shoes. I always tell them it's not for everyone, but I think it's a good solution for some of us. My advice to anyone who is thinking about running barefoot is to read Born To Run, and start slow. Work up very very slowly to any distance over 100 yards. It's like learning to run all over again, and I admit, that's been my second joy in running. Being able to run smoothly, freely and without pain.
Books I finished this week -
The Blank Slate, Steven Pinker
Adventures Among Ants, Mark W. Moffett
The Blank slate is one hell of a book. It deals with our understanding of our minds. The parts that are innate, such as language and empathy and the drive to reproduce and it contrasts them with those that have been constructed such as racism. The main point is that there are some aspects to being human that are innate, we are born who we are to an extent. There are also things that our culture thrusts upon us. These have been and continue to be pretty complex to untangle. It's an excellent book and will make you look at humanity in a different light.
Adventures with ants is really cool. Moffett has been all over the world studying and photographing all sorts of wildlife, but it started with and continues to include ants. The fact that one can still make a living as a naturalist adventurer is pretty incredible. When I smash ants that are trying to bite me I'm wishing for a magnifying glass and an identification guide. I want to know who they are and what's driving them to hurt me. Fun book, incredible pictures.
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