I’ve found two very strange things about this barefoot running bug I seem to have picked up. More than two if I really wanted to get into it.

The first is that a person really can have muscles they never knew existed. I could feel the muscles on TOP of my feet after my first couple of runs. Seriously, what do muscles up there even do? After walking barefoot on the trails for almost an hour Saturday and then running a mile on the blacktop Sunday my entire feet and legs up to about 3 inches above my ankles felt like your arms should after a good workout. Not aching, but certainly there. It was pretty funny actually because the rest of me didn’t feel a thing. I can’t say I ever experienced that before.

The other really strange phenomenon I’ve found is ‘phantom pebbles’ or sticks, whatever the case may be. It happens every single run, trail or street. I feel something stuck to my foot and when I go to brush it away there’s nothing there. But I still feel it when I start running again. Makes me feel a wee bit neurotic to tell the truth.

I ran a mile and a half tonight, which is a quarter mile longer than my last run so I’m pretty happy with it.

I did brush the same non-existing stick off my foot like three times. My goal for my next run is to only stop and brush off things that aren’t actually there once per item. Neurotic much?

After I got home tonight I decided not to go for a run.  No shame in that, running every other night is a bit more than the 3 times a week that always used to be my goal that I never kept. 

After work my insanely active lab pup got me playing with her, which somehow got my energy back up to where I decided just to run to the end of the street and back for fun.  Next thing you know I had run my mile way faster than usual, just for fun.  What is that? Somehow I accidentally got my mile run in tonight without even trying.

Tomorrow is a day off and Friday, then a Saturday trail run which is just too fun to skip.  I love walking or running in the woods.  I do wish I could train my puppy to run with me without pulling since she loves the trails as much or more than I do, but that is something I’ll just have to work on.

I don’t know if the difference is that I’m running barefoot now, that I took a few month off, or that I’m no longer pushing myself to do anything but what I want to but somehow running has got fun again. 

Now if only I could get started with weights again!

Keeping on track, ran my mile yesterday. Good thing since it’s crazy windy outside tonight.  I may be on the treadmill tomorrow though because we’re expecting rain and I’m not ready to run in the dark and the rain barefoot! 

I know there are two sides to everything but when it comes to running it seems like the two sides are SO far apart that one or the other should be right and the other should just be obviously wrong.  But of course it’s never that easy.

On one hand I read a lot about how it’s important to progress slowly to be certain that you do not injure yourself. Don’t run yourself into the ground, don’t run your fastest, don’t run till you are ready to drop or you’ll regret it the next day.  This happens to be true, there is a fine line between I had a great run yesterday and I can’t feel my legs.  Or I wish I couldn’t.  But taking this path means that improvement is slow.  In my case really, really slow.

I’ve been running mostly off but plenty of on for about 2 years and after finally getting up to a 5K I had to start over and at this point I’m just back to a mile. It’s an easy mile, and I don’t get tired of running at all, but I’m trying to follow people’s advise to start and progress slow to avoid injury.  That’s all well and good but it’s amazing how hard it is, sometimes I feel like I should run as fast as I can and as far as I can just to see what I can do. But I think taking it slow is good advise for me right now because at this point the muscles in my feet kind of ache the day after running sometimes.  Not like I hurt them, more like your muscles feel after a workout that was hard enough to feel but not brutal enough to make you wonder how exercise could possibly be healthy. Running barefoot is certainly pointing out muscles I didn’t know I had!

On the other hand there are people who say if you aren’t pushing your limits all the time you aren’t doing it right. Whatever it may be. These are the people who run a marathon after running for 9 months and people who are running ultras.  Sad truth?  How I wish I was one of them!  I’d love to be one of those people who do amazing things and who know their limits because they’ve pushed themselves to them and maybe even past them. I’m amazed by every one of them, and I don’t understand how they do what they do without injuring themselves on a daily basis. Is it because they are physically stronger?  Just because they want what they want so badly that there is no choice but to keep pushing?

I always wonder if people who push that hard are always in pain and just ignoring it or seriously just that good.

I’d like to blame genetics, whatever it is I”m not real likely to ever run an ultra or even a marathon.  I’d really, really like to be able to say I’d done one but it would take me like 40 years to get to that mileage at my current rate and then I’d be in my 80s and what are the chances? I’d also love to rough it in Alaska, but um, it’s kind of cold there.  Heck, I’m already worried about trail running barefoot in the summer because of ticks and Lyme disease. 

