flatfooTy

Warm Sidewalks

2012-03-06T19:59:00.000-05:00

I managed to get out for a 1.3 mile jog with the wife and kids this evening, man did it feel good! Even though it snowed a couple inches two days ago it was 65º today! I started out in my invisible shoes and after about 300ft I figured I'd take them off to see how cold the sidewalks were. I was pleasantly surprised! I've been trying to go as minimal as possible all winter, although no running has taken place, and it didn't feel half bad to get back on my feet so-to-speak... I'm hoping the weather will cooperate and I can get back into the swing of things!

It's really worth it!

2011-09-09T00:38:00.000-04:00

I am happy to report that my flat feet are continuing to feel better and better each week! I've been going barefoot everywhere I can and wearing my huarache sandals everywhere I need shoes and my feet are thanking me! It has created a lot of strange looks and interesting conversations but my ankles haven't felt this good in 20 years!!! I can be on them for a whole day and have very minimal discomfort vs being in mediocre pain in the past. It's so crazy for me to think that what the doctors were telling me to do my entire life is the exact opposite of what I really needed! As I've alluded to in the past, as long as I can remember I've had a callus right in the middle of my arch on each foot from my orthotics. That callus is totally gone. It's so weird having the bottom of my foot be all soft now. Everybody jokes with me that I must have big thick calluses on my feet but it's actually the opposite, my feet almost feel softer now. Sidewalk exfoliation? :) The skin is thicker though. I was digging a small sliver out of the bottom of my foot the other day and couldn't believe how deep the needle was before I could even begin to feel it. So all of that to say, IT'S REALLY WORTH IT!!! I'm so happy to have been turned toward barefoot running by the people at the RW Barefoot Forum.

I'm also discovering how hard it can be to stay faithful to a running schedule... life has been so crazy that I have only run a couple times in the last three weeks. It seems that life just starts happening and running is one of the first things I let go. When do you go running, or how do you manage to make it a consistent part of your life?

Also, after dealing with lacing issues on my huarache sandals I'm happy to report that I've come up with a new way to tie them that is super comfortable, extremely easy to adjust, and really easy to put on! Seems too good to be true right? I've been using the new laces for about two weeks and gone running in them a couple times and honestly couldn't be happier! I still need to take pictures and get a tutorial together, hopefully this week. TTFN!

I'm Back!

2011-08-15T13:08:00.000-04:00

I'm officially unofficially back in action! It seems that my Achilles Bursitis is healed up and I'm able to get back out there. I think I probably could have gotten out a little bit sooner but I wanted to make sure that things were healed up well and also life has been quite busy so the injury was a nice excuse to slow down...

The primary means of healing for me was ice with elevation and NO SHOES! Every time I wore a pair of shoes with a heel my bursa would become aggravated and inflamed. a couple days ago I went on a 3/4 mile run and it felt good. I'm happy that I was able to continue walking barefoot through the injury because I didn't seem to loose any of the progress I've made in strengthening my feet and calves. I'm sure that my cardio is down but I wasn't really in running shape to start with!

Hopefully I'll be able to learn from this little experience and resist the urge to push too far too fast...

My First Bad Run

2011-07-15T00:07:00.002-04:00

OK, so today after two days off I went out and practiced some of the drills posted yesterday. I was surprised at how little you have to lean forward to begin forward motion when bouncing on your toes. Otherwise I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to gain from doing the drills, I'm not seeing a direct connection to actual running or form...

After drills I tried running a bit while keeping my knees bent slightly more and not reaching my foot out as far, keeping it totally relaxed. It felt . . . wait for it . . . hoorible!!! It felt completely unnatural and things seemed to hurt more. By keeping my foot relaxed I was actually kind of slapping the ground, this is probably amplified from my pancake feet. And although I couldn't hit the back of my heel hard like I had done previously, there was a lot more shock in my legs with each step as my foot smashed out from being floppy. Also by placing my feet farther back it lead to more toe roll off which caused me to get hot spots at the base of my big toe pads in just 1/2 a mile. I might just have to take some video and share it for open criticism because it seems like the more I try to "fix" my form the worse it's getting... Don't worry I'm not giving up, I just wish that it was a little easier for my thick head to pick up...

