Beautiful barefoot run before the snow comes.

Confederation Park

After a couple of short barefoot runs with no pain I was itching to get out for another run. Sunday the weather was beautiful 16 C. How could I resist what may be one of the last days here without snow and freezing temperatures? We got the kids home from church and I got them fed and headed out to Confederation Park. Kyle told me that Confederation Park was supposed to have all newly paved paths that were smooth and great to run barefoot on. I couldn't wait.

I pulled into the parking lot and realized that I wasn't the only one with the great idea to get to the park on such a great day. The park was packed. I jumped out of my van and walked over to a grassy area to take off my shoes and warm up. As I stood there in my bare feet I noticed that I was hesitant to get started. I wasn't worried about the run or glass or hurting myself. I was worried about what this park full of people would think of me as I ran barefoot. Now in my life I tend to stick out. I drive a 15 passenger van, I have 7 kids all under 10, I homeschool those kids and take them out when kids are supposed to be in school, I wear my babies in wraps on my back (freaking out people as I throw them up and tie them on) and I get a lot of stares and comments about it. So really, running barefoot isn't that different. I get stares and comments but that's not new. So why was I worried? I think partly it is because I want to be taken seriously as a runner. This is a new thing for me, running. I have only been running about 6 months and I still have a hard time realizing that I am no longer an obese inactive person. I sometimes think when I am running that I am just fooling myself into thinking that I am strong and that really other people are wondering why I am even trying. Now with barefoot running I feel AMAZING. I feel like I am flying and like I am a  kid again, but I do wonder if I look like a spaz doing it. Well today I realized that I care way more about getting out and running than I do about what people think of me. The new smooth path looked awesome and I wasn't going to let my vanity get in the way of a great run.

New smooth path.

So I started off running. Well really I didn't run right away. I have learned my lesson and this girl warms up now before running. So I did some quick jumping in place to a 180 cadence and some running in place then I very gently stretched out my calf and wiggled all of my toes. Everything felt great! I hooked my vibrams onto my spibelt and wore them like a tail wagging behind me. I was off. I ran through the park, passing walkers, families getting pictures taken, bikers, and kids everywhere. It felt great. I remembered to keep my feet under me, my knees lifted up and bent and I tried to keep my cadence at around 180. It was so much fun. Once again it felt like flying. I had a number of heads turn and a number of people poking each other to tell them to look but overall it was great. The only comment I heard was from a man on a bike coming toward me who said "Wow, Wow". I said back to him "I know it is so much fun". The whole run I was smiling so big, it was really perfect. I got a twinge in my calf anytime I tried to over stride so that kept me feet under me very nicely. Natural feedback is cool. In all I ran 2.2 miles and I could have run longer but decided to keep it short to avoid the dreaded TMTS. 

Post run happy face, even with the sun in my eyes.

Afterwards my feet felt great. They were tingly and alive. It was amazing. I am so glad that I have started barefoot running, but at the same time I am sad because this may well be one of the last time I get to do it this year. With the snow and cold coming quickly, I don't think I will be getting out barefoot much more. I'm just not that awesome (yet). So now I am starting to look for and experiment with ways to run as close to barefoot as I can get during our long cold winter. I have some EVOs coming and I am looking at getting some water shoes and maybe even just some warm socks to run in until the snow sticks. We will see how things go as the weather changes. For today I am amazed and blessed that I can run and my whole family is happy that I am not so cranky anymore. 

Robbie

Kyle: A win and a fail

Saturday was a very busy day. Rebekah, our eldest, had to be at a friend house early in the day for a day camp with her friend. Right after that the two little girls had a ballerina class. We had enough time after they got home from that to quickly eat lunch and then the two older boys had a birthday party to go to. In and out of the house all day long. So thankfully I was able to take advantage of some time while the boys were at the party.

Ready for a run!!!

Forgot my carabiner. Did Paul's method of tucking it into my belt. Worked great. Can't do that with marshmallow shoes though.

I was able to take just over an hour to have a run. My feet were feeling all better now so I was looking to have a good run. We have been talking about running in confederation park for a while so. Apparently the paths there are freshly paved and are lovely for going barefoot on. So with that in mind, I totally forgot about that and ran down the pathway by the Deerfoot instead. Silly Kyle. My wife is currently running in Confed so she will have to tell me how great the paths are there.
I love running on the paths by deerfoot. It's nice and long and not too crowded. However I now notice going barefoot that the path condition is pretty crappy. The pavement is quite rough. I welcomed every single bridge that came along because the pavement on the bridges is smooth and lovely.

Pathway along Deerfoot.

Pathway in a natural area around Beddington trail and Center Street.

Got a couple of weird looks, but no comments about my barefootedness. But I didn't care. It felt so good to be out running, feeling the ground under my feet. I loved it. I was having so much fun that when I came upon a gravel path I thought, Why not? Wow. I can't believe I was running on gravel. It didn't hurt my feet, but it did feel very sharp. Very intense. After a while it started to feel painful. Interesting because it never injured my feet. All said and done, my feet felt great, but the feeling was too intense.

Gravel Pathway? Don't mind if I do.

The gravel path I was on didn't quite go where I thought it was going. So I could either turn around and go back, go up the hill along the gravel path or go along a trail. I chose the trail. I apparently was feeling very adventurous that day. Running on the trail was lovely, except when there were stones along the way. My feet were still feeling very sensitive from the gravel. Got to the end of the trail and came upon...another gravel path. I wasn't feeling up to more gravel barefoot so that is when I put my Vibrams on. Amazing how much better it feels running on gravel with my Vibrams on. Almost effortless. Before it would have felt much harder, but now it was easy.

And then running barefoot along a trail. Lovely.

More gravel so on go my Vibrams.

All in all I did about 4 miles barefoot and it was great. My feet felt perfect and a day later (today) they still feel great. That was my win. Anyways so I was now running with my Vibrams on and just running back to pick up the boys. I was running short on time so I needed to go at a good pace. This was all good until my big fail. My left knee started to hurt at about 1.5 miles left to go (I ran about 6.5 miles that day). I couldn't walk, couldn't slow down, just had to push through the pain. Bad idea. Had I not needed to be back to get the boys I would have done this totally different. Alas I didn't have much choice. Running 1.5 miles with a hurt knee is not good. I wouldn't recommend it. My knee was super sore all yesterday and last night. It's a little better today but it will probably be a while until I can have a good run again. Aaarrrrgh!

My feet feel great. Knee, not so much.

I have never been good about taking care of myself when I get sore. But this time I'm going to follow RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) like a good little runner and see if that helps my knee to feel better quicker. You win some, you lose some. If anyone has other ideas on how to get better quicker, leave a comment and let me know. Thanks.

Kyle

Sarah needed to be a pothead too. Laff

Abigail comes up to me and says "I'm a pothead!!!"

Kyle Day 9: More barefooters and more pain

This here is a late post. I should have posted it Monday night, but here we are and now it's friday. So just pretend that this was posted on Monday and everything is cool. :)

So Monday came and I went for another run with Paul and Ryan. Great run. We went for about 10 km. Knowing that this would be longer barefoot than I have ever done (and that the increase in mileage would be substantial) I only did about 5.8 km barefoot and then put on my Vibrams for the last 4.2 km. Definitely a smart move on my part. Didn't want to push it too much. However I do think it was still a little too much, but more on that later.

Probably on the last 3 km of our run Ryan (Paul corrected me, I thought his name was Brian) came running up barefoot. And now there were 4 of us crazy guys in around 7 C all running barefoot (well I was in my Vibrams at that point, but close enough). Awesome. I wonder if we could get any more people to try it. Maybe by this time next year we will have another 4 people. Who knows. Still pretty cool. There was mention in the group of maybe having a barefoot race, possibly in Confederation Park. Robbie says that she is already game and I'm sure we could get a bunch more people to race too. Plus Rebekah would love to run with us. Can't wait till it gets warm again.

Anyways so after my run I started getting more foot pain. Top of the foot pain on my right foot and a little pain along the outside of my left foot. Too much. What was even stranger was like a grinding when I bent my right big toe. Not fun. I did decide to take more time off running until my feet feel better. I skipped running all week and now, on friday, I'm feeling much better. My feet are almost 100% and that weird grinding thing stopped (it actually stopped on Wednesday). I'm sure that my feet are changing and the pain is a factor in it. Either way I'm taking it easy and letting my feet slowly adjust to the mileage. Here's to a good next week and some more miles barefoot. Hopefully the weather holds out. :)

The 4 of us. Seriously, could I take a worse picture? I'm a sweaty mess and my double chin is wonderful. I'm one of those guys who sweats like crazy for no mileage.

