Saturday, August 15, 2009

Barefoot Running

I went for a run after we got home from the UW visit. I wore shoes for the first mile and a half until I got to Mead High School. Then I took my shoes off and ran barefoot around the huge grass fields for a distance of about two miles. For the first mile I just ran and let my feet go. Then I started focusing on how my feet were landing on the ground.

I tried to maintain that as I ran home on cement and asphalt. A week ago, Thinnmann said not to twist my feet or push off. Just lift the feet. And that was pretty much was I was doing. It was working well. Too well, in fact. It felt so good I started speeding up which was a bad thing to do. Then during the last quarter mile my brain started thinking, "I can improve upon this."

"No! Ouch! Don't think!"

So I just need to increase the distance that I run while thinking of something else.

While we were in Seattle, we stopped by the REI store so Kathy could get some bike shorts. The shoe section had the Vibrams on hand. It's mainly the price that's keeping me at bay because I can't say for sure I'd use them that much. But they sure did seem nice.

2 comments:

Shan said...

My question about the shoes (aside from why the heck are they so freaking ugly?!?) would be about REI's return policy. Can you take them back if they really don't work out?

Hank Greer said...

I suppose I could, but I don't feel right about doing that.