Today I'm also dealing with what I thought was Achilles tendon strain but today I realized that it isn't actually on the Achilles. It seems to be more on the Peroneus tendons, and Tibialis and Flexor Digitorum tendons where they attach to my heel on each side. I can walk and move fine, it's just when I touch the back sides of my heel they are slightly swollen and feel bruised... I think the softball game really did push me over the top on Monday. The old foot wasn't quite ready for a one mile run then two hours of running around on the field w/o orthotics in my cleats...

You can see the tendons I'm suspicious of in the picture below, the top two tendon labels on each side.

My Aching Achilles

2011-07-14T00:24:00.002-04:00

I've managed to get in three real runs now and they felt pretty good. On each of them I started getting a hot spot on the outside edge of the ball of my left foot but no other issues at all. On Monday I ran one mile BF then later that evening played a two hour long softball game that pushed me to my limit. The great news is that by not using my orthotics in my cleats I didn't experience any of the "normal" pain that I used to while playing! The bad news is that I strained my Achilles tendon in my right leg. I didn't know it at the time but I woke on Tuesday morning STIFF. I took the last two days off, trying to stretch things back out and I think I'm going to be ready to get back to a little run tomorrow.

The one benefit to this is that it's caused me read more about form and to try to figure out whether mine is OK. I seem to be having a hard time staying relaxed in my feet while not letting my heel hit the ground too hard as mentioned in my post, One Step Forward, Two Steps Back.... I posed a question about "The Fine Line Between Relaxed Feet & Heel Bruises"on the Runners World forums and the consensus seems to be that I must be landing with my foot too far in front of my body because my heel shouldn't be able to hit the ground hard enough to bruise. I'm anxious to get out and go for another run to modify my form. It was also recommended that I take a look at doing some Pose Running Drills such as these:

It's so tough to want to do drills like this instead of run. Maybe I'll try to do these every other day between my running days. I'll keep you updated.

------------------Update-----------------
These drills also look pretty good, thought I'd share them...

First Barefoot Mile!

2011-07-08T22:50:00.002-04:00

I couldn't help myself! Two days ago I went on my first "real" barefoot run, 1/2 mile at the local high school track, and it felt really good. It felt so good that even though I know that I'm not supposed to increase my mileage more than 1/8th mile every run and there should be a rest day between each run I went for it anyways and hit the mile mark! I know that one measly mile isn't that far in the traditional running world but for me to be able to do it barefoot and pain free felt wonderful! I could tell that the last 1/4 mile my muscles were starting to get fatigued and my form probably started to suffer a little but I'm no worse for the wear. I was actually pretty worried that I was going to be crippled up today after consecutive barefoot runs but I feel pretty good. I have one achilles tendon that was a little tight this morning but I don't have any pain and not even any significant soreness. I'm ready for my run tomorrow!

I did have a justification for the run though. I had to get my girls to the beach in 10 minutes to watch the three armed librarian read for story time on the beach! So, not only was it my first mile but I was pushing a two seat jogging stroller and I got to see a three armed librarian! Totally worth it!

Feet Pictures - Day 19

2011-07-07T00:15:00.000-04:00

I took these pictures back on day 19. Not a lot of visible change, when I put the Day 0 pictures next to them I think I can see some slight changes in my arches but nothing drastic. I know that I'm feeling great though! I just ran my first .5 miles BF and finished pain and blister free!

Foot Length: 29.4mm, no change

Why Am I Running Barefoot?

2011-07-05T10:16:00.005-04:00

In the last three weeks following my decision to bare my feet I've had a lot of people ask me "Why aren't you wearing shoes anymore?" and "What's with the barefoot thing?” In as few words as possible I try to explain to them my reasoning while not sounding completely crazy… and I'm pretty sure I fail at the latter part. Honestly, that's fine with me! Let me explain why...

As a child I had the flattest most overpronated feet that anyone in my family had ever seen. Out of concern for my future health, when I was 8 years old my parents took me to see a podiatrist. He took a look at my feet and made some comments about them looking like a 40 year olds by the time I would turn 18, then promptly took a cast of my feet and had orthotics made. That was the beginning of 24 years wearing expensive orthotics and “proper” shoes. (If you did your math right you’ll find that I’m 32 now.) Guess what, when I was 18 I went to a new podiatrist and guess what he said… “Wow, your feet look like the feet of a 40 year old who has REALLY bad feet!” I’m not joking; those really were his words. I’ll also never forget the first time I ran with my orthotics in third grade and one of them shifted under my foot mid-stride. When I planted that foot my heel came down on the edge of the heel cup of the orthotic and almost sent me to my knees in agony. Little did I know at the time, that was just the beginning of years of frustration, pain and difficulty with my feet.

I sporadically participated in sports throughout school and I remember two common themes. One, I wasn’t very good at any of them! Something about being gangly and uncoordinated just didn’t seem to work bode well for me. Secondly, I don’t remember participating in a single sport where my feet, ankles, and sometimes knees didn’t hurt. I tried cross-country running one year and only made it two weeks in before I realized that it was NOT going to work for me. I cross-country skied through high school and I will never forget the hours of intense burning in my arches from cramming my pancake feet into those ridiculously narrow little boots. My last job as an operator at an oil refinery forced me to wear steel-toed boots walking around on a concrete slab for 12-hour shifts. My feet were NOT happy. I’m not sure how many visits I made to our Jacuzzi tub after a full days work, but I’ll always have a special place in my heart for the therapy that it provided me.

Just three months ago my family and I moved from Alaska to Michigan, leaving my job behind in pursuit of further education; I’m attending Moody Bible Institute full time pursuing a B.S. in Biblical Studies. With the move and lack of a job I really didn’t want to be spending a bunch of money on shoes and new orthotics both of which were due for replacement. For my birthday last month I got a new pair of running shoes from my darling mother. I tried them on and realized that they weren’t going to work with my orthotics so back to Amazon they went. This began my search for a new pair of motion control shoes. I spent hours scouring reviews online and reading about flat feet and overpronation; everything was pointing toward the typical stiff pylon motion control shoes, until I ran across one person that wrote a review saying that such-and-such a shoe was wonderful until they went barefoot and it eliminated their need for orthotics and shoes altogether. I’ll admit I was very skeptical but was just curious enough to research it a little more. It was kind of like getting hooked on a late night infomercial. You know that the product seems too good to be true and must be a piece of junk but for some reason you can’t manage to shut the TV off…

I eventually found the Runner’s World Barefoot Forums and was blown away by the stories people were sharing. I kept looking for the failure stories like, “I tried it and my feet turned to hamburgers and have never felt so bad…” but I couldn’t really find any negative comments The only common problem was people doing too much to soon and getting REALLY sore and working up a few blisters. What I did find was a bunch of stories of people who had similar histories to me (orthotics for years with ankle, knee and hip pain) who had shed their shoes and as a result grew arches! If you spend any time reading testimonials of barefoot runners you’ll see some common trends: “My feet don’t hurt any more!” “I don’t have flat feet any more!” “My knee pain is gone!” “I don’t overpronate as bad as I used to!” “Running is fun again!”

Below is a snippet from Wikipedia that I found interesting.

A 1987 study by Steven Robbins and Adel Hanna analyzed how the longitudinal (medial) arch of 17 habitually shod runners changed when they trained barefoot over a period of 4 months. It was found that the longitudinal arch decreased in length by an average of 4.7mm. The researchers contend this change is due to activation of foot musculature when barefoot that is usually inactive when shod. They maintain that foot musculature allows the foot to dampen impact and postulate that this adaptation may remove stress from the plantar fascia.

This article indicates that these runner’s arches shortened almost ¼” toe-to-heel in 4 months because their feet got stronger and their arches rose, returning to their natural state.

As I read more it dawned on me, what do I have to loose? I mean really? I'm not going to do irreversible damage to my body by dropping shoes for a summer. But, if I see similar results to those I’ve read about, my quality of life could permanently change for the better in a dramatic way! I know that this is a lengthy explanation but if you were curious hopefully it makes sense now. Like I said, it doesn’t really matter to me if a person agrees with me or not, I know how my body feels today as compared to three weeks ago and there’s no comparison. In that short amount of time I’ve experienced pain free sports and extended pain free walking for the first time in my adult life. My feet are getting stronger, my calves are getting bigger and more toned, and I don’t have to worry about always having my orthotics with me! In fact, just yesterday I went for the first “fun” run of my life! It was only a ½ mile but pain free and effortless feeling! That sounds a lot better than continuing to avoid family walks because my ankles hurt too much. So if you see me out and about now you know why I'm either barefoot or in my Invisible Shoes. Feel free to say something, everyone else does...

