Here’s a video that says it all about barefoot running. More and more research shows that we were designed to run barefooted.
Some guidelines for barefoot running here in the Philippines:
1.Try it for at least 30 minutes at the gym for at least once a month before venturing into barefoot running on the street. Use the treadmill so that you can feel and also correct your running form before hitting the streets.
2. If you do not have gym membership, do it for only ten to fifteen minutes just around your neighborhood so that you are familiar with the road and anything that could come up on the road.
3. The key to good barefoot running is proper form and developing calluses on your feet. It will take months of regular barefoot running before you get the chance to have enough layers to do a full 10 kilometer run, but I assure you that it is a fun and good experience to run sans running shoes!
4. Keep an eye for sharp objects and shards of glass on the street.
5. Avoid night running if you’re doing barefoot because you have less visibility of what’s on the road. This can be waived for advanced barefoot runners who have been at it for years or even decades.
I hope that before this year comes to an end, I will be able to do a half marathon barefooted. I’m thinking about December would be the best time for it. Running barefooted is an amazing way to correct your running form, and also means more savings too since shoes typically last me about three to four months. I know you will also come across research against barefoot running. Well, here’s my final advice — if you think it works for you and your body believes it so — then go for it. All I know is that I gave it a try and noticed that I was able to correct my running form by running barefoot. So there’s no harm in giving it a try.
Besides, we were born naked into this world and animals don’t have clothes. If you consider evolution as real and biology as your Bible, then you would consider barefoot running as more scientific than running with shoes. Still, I love my running shoes and I don’t think I will part ways with it. Makes me wonder if anybody has done an ultramarathon barefooted?
2 comments
sharon says:
October 27, 2010 at 12:55 pm (UTC 8 )
Here’s an NYT article on running shoes w/ a coda on barefoot running:
For Running Shoes, It’s Fit First and Price Last
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/23/health/23patient.html?_r=1
sharon says:
October 27, 2010 at 12:58 pm (UTC 8 )
I’m waiting for cheap Chinese knock-offs of Vibram Five Fingers or similar shoes so I can try out almost-barefoot walking. Let me know if you see any, ha?