Kyle

OMG!! I can run!!

Ok so really quick post. I ran tonight. Not far but it was AWESOME! Yes I'm yelling. I took everyone's advice and decided to concentrate on lifting my knees higher and shortening my stride. Tada no calf pain. Kyle and I ran back and forth along the bike path behind our house (about half a mile in total). I ran in place to start with to get a feel for lifting my knees. Then I took a very slight lean forward and let myself fall into each step. I pulled my feet in under me and away we went. It felt so good.  It felt like flying really, I felt like I was hardly touching the ground. The only calf pain I had was the one step where I reached out too far. We did the entire run barefoot. Although it was quite cold out my feet weren't really feeling it. I didn't notice the cold until we came inside and my toes started to warm up. Ouch. Anyways thanks to everyone who checked out my form and gave me things to try. I am so excited that I could run pain free. I am also amazed at how great half a mile feels when you haven't been running at all.

Robbie

Barefoot running on the treadmill.

Well I haven't had much to post lately on the running front. Still waiting for my calf strain to feel better. Generally now during the day walking around, going up and down stairs I have no trouble. I can even run half a block to the mailbox and back without pain so I know it's coming. I have also been making progress on the weight loss front so that is good. Seriously if I wasn't at least losing weight I think I would be unbearable to be around. Running has helped so much with my stress and dealing with the general ups and downs of my moods. Right now without running we are all riding the roller coaster of my moods. Not fun for anyone.

So I thought I'd post about how things have been going with my weight loss and what I've been doing. I am now down to 148 which seems just crazy. I can't even remember being this light. Well I can but I was in grade 10 so it was quite sometime ago. What I have been doing is the same as when I began a year ago. I am counting my calories, 1500 a day, and eating every 3 hours. So far it hasn't been very difficult. I did get used to eating a lot more food than this while I was running but I am getting back into the swing of things. Lots of water, lots of tea when I feel like eating but am not hungry. I also eat on a schedule like a toddler. I am home all day, surrounded by stress and food. I use a schedule to be sure I am not mindlessly eating. I eat at 7, 10, 1, 3 and somewhere between 5-6. If I have leftover calories I eat a fruit sometime after supper. My biggest downfall has been coffee. I love coffee with cream and splenda. Each cup costs me 40 calories, no big deal really, but when I have a couple cups of coffee with snack I am not getting enough real food to help me stay full till my next meal. When I first started counting calories I gave up coffee and switched to black tea. I fell in love with Teaopia teas and have lots different kinds. My favourite right now is their Pumpkin Spice black tea. So good. I think that I am going to have to go back to tea until I can get running again and up my calories.

On the running front I did 1.65 miles on the treadmill on Tuesday. It felt great. I stopped as soon as my calf got sore. I started off in my Ghost 4s and just ran 'normally'. I cannot believe how easy it is to heel strike in normal shoes. It was almost impossible to get the right form because the heel keeps getting in the way. I very quickly ditched my shoes and socks and ran barefoot on the treadmill. Kyle decided to take video of my form so that I could post it here. Kyle has met some pretty great guys who have been barefooting for a long time, and they have been helping him with his form. I have mentioned that I am jealous because I have no idea what I am doing and I don't have anyone to watch me run and let me know. So I am going to post the video here and you guys can correct me and then I'll be a better runner. The run on the treadmill felt great. The belt felt like it was getting pretty warm though by the end. I also had some pretty great treadmill belt imprints on my feet. Should have gotten a picture but I forgot. I think that for now treaddy and I will be good friends. I can run just a little and know that I won't have to limp home if my calf hurts. Also it is one of the only flat areas to run around here. So that's how I've been doing. If you take a look at my video please let me know how I'm doing. What do I need to change?

First section in slow mo, second at regular speed. Please excuse the messy basement I do have 7 kids.