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back...

2011-07-01T11:20:00.001-04:00

Two days ago I posted that I had gone for a 2.5-mile barefoot walk and everything went well (except the little hot asphalt incident...). So yesterday I decided that it wouldn't hurt to just take a little jog down the street and back. If I could handle a 2.5-mile walk surely I could handle a 300-meter jog, right? . . .Wrong! I must have had the WORST barefoot running form ever witnessed. In just 300-meters I managed to turn the hot spots on the balls of my feet into blisters and I also managed to bruise my left heel from "setting" it down to hard... I was not heel striking in the traditional sense of running but in an attempt at being completely loose and not forcing my feet I let them be too limp and found a new way to heel strike... Fortunately my heel is already starting to feel much better and the blisters have gone down and aren't noticeable, it's mainly my pride that got hurt in this one.
In hindsight I think I must have been reaching forward with my feet instead of setting them down directly under me. When I run in place and set my feet down directly under me it seems almost impossible to hit my heel that hard. I guess the pain that I experienced from poor form is a good example of the kind of feedback that even minimalist shoes can mask. That being said, I'm grateful to be beginning my running career barefoot learning proper form rather than setting myself up for injury down the road... (Yes, that was a pun.)

The siren song of fresh asphalt...

2011-06-28T23:42:00.007-04:00

Today after a solid morning of studying, taking an exam and writing a three-page paper I decided to head out of the house to get some fresh air and a bite to eat. I stuffed my huarache sandals in my back pocket for backup and hit the sidewalks barefoot. Right out of the gate I got a little surprise when I crossed the road due to some paving that's taking place. As I waited for a break in traffic I admired the smooth, fresh, black asphalt, imagining what it would be like to run barefoot on it (yes, my mind is becoming corrupted...). When my opportunity came I started to mosey across the two lanes of traffic that they paved yesterday and became fixated by the third and fourth lanes that hadn't seen a single car tire on them. As I set my foot on the virgin pavement I was greeted by the smooth velvety surface under my foot. As I put weight on it I started to feel it give just slightly under my foot; this was the softest feeling road I'd ever walked on! My second foot hit the pavement; wow it was soft too! Wait, that's not normal... and why are my feet so hot? I looked up and saw the paving machine just down the road a little ways with a steamroller headed my way! Then it finally hit me, THEY JUST PAVED THIS!!! At this point all of the reading that I've done about staying light on your feet while barefoot running was at the front and center of my mind (well, right behind the thoughts of "I've got to get off this, NOW!"). I started high stepping like I was trying to walk on water and made it across the two freshly paved lanes. As my parting gift, the fifth lane, which hadn't been paved yet, was completely tore up with a fresh coat of hot oil on it! By God's grace I managed to bounce my way through the oil and onto the curb relatively unscathed. I took a moment to inspect my precious pods and they honestly looked OK, a little black but no blisters!

At that point I could have grabbed my sandals and put them on but my better judgment prevailed and I managed to put on 2.5 miles of sidewalks before I caved in. I was starting to feel a hot spot on both feet on the ball of my foot between my big toe and index toe so I threw on my huaraches and walked the remaining .5 miles home. As you can see from the picture below most of the oil wore off my foot after 2.5 miles, there's just a few spots here and there and a dirty tinge to the pads of my toes. Don't worry, the road rash on my other leg was not from today, I can thank softball for that one...

I'm really pleased all in all. There's no way I could have gone as far as I did today two weeks ago, and the added benefit was that it was all pain free! Well, except the asphalt...

Slowly Progressing

2011-06-27T22:52:00.001-04:00

It's been another week and things are progressing nicely, I can feel steady improvement in my evolving pancakes. I didn't touch the orthotics this week and went barefoot as much as possible, only wearing my invisible shoes when I had to have something on. The upside? I experienced little-to-no ankle pain this week like I did when wearing orthotics. One difference though is that my ankles, feet and calves do get tired faster when I'm standing around, I'm sure that this will slowly get better as my muscles strengthen. Usually in the mornings I experience soreness across the top of my foot and a little in the calves but it only sticks around for about 30 minutes.

