Barefoot running for kids.

As most of you know Kyle and I have a rather large herd of children. 7 to be exact. There are only 6 in the picture because we can't post pictures of our foster baby until we adopt her. As we have gotten healthier our children have too. They are now starting to show an interest in running. Often they practice their running and ask us to check their 'form'. It is so cute to hear a 4 year old yell "look at my form" as they run past you. Seeing as we run barefoot or minimalist we had a hard time allowing our children to wear the traditional boxy cushioning shoes that are "good" for kids. So far our kids much prefer to be barefoot than anything else. A couple of weeks ago Kyle and I were out for a walk with all of the kids. It was a mile there and a mile back. Our oldest son Matthew (8) was dragging his feet and whining about how tired he was. Now this poor kid has shoes that his grandma bought him, they are clunky and 2 sizes too big and really looked like his skinny ankles couldn't lift them. We told him to ditch his shoes. The results were amazing. He was running and happy. He had tons of energy and actually ran the mile home. Because of this Kyle went out and bought the older 3 kids each a pair of Vibram KSOs. Rebekah our oldest and Matthew our second oldest love them. Rebekah even wears them to church. Sam doesn't love them because they gave him a blister. Because the Vibrams only came in bigger sizes we couldn't buy them for the younger kids, that and the high price tag. Instead of Vibrams we bought them all water shoes, we were thinking that they were what we ran in all winter long so they should work well for the kids. They all love them. I am so happy to watch my kids run and play knowing that they aren't ruining their feet by getting used to shoe coffins.

Last weekend we participated in the Hope Classic it was a 1, 5, 8K run and a family run. It was very low key but very well organized. Kyle and the older kids signed up for the 1K run. It was an out and back on park paths with 3 different turn around points. The park was beautiful and the weather was holding out, there was rain forecasted. Kyle, Sam and Abi all ran barefoot and Matthew and Rebekah wore their vibrams. It was great. As Rebekah came speeding in for 2nd place a guy commented that she was super fast and that she really didn't have much on her feet. She said that her Dad and siblings were barefoot.

Kyle, Abi (5), Rebekah (9), Matthew (8), and Sam (6)

Getting started.

Sarah didn't officially run the race but she ran about 200m and crossed the finish line.
You can see her water shoes here.

Joseph (2) needed to run across the finish line too.

Here is Rebekah she finished 2nd with a time of 5:05. Not bad for her first 1K

Matthew finished 3rd with a time of 5:55

Abi came in 4th with at time of 6:07

Sam and Kyle came in 5th and 6th. Sam ran the entire way. 

Kids with their finishing medals and faces painted. 

Overall for our kids first race this was amazing. I really don't think it could have gone better. They have all caught the racing bug now. Matthew was asking when they can race again. Rebekah and Abigail and I are running in the Starbucks Run for Women at the end of the month. Now I just need to find more races for the boys. If you are in calgary and you know of races with 1Ks or even 5Ks that are on a Saturday let me know please. We are all infected with the racing bug.

More winter training and Christmas drawings

In preparation for our upcoming Half-marathons at the end of December and in February I have been trying to run outside as much as possible. Even when it is not very nice out. Chances are the half marathons won't feature great weather with snow free condition so I better get used to it. Especially since this is our first winter running. I have to say though I'm still quite enjoying it. Running in my water shoes (at least until I get my precious Neo Trails. I know, I know. I'm still going on about it, but it's my blog so there. I'm totally looking forward to new shoes in the new year). I'm really digging the water shoes. The grip isn't super great on ice, but that's also a good thing as it helps with form. :)

Anyways so I have been running outside lots. Long runs on the weekend and shorter runs downtown during the week. On Monday I had a 5 mile run outside and it was wonderful. Still having some issues with the knee, but stretching it out first seems to be helping a whole lot. Need to make sure that I'm doing it all the time and I think that would make things even better.

Snowy paths. Packed snow and ice can be challenging

While I was running outside I was struck with a thought. It has seemed really hard lately. 5 miles seems like a whole lot more work than it did in the summer and fall. In the summer I was wearing just shorts and a t-shirt and maybe Vibrams. Now in the winter I'm wearing several full length layers. I'm not sure how much extra weight there is, but considering how much more work it feels like while wearing normal shoes, I can imagine the extra weight of base layers, track pants, extra shirt, jacket, two pairs of socks, etc, can be more draining. That said I still love it when on long runs that when you get past the first 5 miles I still feel that I can keep going on forever. Well I could go on forever except for my knee. Sigh. Stupid knee.

Beautiful

More things that Robbie and I have noticed. Running on packed snow and ice can be really challenging. The packed snow can be very bumpy and uneven. We find this to be much harder on the joints when your feet aren't landing flat every time. I can imagine it can be the same way with trail running, except with snow it can be hard to anticipate what angle the ground is going to be.

I ran another 4 miles today, but I couldn't do it outside. I forgot to wash my outside running clothes and I didn't want to kill everyone around me with the smell. I'm sure people appreciated that. I just ran 4 miles on a treadmill at work. 2 miles in my Neos, however my toes felt a little cramped today, so I changed into my Bikilas for the last 2 miles.

Our kids are getting super excited for Christmas. Come home today and my daughter Rebekah was so excited to show me the pictures that she drew. I thought they were really cool and inventive so I wanted to share them.

Lucky me, I've been here before, only with Castle Lego for the boys

Gecky is our Crocodile Gecko

Apparently the boys are not dreaming of sugar plums, but of presents.

I've informed them that this drawing will not be happening. ;)

Classic sisters teasing their brothers about the mistletoe

Long run and hospital run

Kyle here. Yesterday was my long run. My first long run since I hurt my knee. My knee has been feeling better and so far my trick of making sure my form is good has been helping my knee to remain good. Would it last through a long run. That was the question. It was about -16º C outside so first I had to consider what I was going to wear. I opted to go with my running base layer, long johns over that and then track pants over that on my legs. On my top I was wearing a running base layer, cotton t-shirt, and then a Running Room wind proof jacket. Not a warm jacket, but it was pretty windy at the time so I knew that I needed something to cut the wind. On my head I was wearing my Bondiband toque and Robbie's Flexi-chute over my mouth. On my feet I wore a sock liner, big wool socks and then my water shoes. I wore heavy gloves on my hands.

Now I say it was a ling run, but it feels kinda funny calling 6 miles a long run. Considering before the half marathon we were doing 6 miles on normal days and 13 miles on our long run days. It has been a long time since I've done a long run so 6 miles felt pretty good. 6 miles is also the farthest I have gone in minimalist shoes doing actually good form (I'm pretty sure I was heel striking in my Vibrams before. Amazingly it didn't hurt me to do so). 6 miles felt good though. All said and done the 6 miles was a great length. Felt good to be getting my distance back up. My knee acted up every now and again. It first started at about 3 miles in. All I needed to do though was correct my form and slow down and the pain went away. Awesome. As far as injuries go, one that reminds you to keep your form in check is pretty good. :) I must say that my knee is a little sore today, but I think I just need to take care of it a little more next time. Ice it and use tylenol. Even still it's only a tiny bit sore so it's all good.

Mmmm, frosty

My layering strategy worked pretty well. My feet were nice and warm. My hands were nice and warm. My body was pretty good with the exception of one (ahem) delicate area. I'm thinking some thermal underwear next time would solve that problem. One other item of note is that the cotton shirt wasn't a very good idea. It was soaking wet when I got back and heavy. Also Robbie found snow under my jacket in the back. The snow could only have been crystallized sweat. Yuck.

Sweat snow!

So that was my long run yesterday. What was the hospital run? This morning at church Joseph (our almost 2 year old little guy) was in the foyer and tripped over his shoes. He smacked his head on the edge of a wooden door and sliced his head open. Blood everywhere and a screaming boy. The other kids were in the sanctuary, pretty upset. Rebekah and Sarah were the most upset and were just crying. Poor kiddos.

Auntie and Pastor called 911 and the paramedics showed up shortly after. They checked him over bandaged him up and said that we could drive him to the hospital (they also offered a ride in the ambulance, but we didn't think that was needed). I was less shaken up by all this so I drove him. He was a wonderful little trooper. Once we left he didn't cry at all. He was happy, listened well and was fantastic. He got a little bored in the waiting room, but that was the only complaint. :) At one point he was knocking on the door and then was banging his head on the door too. I stopped him from doing that for obvious reasons. Apparently the head wound didn't feel too bad to him.

Joey with his bandaged head and bloody shirt. Shame, it was such a nice outfit.

