First Day!

I have decided to blog my own exploits into the mysteries of barefoot running and light support shoes. I do not claim to be an expert or even an experienced person of these two subjects. But I am an avid runner and sucker for alternate ways of running.

Along with just finishing my second year of Cross Country, I've decided to begin attempting to learn Pose Method Running upon my own. (this is unrecommended). I have gradually begun to change the way I run to better help my body.

From as long as I can remember I have been running and walking w/ orthotics. Just last month I lost my latest pair of custom orthotics; instead of going back to remold and custom fit my feet again. I decided to save myself the few extra hundred dollars for other more useful things. Later one night roving through the depths of the internet I stumbled upon the Pose Method site and thus began my journey into barefoot running.

I was instantly hooked on the idea that it was possible to run without my orthotics and be able to run injury free. In a week I absorbed all the advice and information I could. Then I decided to start using these excercises to better my running. At first I stopped using my original trainers all together. I decided to try barefoot for the moment, I had previously read about this alternate style of running and was intrigued. I decided to begin running barefoot with my usual stride, I soon learned how abusive my old stride was upon my body. Thus for the next few weeks I did different Pose Excercises and slowly worked my way into running.

One problem though... I began to develop blisters that set me back a few days. Though I could feel my feet become more calloused and less sensitive to the ground, I had difficulties completely adjusting. So I read through blogs and forums about different shoes to do Pose in. Suddenly one night I stumbled upon, the Vibram FiveFingers, a shoe that was originally created for sailors, it has now caught on as a multi-use shoes also including running. I was intrigued and fascinated by its new approach to shoes. It separated the toes, had strong gripping soles yet didn't hinder the connection of touch with the ground. After a few days of reading blogs and reviews i decided to grab me my own pair of Sprint model red colored vibrams. I got them for the first time today and tested them out. To adjust into the shoes is much harder than a regular shoe. The new adjustments on the Sprint model are much more precise and comfortable. After walking around in them for a bit, I had a sudden impulse to go out for a run. The run turned out to be a 30 minute jaunt around the neighborhood. I felt encouraged and exhilarated from my run, my feet did not feel banged up and had no blisters upon them. My only nuisances with the shoes was the size difference of my left foot, after a while I could feel the slight size difference between my two feet. The left shoe did no fit as snugly as I would have hoped. Overall the shoes protects your foot very nicely, but the shoe must have its due respect, take on the shoes slowly and build up to running in them. I highly recommend these shoes to those looking for an alternative shoe to running


Galloping John