Robbie

Kyle Day 7 and 8: Barefooters aplenty and Running with Rebekah

I should have posted this sooner, but I have had a busy past couple days so ah well. The reason for the delay? Our church had a Weekend for Women 'conference' on Friday night and all of Saturday. So I was in charge of 7 kids all by my lonesome for that time (although a teen from church helped babysit the kids for a bit on Saturday. More on that later).

So on Friday at lunch I was able to get out another run. Ran by myself but there were barefooters aplenty. Well when I say aplenty, I mean I saw 3 other guys barefooting but I guess in our world that is a lot. Pretty awesome too. I managed to get in 3 miles barefoot in pretty chilly conditions. I believe my weather app was saying it was -1º C outside. My feet were feeling pretty good the whole time, not really feeling the cold that much which is pretty awesome.

Anyways so I got out running by myself and right after I started I saw Ryan running barefoot in the opposite direction. Said Hi and continued on. Then another barefoot guy whom I have never seen before came speeding up behind me. He said Hi as he passed. Would have been cool to get his name or to chat for a little bit but this guy was booking it. He was probably doing a 6 minute mile, so I certainly understand why he didn't slow down to my pace (which was 8:20 minute/mile average). Got a couple comments on where were my shoes and 2 ladies were amazed at seeing more than one person barefooting.

On my way back to Eau Claire, right near the end of my run, I saw Brian running the other way. He was wearing thin sandals but he also takes them off after a while to go barefoot I have been told. Very awesome to see so many other people going barefoot. Finished my run and my feet were good but my left knee was a little sore, probably still from Nose Hill before. Maybe I'll take it a little easier this week to let it rest up.

Next on Saturday, while Robbie was at the weekend for women, Rebekah begged me to go running again. We had a teen from our church who wanted to come over to help out so I agreed to run with Rebekah. It was also at nap time so the babies would be down so that also made it easier for the teen.

Joseph managed to bend Rebekah's glasses out of shape so our run had a destination, the optometrist office to get them fixed. My Vibrams were still wet as I decided to wash them the night before (The stench was offending everyone) and I didn't want to barefoot it the whole way so I put on my running shoes. First time in my shoes in a long time so I had to see how it would go.

The run was great though. As I was running with Rebekah, it wasn't fast but it was fun. Lots of great bonding time. Rebekah also spontaneously decided to take off her shoes at 3 points during our run so she could barefoot it. I followed suit whenever she did. The last time was on our way back and she was starting to get tired. She made the comment that running barefoot felt so much better on her feet and that she loved it. Woot!! Loved hearing that, glad she is so happy to run.

Fantastic weekend, glad to get in a couple runs. Looking forward to running with the pack at lunch tomorrow and just having fun.

Kyle

Hills everywhere

I ran this morning. It was not great. About half a mile in I notice my calf was aching. Not pain aching more like I haven't used those muscles in a while aching. I walked to the top of the hill in my neighbourhood and thought that the run home on relatively flat ground would be ok. The problem is that there are no flat areas at all where we live. When training for the Harvest Half this was a major benefit, the hills in the race seemed like nothing because every training run was a hill run. Now however with my sore calf, being surrounded by hills is not so good. I can run on flat ground with no problems, no pain and all is good. When I start up an incline, no matter how moderate, my calf starts cramping. So today's run was less than stellar. 2 miles done. My calf is sore now and I foresee more time off resting it and icing it.

On a different not I did about half a mile of my run barefoot. I was very interesting. It was about -4C when I left the house and I was surprisingly warm. I had on a pair of leggings, tank top, long sleeve technical shirt and a jacket. I wasn't too warm at all. I was surprised at how good it felt to be outside even in the cold. Even my lungs were doing well. Taking off my shoe felt great although my toes were a bit numb. I decided to put my vibrams back on because the street lights were out where I was running and I couldn't see the ground, too risky for me. Let me tell you trying to get my numb but not yet warmed from running toes back into my vibrams was a hard task. I think it may be time to invest in some toe socks or water shoes. With my vibrams back on I made my way home working hard to keep my form in check and to run as lightly as I could so that there would be the least impact on my calf. It seemed to work although my ninja style running must have looked quite odd. So that's that I think that I am going to rest and try some yoga for the next couple of days and see if my calf heals up. If anyone has any ideas on how to help my calf, specifically my soleus muscle, feel better or something that I may be doing wrong to keep hurting it please let me know. I am open to trying anything.

Robbie