He was still pretty happy though

The doctor came in and checked him out. Thankfully the wound would press back together nicely so they only had to glue it together, no stitches needed. Phew. So Joey has a nice new war wound on his forehead, bloody clothes worthy of a zombie costume and Robbie and I got all the excited we could handle for today.

Head wound all glued up and ready to go.

Quickie post.

I wanted to write a quick recap of my day yesterday.  I thought it would be fun to share what goes into a day with 7 kids and training for a race.

6:00 wake up get into workout clothes

6:30 make tea, start strength training, light weights arms, abs and legs

7:00 finished workout, sit down to read, blog and eat breakfast (egg whites with salsa and fruit)

7:45 get GG (our foster baby) up and give her milk, get her dressed and ready to go for a visit

8:00 all the other kids get up and start making noise wanting breakfast, leftover oatmeal with fruit

8:30 GG picked up, kids clear table and we start school work

10:00 snack time, call kids to the table for snack, read aloud to them while we eat

10:30 more school work, help 4yo with piano practice, read with 6yo, tell 7yo to keep working and stop bugging other kids, encourage 9yo to find another place to read where 7yo isn't around

11:15 GG gets back, put her down for short nap

Noon lunch time serve lunch, wraps with PB&J for kids, cucumbers with feta and balsamic vinegar and a sweet potato for me

12:30 scramble to make sure everyone is dressing including, shoes, coats, warm things, wake GG and get her ready to go out

1:00 leave for Costco after about 15min of buckling everyone into carseats

1:20 shop at Costco with 7 kids (this went really well, we even had 5 samples)

2:45 pay and head to van, it is snowing by now and pretty cold, unload groceries while listening to tired kids bicker in van

3:15 finally get home, hand out snack at kitchen table

3:30 send littles kids for a nap, 1yo, 2yo, 3yo, 4yo all go for a nap, olders finish school work or play video games

3:45 bring in box after box of groceries while freezing, watching for Kyle to get home so I can stay inside

4:10 cut up veggies and prepare soup to simmer on stove until super time

4:20 get into 4 layers of running clothes and head out for a run, -4C about -14C with windchill

4:30 run 3miles. 2.5 in my water shoes, .5 in just my socks, I also ran down the alley to try running on the gravel. Very interesting sensation.

5:00 grab soup and head to bath while Kyle feeds kids homemade pizza

6:30 head out to choir practice all by myself

10:30 get home from choir, eat my weight in fruit and more soup 

11:00 finally crash in bed

Anyways that's a look at my day. Normally we don't leave the house but with Kyle and I both training for a race our evening are more busy so I may have to start taking all of the kids to shop with me alone. Normally we wait for Kyle or Kyle goes by himself. Yesterday really was a great day. I was amazed at how much energy I had at choir practice after my run. I am so grateful to feel that high again. This is why I am so into running it makes me feel so good. 

Weight loss journey ... one year later

I've been wanted to do a post about our weight loss journey and how we got to where we are. It seems fitting to do this post today because it has been a year since we started. We were both overweight, tired and too busy with our large family to change anything. Kyle and I have been through a lot and I don't think anyone would fault us if we said we didn't have time to work out or try and eat better. See we've had 6 children in 8 years and have fostered 8 babies along the way. We also homeschool so I don't get much of a break from the kids all day leaving Kyle on full-time daddy duty when he gets home so that I can decompress. So what changed? This time last year I was sick and tired of being overweight. I had plantar facetious, heal spurs, bad knees and many other symptoms from being morbidly obese. I decided that this was it and that I needed to change things. You see Kyle and I had decided that we were going to have any more babies of our own, and I wasn't very happy about it. I decided that if I couldn't be pregnant I might as well be fit.

For me this has been a life change. See Kyle was a healthy weight when we were married but I was already obese. I had been a small child, like tiny, and I didn't put on any weight until grade 11. By the time I graduated high school I was already one of the biggest girls. It didn't stop there. Years of fast food, binge eating and unhealthy food choices pushed me up the scale. When Kyle and I were married I was at 220. We quickly got pregnant and my weight went up and down over the next 8 years and 6 pregnancies. I always took pregnancy as my free pass to eat anything and everything in large amounts. I couldn't tell you how heavy I was pregnant because all of the scales I used stopped at 300 pounds. Fast forward to October 2010 and I was weighing in at 270 pounds and 5'7".  Kyle had done his fair share of eating with me and had gone up to 215 at his highest. So we changed. I have to tell you that when I want to do something I go all in. It is everything or nothing. Once we started there was no going back.