Tonight we had another softball game and just like last week, my feet feel the best they ever have after that kind of physical activity. One cool thing I noticed tonight when I took my cleats off was that my socks weren't dirty over the whole bottom of my foot (from dust getting in my shoes). Only on the balls of my feet, around the outside edges and my heels were brown, imagine a normal wet footprint... In the past the entire bottom of my foot would be brown because they were so flat. That's pretty exciting for me since I'm only two weeks into the barefoot thing! It seems that I might actually be beginning to form arches! Even if my feet don't change any more than they have in two weeks I can't ever imagine going back to orthotics and motion control shoes. Sure I can stand around longer in them but I'd much rather play and have fun with no painful aftermath...

Oh, I also wanted to note that I did throw on a pair of Converse Chuck Taylor's to ride my motorcycle and had to walk in them for about an hour. My little pinky toe has never been so vocal!!! It didn't take long to rub a layer of skin off the outside of that poor little guy. Now I'm starting to see why some of the barefoot runners refer to shoes as foot coffins. ;)

Pain-Free Sports?

2011-06-20T23:20:00.001-04:00

Last week I reported that I wore my orthotics in my cleats for a softball game and my ankles just killed for the following 24 hours after having been barefoot for a couple days prior. Well, tonight I had another game and decided to try my cleats without the orthotics seeing as how I've been barefoot for over a week now. Just so you know this is a HUGE step for me. I've wore orthotics in my shoes for about 20 years (I'm 32 now), and I was especially diligent to do so when playing sports. We played our game (and won!) and and the verdict is in . . . I'm pain free! My ankles feel no worse than they do at the end of any other day! It may not seem like much but I am ecstatic, this is potentially a life altering step for me!

Small Run Today

2011-06-20T00:28:00.003-04:00

Today I went for a small 1/3 mile barefoot run down the street. I started out on the cobblestone street for the first half then came home on the sidewalk. I think I like the street much better... It's totally not level but it is SO much smoother than these old sidewalks. Today I decided rather than try to force my foot into proper alignment and not overpronate I would let it fall where it may. Everything I've read up to this point supports this idea as well, they say that your foot will slowly strengthen and the overpronation will become less severe. I'm not sure what to think. It's easier to run this way as it requires less muscle but OUCH! Half way in my ankles started hurting and it was not a comfortable way to run at all. Apparently the danger to forcing proper alignment is that I can cause stress injuries to tendons like my achilles and peroneal tendons but I'm not sure if it's worse to do that or to micro-sprain my ankle with every step... I threw up the question at the Runners World Forums and we'll see what the guru's say...

A positive is that in normal day-to-day walking around I'm walking with much straighter ankles and my feet actually seem to have a slight arch to them. If I completely relax I can still pancake my feet but I'm finding more often than not I'm walking more "normally." Also my wife commented out of the blue that my posture seems to be improved!

Old Sidewalks = 5 Grit Sandpaper!

2011-06-17T23:50:00.000-04:00

Today I decided to take a one mile walk downtown to get some lunch from The Hotdog Cart and decided that it would be a good idea to try it barefoot. Everything was going pretty good for the first 1/2 mile. At that point my old baby-blister decided that it wanted to open back up and my feet started to feel like I had been walking on 5 grit sandpaper; literally! I think if you got down and counted a square inch of the old sidewalks around here you would probably count 5 rocks... I'm very happy to report that I didn't form any new blisters today but I think I got about as close as possible, my feet are slowly getting tougher. As long as I remember I've had a callus on the bottom outside edge of each foot (right where they bulge out on the inside of my ankles), this is from my orthotics rubbing on my flat feet day after day. An interesting thing is that those callus' are starting to soften from that part of my foot not touching anything now. Not that it really matters that much but it does seem that my feet are slowly starting to transition toward the normal side. Not that I ever expect to be normal... ;)

Today, after having a couple down days sitting around studying, my calves were pretty-much completely pain free. That was, until I went walking! After my walk my calves were SHOT! I think going barefoot is going to make them explode! (In a good way...) But, I am expecting my legs to look like I've got bricks stuffed under my skin by the end of the summer... Not having shoes on really makes me walk differently and step onto the ball of my foot rather than heel. I'm interested to see how I feel tomorrow.

My major take-a-way today was: Throw my Huarache Sandals in my pocket if I'm going to do anything barefoot for an extended period away from home...

I Figured Out How To Make Huarache Sandals!