How do people do it?  I think it’s mind over matter.  Some people’s minds are strong enough to bring them past any pain and past any obstacles and right to their goal, whatever it is.  My mind tells me relax, don’t worry about it.  Be happy with where you are and don’t compare yourself with other people.  And that’s all good, some people even strive for it.  But while those people who push themselves to the limit already know what they are capable of I’ll always wonder, what if?

At least I have a glass of Sauvignon Blanc to keep me company while I ponder.

I had a pretty great weekend, and I’m finally feeling like I may be able to start running again. Taking it easy and not setting goals so I don’t over do things is a great idea, but it’s also a lot harder than it sounds. I want a goal!  But at the moment I’m still trying to keep with taking it easy since I do still have a minimal amount of pain in my hip after a run.  But it’s minimal!

Saturday I went for a hike on the trails around the lake near my house, it was almost an hour of barefoot hiking and it was pretty fun.  I went with a bunch of family.  I’m pretty sure they were just spiting me when they announced they had lost the trail and just cut through the woods.  Evil? I think so.

Sunday I went for my first mile run in the neighborhood.  It felt great to finally do a run that was actually measurable.  Granted it was only a mile, but it works for me.  So for this week my goal is to run a mile every other night.  I’ve heard so much about how people over do barefoot running and get stress fractures that I’m a little paranoid to add much distance at a time, and really a mile is a huge jump in itself.

I used to run with my iPod, setting a distance goal and agonizing over how slow I run.  I actually lost said iPod, so I am being forced to ignore all of that and it’s actually pretty fun!  So far I don’t miss the music but I probably will get something to replace it. I’d especially like to try the music apps to help with cadence.

I’d really like a GPS so I can go running or hiking on the trails without worrying about getting lost that also tracks pace and plays music.  Oh, and I also want it to be cheep. So far I haven’t even seen a GPS that plays music but who knows maybe I’ll find the perfect gadget if I keep looking…

Any suggestions?

I decided to try running barefoot again, but since running on pavement isn’t really working for me lately I went over to the park across the street and ran on the dirt road there. My 11 year old son went with me; he seems to be developing a love for running that I am both surprised and super happy about.

When Alex runs with me in his sneakers he sounds like a herd of elephants rampaging up the street, he slams his feet on the ground so hard it hurts ME to run with him, so I didn’t know how well he’d take to running barefoot. Turns out he loves it; he says it’s easier to run without shoes. Even on a road full of shells!

The path we chose looks nice and smooth at a glance, but if you look closer it’s covered in tiny shells and pebbles. Strangely we felt them more when we were just walking then when we were running. There’s a narrow sandy path leading to the road we wanted to run on, so we wore our shoes in and then tossed them in a bag and left it on the side of the road. We didn’t want to go in barefoot because a lot of people ride horses on the trail and shoes or not there are some things I do not want to step on.

We passed a couple teenagers when we were walking in and then again after we ditched our shoes, I have to admit I felt a bit silly running down the path with no shoes on when I had just had them on a few minutes ago. I muttered something about doing an experiment to them as we passed. That got a laugh out of all of us, though probably for different reasons. I’m going to have to work on ignoring the are –you-bat-shit-crazy looks. Shouldn’t be too hard, not like I haven’t got them before.

Oh, and just to make things a little more interesting we noticed these signs on the way out. Oops.

The 5K Zombie Run was insanely fun. Like when I got home I immediately looked for another one to sign up for fun.

There weren’t nearly as many people there as I expected, maybe because it was the weekend before Christmas. Maybe because it was the day after the world was supposed to end so people wanted to spend their hard earned money on something they knew they’d actually get to enjoy. Either way it worked for us; there was no line to speak of for anything but still plenty of runners and zombies to make it fun!

This race was at the Little Everglade Ranch just like Pretty Muddy, but it was a completely different route. I love that place!

The race didn’t have a whole lot of obstacles, most of them where haystack mountains and over/unders. Oh yeah, and the zombies.

Basically when you see the zombies ahead everyone tried to get in a group and then sprint past them in different directions, theory being that they couldn’t get everyone. It was a whole lot like a grade school playground game of tag with different random groups of strangers on your team at any given time.

I made it about 2 thirds through before dying, I have to admit that’s further than I thought I’d get. These were not the slow zombies of the original Dawn of the Dead!

