Update from December 2013:
Here we are at the end of 2013, almost exactly three years to the day since I first threw away my regular running shoes and started running barefoot. Yes, is does feel rather like an anniversary, because I’m still as much in love with barefoot running as ever.
Since last writing a year ago (see My story), a lot has changed. If there one word which describes my relationship with barefoot running now, it’s gratitude. I’m thankful for the was several chronic injuries have healed, for being able to run further and faster. This year really has represented a turning point in my running, and I feel like the transitional period into barefoot running – something which everyone must go through – is at last over. I no longer have to constantly hold myself back to prevent aggravating injuries. I can run free, at whatever distance or tempo feels natural to me. It’s hard to believe that it’s taken three whole years to reach this point, yet given what I’ve heard from other runners, it’s actually quite normal.
Further, faster
A year ago I still had both plantar fasciitis and Achilles tendonitis: the former slowly healing, but the latter flaring up in full glory at the slightest pretext. I couldn’t even run small hills without causing further inflammation. The fact is that, after two physically painful years of running, i was beginning to reconcile myself with the possibility that I’d never be able to run distances again.
But now it feels like the sky is the limit. When I look at the distances I was capable of, restricted by injury and re-injury, I could manage only 20 minutes by the end of the first year, compared with 40-45 minutes by the end of the second year. Last weekend, though, I was able to put in a full, ecstatic 90-minute hill run with no adverse consequences. I’m thinking of running my first barefoot half-marathon in the spring, and then probably a full marathon the following year. This isn’t a fixed plan, but I am curious how far I can go with my limits. If you consider that changing over to barefoot running really does mean starting from scratch again – no matter how much you’ve run before in shoes – then this timeframe compares pretty similarly to the duration it took me to go from zero to marathon in trainers. Three years for shoes, four years barefoot.
The same goes for my pace, which, even more than distance, has tended to hamper my progress, as old injuries continually recurred when I pushed the speed limit. I’m still hopelessly slower than in shoes, but things are gradually picking up. This year I’ve gone from running 10k. in 60 minutes to 50 minutes. We’ll see where we go from here. I’m not trying to achieve any particular goal, but I do notice that the faster I run, the more fluid and enjoyable it feels. I’ll just follow what feels good.
Kinder to the body
Now that I’m regularly running 8-9 miles (13-14 km.) three or four times a week, I’m also beginning to experience how barefoot running is so much kinder to the body. In the old days, after 9-10 mile runs (15-16 km.) I always used to feel a little dull soreness in my joints the next day, especially in the knees. It never caused much of a problem, yet nevertheless it was there. Now, even when I’m doing hills, they feel fresh afterwards – despite the fact that, in my mid forties, I’m double the age of when I was doing comparable distance runs in shoes. Of course, I do feel my muscles sometimes, but that’s just par for the course. Related to this, another sign that I’ve finished the transition into becoming a barefoot runner is the type of muscle which gets sore. Until only a few months ago, it was consistently my calves which felt tender the next day, since these muscles are left the most underdeveloped by running in shoes. These days it completely depends. Could be my calves, but it could equally be my hamstrings, quads or glutes. In other words, my calves have finally ‘caught’ up with the others, and the muscles have reached a kind of equilibrium with each other.
Writing this today, I’m particularly thankful. Having just finished a five-day water fast, I’m grateful not only for every taste I’m able to enjoy again, but also for the healing which occurred during the fast. Without any calorie intake, the body searches out any possible source of energy. In addition to burning fat stores, it also consumes scar tissue and helps to heal weaknesses left by injury. This tends to occur in reverse order, in what is called a healing crisis: old symptoms return, before dying away for good. Over the last two days, my calves began to ache quite painfully – enough to keep me up at night – especially at points which had suffered minor muscle pulls over the past couple of years. Then my Achilles tendon followed, then the sole of my left foot (in the area of my old stress fracture), and finally the arch of my left foot: the one plagued by plantar fasciitis, my very first barefoot injury.
Once I finish refuelling my body over the next few days, I’ll be out there again on the streets, tracks and trails. I can hardly wait for another year of barefoot running to begin!
Joy of Barefoot Running 