Red Rocks Blue Sky

How cool was it to meet Ken Bob Saxton on the phone today. His voice sounds much younger than his actual age – that is for sure. We chatted a little bit about my foot injury, and then about his upcoming visit to St. George and his intention to qualify again for Boston. I thought he had run St. George in 2000 but he corrected me as it was 1999 where he qualified to run Boston in 2000. He told me that he quite likes the St. George course as he can let himself fly down the mostly downhill course. Had it not been for the slow start, St. George would have been his fastest barefoot marathon.

Ken was the primary inspiration for me to run barefoot. Up until I found his website I was looking for ways to run barefoot with minimal shoes such as the fivefingers from Vibram. Inspired by the Mens Magazine article by Christopher McDougall “The Men Who Live Forever” I was under the impression that the most wise way to run barefoot was to have minimal shoes, such as a sandal. The best shoe that I could find was the Solomon XA Pro 3D. Using this shoe I attempted to incorporate barefoot running techniques that I learned in the magazine article, or at least I thought I was. At the time all of my running was in the backcountry desert of Santa Clara Utah. In my quest to further my running ability I continued to look for more resources. I was reading Barefoot Ted’s blog about his experience running with Vibram’s when I came across Ken’s web site http://runningbarefoot.org/ and my world changed.

After studying Ken’s site with much enthusiasm I was prepared to strike out on my 1^st barefoot adventure. One lap around the block, and boy did I find out that I did not know anything. The next day I did two laps around the block and with the immediate feedback from the asphalt I was able to make corrective changes to my running stride. Each day I became bolder. I was still running with shoes on but I was starting and ending my runs barefoot with my shoes clipped to my hydration pack. Soon the shoes stayed on the pack the whole run, and then they were not clipped on at all.

Running barefoot has become an extraordinary adventure for me. It has brought me something that has been missing from my life for a long time. Somehow I again connection to the “life physical” that made up such a significant portion of my life when I was a teenager and when I was a Marine. It has taken me back to those roots when disappointment on the basketball court led me to a keen interest in athletes like Mark Allen and Dave Scott running the Ironman Triathlon, the Race Across America, and Survival of the Fittest competitions. Additionally there is something just dramatically healing about being connected the earth when running barefoot. Running on asphalt has always been such a bore, but barefoot, and everything comes alive.

Thank you Ken.

Michael Carroll