The best part of the race was the barn. I was already dead anyways but some of us recently infected were running decoy for the still living. A bunch of people were grouped together before the opening to the barn, you could see tons of zombies silhouetted in there and there was one in a suit crawling slowly towards everyone, dragging himself on his elbows. That guy jumped up so quick I didn’t even see him do it, he was just suddenly sprinting towards everyone, and all of the runners scattered through the barn in a panic, you would have thought we were really in a life threatening situation.

The other best part is that although my hip did start aching it didn’t start for quite a while and didn’t get too bad. I think the trick is going to be to stop running on concrete and maybe try trail running, the concrete seems to kill my hip in just a few steps.

Oh, and the other other best part was the zombie truck.  I wanted to be a zombie just so I could go for a ride on the truck!

So, I did the barefoot run, and it did not go so well. My hip started hurting just a few steps in. Not near as bad as it was before, but still extremely discouraging and depressing. I finished the run anyways, it wasn’t very far.

The barefoot part was great! I like the feeling of the road under my feet and I think it probably does help with form. I’m definitely going to give it another try, but I guess I’ll have to wait a while more for this thing to heal. Not to be negative but this is really getting old…

I can finally start running again in two days, Saturday.  Considering the sad fact that the longest I’ve ever run was 3.5 miles and really just 3 miles on my long runs about killed me I figure I’m pretty much starting from scratch again.  Which I’m actually OK with, that just means that every step is an improvement over today. And it means I can try something new without worrying about backtracking.

I’ve been reading lots about getting started running barefoot, and just like ever other subject the information out there varies from several web sites content being word for word the same (I always wonder where on earth the original content comes from when this happens) to totally contradicting information.

A lot of sites recommend starting with just 200 feet per run the first week.  That sounded great until I looked it up and found there are 5280 feet in a mile.  So they are saying I can run down the driveway and be done?  I understand that you are supposed to start easy but geez, I’d like to actually start.

So I pulled up Mapmyrun.com to see just how far 200 feet is, and just how far a quarter mile is since that’s what I intend to start off with, and I want to see what the difference is.  It doesn’t show feet so I still insist I’d be done with 200 feet before I left my yard.  But it does show a quarter of a mile is about to my parents house, which is about that far up my street. 

So there you go, I have my first goal.  A quarter mile barefoot run Saturday, and if I feel great I’ll do it again on Sunday.  I have my Fila minimal shoes I’ll have to wear on weeknights I run, I’m not home when it’s light out on weekdays (thank you, daylight savings time) and I’m not risking stepping on a snake/frog/giant beetle/whatever in the dark.

I think this will be great fun.  I go everywhere I can barefoot now, and if I have to wear shoes it’s pretty much always sandals so the only worry I have is my stupid hip.  Oh and the fact that my sister says I’ll get worms if I run outside barefoot, my coworker says my knees will be useless within 5 years, and my mom just thinks it’s gross.

Lucky I’m used to it, if people I know started telling me now that my super-great ideas are super-great  at this point I’d be very suspicious.  When will they learn???

It seems I took the Dr.’s order to take if easy for two weeks perhaps a bit too seriously.  I have done NOTHING so far but eat crap.  No running, no walking the mutt (she pulls so hard it was bothering my hip to walk her), no stairs at work.  I watched the entire first season of American Horror Story and have an awesome place in Minecraft though, so that’s something. 

I got a bunch of stuff done around the house this week, so it wasn’t as much of a total wash as it feels like.  But I can’t believe how easy it becomes to do nothing that is good for you.  I haven’t even done yoga until yesterday; I used to do yoga daily. That’s a habit I’m getting back into starting yesterday!  Yoga is every bit as good for you as running both physically and mentally, but in a completely different way.  The two complement each other perfectly.

Time to get back to 20 minutes of yoga on work days and 40-60 on days off. Goodness knows I need something to help keep me zen, I don’t stay that way naturally! 

I have today and tomorrow off to see Eddie Vedder both nights (yay!) which gives me plenty of time to start my week off right.  So I’m off to do an hour of yoga, make myself a green smoothie, and plan and plot how to keep myself motivated for more than 10 minutes at a time…

This is the first time I participated in Lindsay’s Foodie Pen Pals.  I had fun looking for locally made items and even found some things I’m going to have to buy to try myself.

My package was sent by Shanon in Detroit.  Thanks Shanon!

For December Lindsay is doing something a little bit different, instead of arranging for everyone to send and receive food packages she’s asking that her group of pen pals send the money they would have used for the food boxes to help those affected by Hurricane Sandy.  Her goal is to raise $1500, if you are interested in helping out please go to her site to read about it and sign up!