Wednesday, September 9, 2009

The Point of no Return?

So I have hit a very unusual spot in my running pursuit. Clod hurts, barefoot doesn't. It is funny because it is so dang black and white. My runs hurt from start to finish and the pain lingers sometime after when I hoof it in shoes - my right knee twinges, my left calf cramps and my stride is short and weak. The moment I remove my shoes I run free. I am floating. I move painfree. The after effects? None to speak of. Of course, the pain after running in shoes is nothing new, it is what I how my body has been reacting to running over the last 1/2 a year, I have just steadily ignored it. I guess now, after tasting the forbidden fruit, the higher good of bare biped locomotion, I notice just how bad the pain from shoed running is in contrast.

Where do I go from here? I never intended to be a barefoot runner, just to supplement a bit of my regular training with some barefoot exercises. Now I can't go back, at least not now. I will continue to run barefoot and test out of my shoed running form as a mirror. Doubtless, it is not the shoes themselves, it is how I run when I am in them. My hope is that after a term of barefoot training my stride will take shape and become my the new form which I will then be able to translate to shoed running. Who knows. This is an odd place to be. For now? Dirty feet and perplexed looks.

No comments: