Barefoot running naturally

Hello,

Well things have been a little on the quiet side here as I recover from my ankle injury.   9 weeks later.  Today was my first run post minor surgery, and all feeling good.  Just in time.  I have a 50km trail Ultra to run in Saturday (3 days away..yikes!) then a steady 20km Easter Sunday followed by a relay place of 18km in a 64km Ultra on Easter Monday, and then back out to pace another runner in to a PB in the same event.   Timing to use my surgery recovery period as a very relaxed taper period too!

I have finally decided to spend some money and purchased myself a pair of Luna sandals DIY kit.  They arrived very sharply in the mail and went out for their first run this morning.

My neandersandals were simply a pair of beach slops/things with the strap cut off and laces threaded through.  The Luna’s are pretty much identical, except that the Luna sole is much thicker and tougher, and the laces are leather.  I wore the Lunas around the house yesterday to soften the leather lace in as I really do not like things between my toes.  Lucky leather softens easily :).  The run this morning was just on the road, so no exciting reports, but within minutes I completely forgot about the Lunas and enjoyed the chat along with the run.  A good sign that they did not bug me.  I do feel that the sole plate is a lot thicker and stiffer than I expected, so not quite sure how the barefoot sensation, or better the ‘muscle/nerve memory’ of my foot sole will work on the trails.  Easter Saturday I am sure will give me a good idea, as that trail run is treacherous!

A nice indication on this mornings run was that I barely felt like I had got a warm up, and not even broke out in the least bit of effort, and suddenly 8kms was finished at a good pace.  I actually feel lost as I feel that I still need to go for my run!  But if I want my recovery to be successful, baby steps, and  have some mega running coming up this weekend.  A guaranteed 88km over 3 days plus a strong possible extra 15km…all in 3 days..

I attach a video here of my two nieces who went for a little walk with me.  They were playing and running as little ones do.  We took a walk to the local shops, with a detour to the beach, so I opted to go barefoot and encouraged the girls to leave their shoes behind, as there is less to carry and less to loose.   During the outing there was not one comment of sore feet, hot tar, rough road or anything.  Being barefoot was the most natural for them, albeit they do play outside barefoot normally anyway.  Then I noticed the way they were running.  In a perfectly normal and natural way, these little lasses were running in perfect form!  I was not expecting a video session and I did not want to draw attention to them that a) I was videoing them- otherwise they would ham it up for the camera, nor did I want them to realise I was paying attention to their running technique.  So my video is very brief and amateurish.  This was attempt 4!

I was quite surprised.  Yes I have seen a few google pages that refer to this and a few photos and videos on research, but mostly these are of children who run for a sport and have some form of coaching.  To see it in action on my front doorstep is quite amazing and an eye opener.    Also the fact that despite my ankle injury I have managed a number of big runs including and Ultra race and a couple of training marathons.  Yet I cannot walk around the mall, and find driving painful!  Have struggled walking up steps and by mid afternoon am pretty much confined to my chair with pain.  Because when I run I run for to mid footed and do not place pressure on my heel.  Secondly my heel is UP and so not pulling on any tendons.  When I walk it is the reverse 😦 and so rather painful.