Aaron has quite persuasively immersed me in constant barefoot running discussion this weekend so of course I had to go barefoot again for a bit today. Went to the gym and ran my first 2 miles barefoot around the track. At first I just felt tight and tired from Saturday's race but as I focused my stride and cadence, I started feeling looser. I focussed on making quicker, more frequent steps and staying light on my feet. Other than the usual post-race fatigue I felt pretty awesome. After a couple of miles I stopped to stretch and evaluate how the no shoes was affecting my feet and legs. I felt a little bit of tightness on my lateral calves and decided that I didn't want to exasperate the tightness lingering from last week by running my whole workout barefoot, so I laced my shoes up and ran 6 more miles on the treadmill. To be honest I could have easily done more barefoot miles if my calves weren't already so tight but I didn't want them to work harder than they had to on a much needed recovery day. After I put my shoes back on I felt like my feet and lower legs just went into auto-pilot recovery running. I really liked how it was feeling to make them think and work a little more while barefoot though. I didn't have anyone talk to me about running barefoot at the gym but after Aaron's experience of being confronted and asked to put his shoes back on, I'm wondering if I ought to consider getting some Five Fingers too so I can continue to strengthen my feet through minimalist running. Or I could just pull out some old worn down compressed running shoes and get the same effect. I'm not as hyped up on the barefoot running as Aaron, but I'm certainly hyped to hear that he is planning on running a Marathon with me this next Fall! Yeah! I'll have a running partner for long runs this summer!
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