First run with no shoes

Yesterday I was helping my seven-year-old daughter running an orienteering competition, in the beautiful forrests in Salem south of Stockholm. Half a kilometer in to the race I decided to ditch my sneakers- a brand new pair of 150 EUR Nike Air, and run the rest of the race in only my socks. Why? I'd just started to read "Born to run" by Christopher McDougal about the benefits of barefoot running and was eager to try- Given my three years old knee injury just keep getting worse (despite the fancy trainers and medical training), I hadn't much to loose. Let's face it, I'd trained less and less during the passed year, much because the aching knee just took the joy out of it and I was about to quit running all together.

When reading Born to Run, the pieces sort of came together. Not only had my injury gotten worse from using the advanced trainers I'd bought. The injury itself actually was caused by a pair! But more about that later...

This was a very short orienteering race, only 2 km (remember, it was for eight year-olds...) but we covered different types of terrain, we ran on dirt roads, a boulder field, soft grassy paths, muddy tire-track roads and the rim of farmed fields. The funny thing was that no matter the terrain, my feet seemed to find ways to avoid the sharp rocks and pointy sticks, and the rest of the body emediately adjusted, aiming to give the feet as little impact to the ground as possible. I could feel that my running style pretty much emulated the barefoot running I'd been reading about: Toes pointing down, every step landing on the front part of the foot, upper body in a more up-right position, moving almost nothing vertically.

A streange thing is that during the race and all day following, I actually felt my feet in a way I usually don't. It was like they had been awakened, and had woken on their sunny side too! A vague tickeling sensation in my feet followed me all day, a bit like after you've had a good foot massage! That just cannot be a bad thing.