2011-06-17T01:21:00.008-04:00

I just successfully finished making my first pair of Huaraches, based off the running sandals used by the Tarahumara Indians. It must have been the native Alaskan in me. (OK, so I don't have native blood but I was born and raised in Alaska...) Anyways, back to the point. These things are really cool! They're pretty much the closest thing you can have to barefoot without the bare feet. Vibram FiveFingers (VFF's) are very similar but some report that they are a little stiffer than these and feel a little more shoe-like because of the encapsulating top. An added benefit to Huaraches is that they don't smell, which is an oft complained of "feature" of the VFF's. (That being said I'm very interested in trying some VFF's and may be purchasing a pair myself in the future.)

On to the build:
The absolute best site for all things DIY Huaraches related is www.InvisibleShoe.com The founder of the site, Steven, has put together an excellent resource if you're interested in making a pair, there are full instructional videos and forums dedicated to the shoes. Also if you are wanting to build or buy one pre-maid pair you can't beat his prices.

For the build I followed Steven's instructions with only a few variations. First is getting the foot shape:

Second, cutting out the material:

Lastly, tying them up:

My only real variation was the knot under the toes and the hole sizes. After I tied it I was completely annoyed by the feeling of a pebble under my shoe. I tried the suggestion of cutting the chord out of the middle of the laces then tying the knot but it was still too big for me. What I came up with was to melt the end of the lace with a lighter then smash it flat so it mushroomed out like a little flange on the end of the lace. Seen in this picture:

I just heated it to the point of melting then smashed it on the cold steel to make it flat. The thing that makes this work is making the holes for the laces slightly smaller than recommended to prevent the lace from pulling through. I think mine are about 1/16" or 3/32", I used a Dremel tool with a small rotary bit to make the holes. This might not seem like a very secure way to keep the laces from pulling through but I yanked on the thing pretty hard and it didn't even try to come through. You can also see in the picture-above the solution for pulling the laces through the smaller holes. I wrapped the end of the lace in scotch tape length-wise, twisted the tape to a point and pulled it through the hole. Here's a close-up of the finished product:

As you can see there is very little protrusion from the bottom of the sandal.

I'll also note that there are a TON of different ways to tie these bad boys, most of which can be found at www.invisibleshoe.com/tying/ For this first attempt I'm using Steven's slip-on method and seem to be fairly happy with it. I've got some bungee laces that I'd like to experiment with but that will come later.

The Finished Product

I'm including this one just so you can see the difference in the top and bottom textures of the material. The tops are very smooth while the bottom has a nice grid that seems to be quite grippy.

Another note is that I've read of people having issues getting pebbles stuck between their foot and the sole. One of the remedies for this is to remove more of the material under the arch of the foot. Ideally the huarache will be only slightly bigger than your wet footprint. DON'T make them this way at first though, it's much easier to remove more material later than to add it back...

If you want to build your own stop by www.invisibleshoe.com and for $20 score yourself a pair!

A Free Must Read About Going Barefoot!

2011-06-15T18:58:00.005-04:00

First off, thank you Jason Robillard of barefootrunninguniversity.com for making your book free! In my first post I mentioned a book that I was reading on barefoot running, The Barefoot Running Book. I'm about half-way through the first edition of the book (it was $7 cheaper than the second edition) and it has been a very valuable resource to my new adventure; it's a fun read and very informative. Well wouldn't you know it, just last night Jason decided to release the second edition of his book in pdf format FOR FREE! Here's his reasoning: "I want to change the world by revolutionizing the running world, and this book is my front-line assault!" I highly recommend this book if you're the least bit curious about the benefits of bare-feet. Just a few of the topics covered are: why run barefoot, training schedules, differences in minimalist shoes vs. barefoot, technique, form, common problems and much more.

Download the pdf book from my dropbox here: The Barefoot Running Book Second Edition: A Practical Guide to the Art and Science of Barefoot and Minimalist Shoe Running

If you're more organic and want a tree in your hand as you read then you can buy the book here:

Stay tuned, I just got the rubber to build myself a pair of invisible shoes (otherwise known as huaraches)...

Feet Pictures - Day 0

2011-06-14T23:30:00.002-04:00

So here are the baseline photos for my feet. They're quite FLATtering if I do say so myself... I'm planning to take photos every week or two to document any changes in my arches or pronation. If you can think of any other shots that would help to better document things let me know.

