I did three miles this morning barefoot. I went out a bit cautious, but soon found my stride and was cruising at a fast clip. It was hard not to do so. Immediately I went past two sets of walkers all of whom asked me where my shoes where. I commented that I had lost them a long time ago. Because of my injury I am so attuned into the feedback from my feet. One of the things that I noticed was the different feelings I was getting when running over smooth pavement versus rough pavement. Discomfort in the place where I was injured was appearing when I was on rough asphalt. I switched back to the smooth surface and then back to the rough to feel and sense the difference. Before my injury took place I was finding the roughest asphalt roads to run on to condition my feet. At the time I had surprised myself how I could condition both my mind and my body to run on these surfaces. I guess what I did not realize was how much more stress these surfaces where putting on my bones, muscles, and ligaments in and around the 1st and 2nd metatarsals of my feet. I felt that I could go much further, but I shut it down and will now take a day off from running, and hit the road on my bicycle tomorrow morning. Another clue to my barefoot journey; running on rough surfaces will take more conditioning and training, and must be done with adequate rest between running sessions. Also I like Julian Romero’s comment about how he iced his feet and legs after each run.
Michael Carroll
