selling out - minimalist shoe edition

I've been encouraged by some parties to make my blog moderately more..."commercial".  Let's try that out.

I saw a review of these sandals today and I would not mind trying them out.

I think they look pretty cool, and are described as being "as the thinnest, most minimalistic sport sandal" Teva has ever made.  I could run in them, I'm pretty sure.  Although, I imagine I would pick up some tiny rocks and/or sand occasionally.  I might also drill holes in the sole and cut off some straps after trying the shoes out as-is.  Find them here.

In the same vein, a good friend of mine has had the opportunity to try out these Merrell "Barefoot Trail Gloves" and had some reasonably positive things to say about them:

While they look more "traditional", the shoe is apparently super light and fairly minimal in the sole.  I'm probably not going to try them out at present, but I'm glad that Merrell and other companies are continuing to innovate in the "minimalist" shoe space.  Check them out here.

New BFR insights

I had a eureka moment this weekend in regards to barefoot running and the disconnect I experience (as an advocate) between me and some of my running friends.

The insight came when I started thinking about my goals for running speed, my history of injury, and how different goals might lead to different experience outcomes.  I have so far in my running career not cared much about how fast I run; I have to date cared more about putting up consistent distance numbers, and consistency in running at all.  I also [knock on wood] have yet to experience any real running-related injuries.

Several of my running friends who choose to run in traditional running shoes care a great deal about running ever quicker times; I realized this weekend that the higher incidence of injury among this same set of friends could have to do with their shoes or it could have to do with the extra stress on their bodies that is coincident with the press for speed.

I think now that this component of the overall experience of running is important and I have neglected it in past consideration...when people asked me in the past why I ran barefoot, I have talked at length about evolutionary development and about pockets of aboriginal runners world-wide who run great distances barefoot (or in minimalist foot coverings) and about stories (as covered in Born to Run) of such runners who persistence hunt (where you run after a deer or other game until it drops dead from exhaustion) - what I'm realizing now is that while many of those example runners do run fast, speed seems to be a secondary goal or motivator in their version of running.

Thoughts?

back on my feet

The ~ 90+ degree weather took a day off yesterday, and it wasn't monsoon raining, so I went for a short run.

~ 1.5 miles in full on bare feet, and it felt pretty good.  I was running a loop around the 0.75 mile block closest to my house, and after two such loops I turned back into my drive...I think I might have kept on going if I had someone to chat with on the road - anyone out there interested?

Fobf

I had the opportunity to run 3.35 miles with my sister today, and I decided to go full on barefoot.  It was nice, though my feet need their summer coat of callus. 

10 minute pace!