Foot length: 29.4mm

Today almost feels like I've taken two steps backward in my progress although I know it's just part of the process. I don't think my calves have ever been this sore! I'm walking around like I'm 90! I think between the short run destroying my calves and the softball game yesterday killing my ankles I can justify taking a little breather. I went barefoot almost all day today, but yikes my feet are definitely letting me know how much is too much too soon (TMTS). Hopefully I'll wake up tomorrow with a little more bounce in my step!

Do I already loath shoes?

2011-06-13T23:39:00.001-04:00

Today I pushed my barefootedness a little farther and it did cost me a little bit. I went for two short little barefoot jogs on the sidewalk, right at 1/2 mile total. At the end of the second one I noticed some missing skin on the pad of one of my toes where a blister formed and popped. After doing a little reading it sounds like I'm pushing off with my toes which is a no-no when barefoot, I need to focus on lifting my feet off the ground rather than pushing forward off them.

So about the loathing shoes comment... Tonight I had a softball game (Go Oakridge!) so I put on my cleats with orthotics. Within two minutes of putting on the shoes my arches were burning and my ankles were hurting! The whole night I was focusing on trying to not let my feet roll in too bad but walking in those shoes makes it nearly impossible. Tonight my ankles hurt more than they have in a week and it only started after I put on my shoes...

It's just a little one. I'm liking the Liquid Bandage right now...

First Update

2011-06-12T23:26:00.002-04:00

I'm about three days into my journey of trying to get used to walking around barefoot vs. using shoes or sandals and I'm finding that it's crazy how much different shoes make you walk! When I'm barefoot I can walk more on the balls of my feet rather than "heel striking" with each step which I'm virtually forced to do in shoes. I've found that when I roll heel to toe it's very difficult to keep my ankles from rolling in and my feet flattening out, but when I weight the ball of my foot first it causes me to weight the outside of my foot as my heel comes down keeping my ankle from rolling. I'm also shocked at how little my ankles hurt. Spending this much time barefoot in the past would have caused me some serious ankle aches but I'm hardly experiencing any of that; what I am experiencing is muscle soreness... I never knew that there are muscles on the top of your feet! Also my calves are pretty sore from the extra weight on the balls of my feet.

That leads me to another finding. I have knees that hyper-extend and when I'm just standing around I usually have them locked back. I've found that when I do this it cases me to roll my ankles in and stand completely flatfooted. By ever-so-slightly bending my knees and putting a little weight on the balls of my feet I naturally shift weight to the outside edges of my feet keeping my ankles in line. This definitely has to be an intentional change in posture and one that I keep having to remind myself of but I think that if I can keep it up I will spend a lot less time flatfooted...

A lot of the research that has been done on running barefoot and the idea to try returning to that comes from studying the Tarahumara people, a native tribe from Northern Mexico that are known for running barefoot or with huarache sandals for up to 120 miles nonstop. There's a book written specifically about them that I would like to read called Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen.

Until next time! -Ty

Welcome To My Experiment!

2011-06-12T00:07:00.005-04:00

Through this blog I'm hoping to share my experience of transitioning away from orthotics and motion control / stability shoes to very minimal footwear without orthotics. I've grown increasingly dependent on supportive footwear to mitigate the ankle pain I experience after extended time on my feet and I'm tired of the limitations, and the pain... After reading quite a bit on barefoot running and some of the benefits that many have experienced, such as reforming fallen arches and correcting overpronation, I've decided to perform my own experiment. I'll be ditching my orthotics and shoes for bare feet and huarache sandals in an attempt to strengthen my feet and regain the arches that I never remember having. Along the way I'll be documenting my progress and posting some pictures of the current state of my feet.

I have to give a shout out to the fine folks at the Barefoot Running section of the Runner's World forums for the great information they've made available and the encouragement they've given me to document this process. I also want to mention a book that I found out about on those forums: The Barefoot Running Book Second Edition: A Practical Guide to the Art and Science of Barefoot and Minimalist Shoe Running. I just started reading it and have been enjoying it quite a bit.

I'm quite gitty at the prospect of being able to run! It's something that I've never been able to enjoy because of the pain I encounter from misaligned joints. I hope you enjoy my chronicles and hope we can both gain something from this adventure!

ps - If the name of the blog doesn't make sense it might help to know that my name is Ty... ;)
pps - Here's the post that started this whole thing: SEVERE Overpronator w/ FLAT feet interested in BFR...