To begin with we changed our diet. We started counting calories and made sure that each meal contained a good amount of protein. We used an app called My Net Diary to track what we ate and how many calories total we ate per day. We stopped eating fast food and really only ate Subway if we had to eat when we were out. It also really helped that we ate every 3 hours. For me I ate 300 calories every 3 hours focusing on getting enough protein so that I would feel full. It worked. Kyle and I started to drop somewhere around 2 pounds per week. In March we started learning to run and now as we continue to work towards losing those last pounds. Now we have to balance eating enough to fuel our running and still maintaining a calorie deficit to lose weight. It has been an amazing ride. There have been bumps in the road and some days and even weeks when it seemed that nothing was going right. I have always lived in fear that  the weight may come back. Running has helped so much. Not so much with weight loss (I am so hungry when I am running a lot of miles), but it has grounded me. I am less stressed and more happy. I don't need to eat to make me feel better I can go out and run. There are still days when too much food and not enough moving happens and I go up in weight. As of right now I have been maintaining a weight between 152-157. I would still like to lose some and I am now getting back into watching what I eat fully. It is helpful too that I have backed off my mileage while learning to barefoot run. I am not so hungry now and find it easier to create a calorie deficit.

Anyways the journey continues and hopefully soon we will both meet our weight loss goals, while we work towards it we are having the time of our lives. It is amazing how good it feels to be fit and healthy. I am so blessed that I was able to change my life and reverse the ill effects I had from being so heavy. I never in a million years thought that I could run and now I enjoy it every chance I get.

Kyle before 215lbs

Kyle after 165lbs

Robbie before 270lbs

Robbie After 153lbs

Kyle Day 4: Run with Rebekah

My heel continues to feel better which is awesome. I think I'll be ready to go for normal runs again right away. I was going to rest up for the rest of the weekend, but when my 9 year old daughter Rebekah was asking me to run with her I couldn't say no. This is a first for her. She has never asked to go running before and I was super proud. Rebekah of course being the oldest has seen Robbie and I at our worst. Obese and frankly lazy. We didn't eat right and that is what Rebekah grew up seeing us do. Ever since we started losing weight (A year ago today!!) and started running back in March she has also seen us making better choices for our life. That has recently translated into her wanting to make better choices. She tries to talk about calories, although we redirect her into talking about making healthy choices. She has recently become more adventurous with eating veggies and now loves cucumbers and broccoli. This coming from a girl who didn't really like veggies at all before. Woot!

The path in Coventry by our house

Rebekah getting her shoes on.

With all of that already, when she asked to go for a run, I couldn't refuse. We headed out for a quick run around the neighborhood. I went barefoot (with my Vibrams attached to a carabiner just in case) and Rebekah went in shoes. Although she did take them off twice to go barefoot with me. So proud.


You know what? She is pretty awesome at running. I told her to pick a pace and so we went at about a 10:45 minute/mile pace. And she kept that up the whole time. No complaining, no getting tired, just some awesome bonding time with my daughter.

Barefoot Rebekah

Barefoot but in jeans. Kinda weird to run in jeans

After about 1.25 miles we decided to turn around and head back as it was starting to get cold (this was in the evening). We made a quick stop at the park so she could go on the swings and the playground. And then we headed home. All in all, we did about 2.55 miles in just under 30 minutes. Fun run, great time with Rebekah and she is already itching to get out again. Love it.

Quality time

Kyle

Welcome to our blog

Well we have finally decided to dive in and start writing a blog. We wanted to log our transition into barefoot and minimalist running. Our journey started in October of 2010. Our oldest had just turned 8 and our baby was just about to turn 1. Kyle and I found ourselves overweight, tired and looking for a change.

We began our weight loss journey and 6 months later and many pounds lighter we stumbled upon the Couch to 5K program. We started the program in March of 2011 and we were both hooked on running. In October 2011 we completed our first race the Harvest Half Marathon.

Finish Time  2:02:XX

Finish Time 1:46:XX

Kyle was running in Vibram KSOs and I was wearing my Brooks Ghost 4s. It was a lot of fun and definitely a race that we will do again. Hopefully next time though we will both be barefoot. We wanted to create this blog to document our progress in barefoot running. The challenges, accomplishments, and other craziness along the way. We hope you'll join us on our journey to lose our shoes and hopefully not our minds.

Robbie