The Starting Line

Growing up, I loved to run. I’ve always remembered wanting to run everywhere and race everyone. I rarely ever talk about my days in track so this may come as a surprise to many of you. Speed was my thing and I had a knack for it. Come Jr. High I was competing in the Jr. Olympics and running against kids from all over the So Cal area.

I won 1st place at the 200m at the NCAA Jr. Olympic finals for the So Cal region. In High School I mainly ran track with some cross country here and there to increase my stamina. Sprinting was my thing – 100m, 200m, 400m, 4x100m, and the 4×400 were my events. Ran track at three different schools – loved it. My PR for the 100mm was 10.4 seconds my senior year in High School.  One of my coaches from Chino High, Coach Prescot, would have us run barefoot a few times a week. He would have us do sprint drills on the grass. Definitely strengthened our feet. Ever since then, or maybe before too, I’ve had wide feet. Not your normal wide feet either. My feet were not only wide where the toes were but also where my ankles bones were. They would bulge out where my arches are located on the inside of my foot. It could have been because of all the barefoot drills we did, or because for seven years I had been running around the track the same direction. Who knows, or of course, I could have been born with wide feet. I didn’t really notice until I started trying to shop for shoes when I began jogging after high school. I don’t think I’ve ever bought a shoe that felt “good” when I ran. The arch supports would dig into my arches, or the width of the shoe would rub my feet wrong, or the wide shoes wouldn’t be wide where I needed them to be. Horrible. Took out all the joys of running. I wanted to run like I did when I was in High School.  I always wondered why I never noticed the pains in my foot when I ran long distance in HS. I finally figured it out this past year. In High School I never ran more than 4 miles for cross country, believe it or not, that’s as much as I did when conditioning for track. Also, I’ve always ran on the balls of my feet because I am always sprinting for track. When I had to finally get off the balls of my feet and jog how I thought I was suppose to jog, then all the problems came rolling in.

Breakable

Fast forward 6 years later and we’re in the year 2010. I was in China at the time for work and was playing Ultimate Frisbee. After about 20 minutes of running around, one of our guys had hail married the Frisbee and I took off full speed. I felt a snap on the back on my thigh and hopped to a stop. I had pulled my hamstring. My first serious running injury (besides a lightly sprained ankle in 7th grade, and shin splints throughout HS). I visited my doctor (Google.com) and found out that I needed to rest it and there wasn’t much I could do except for RICE (Rest, Ice, Compress, and Elevate). 1 ½ months go by and I was at my company retreat. I decided to play basketball and that led to me pulling my hamstring again. Another month goes by… and my idiot self decided to kick this paper snowflake hanging from the ceiling. I demolished the snowflake but also tore my hamstring in the process. There was no walking it off this time. I wasn’t able to drive for almost two weeks. I stayed off of it and let it heal right this time. Late August 2011 I wanted to get my running legs back. For as long as I remember I wanted to run a marathon but never did. This was the year! So one day, I got up and ran 6 miles. My knees and foot started to hurt. I realized I probably need to take it easier and ease back into running. Not so young and spry anymore. I can’t get up and run a 6 milier cold turkey anymore. Soon  my motivation drained and I started to lose my desire since running just hurt my feet and my knees and it wasn’t getting any better.

Born to Run

Someone recommended I read ‘Born To Run’ by Christopher McDougall. I read it and was super motivated. I bought into the barefoot running. I had picked up a pair of Vibram Five Fingers a while back thanks to the buzz around them about how “they’re better for you”. After reading the book, I was gung ho and put 16 miles on them in a week. I ran and ran until I ended up with a…

STRESS FRACTURE

That was mistake number 1. Everywhere you read, they tell you to TAKE IT SLOW! My personality went against that and I ended up giving myself a stress fracture on my 3rd metatarsal. How do I know this? I went to see my doctor, Dr. Google Search, and found out it’s a common injury. From late September to December 2011 I was not running and just spent the time recovering.

MY OTHER HAMSTRING BETRAYED ME

 

Went out with some friends to play some flag football. This was the first time I ran again after my stress fracture. It took 6 weeks to finally not feel any pain in my foot and 2 more weeks to be sure. I took a light jog around the park and stretched real good. I tried to take it real easy playing football but for anyone who knows me, It’s pretty difficult for me to hold back and not go 100% all the time. I did only go 80% though… but that was still enough to cause my other hamstring to betray me. I pulled it my left hamstring. It was minor compared to my previous hamstring injuries.

Minimalistic Running Journey Begins

While I was injured I ended up researching a ton about barefooting. I watched video after video, read article after article. I wanted to do things right this time and be injury free once and for all. Once my hamstring healed enough I began to run again. I decided that the Vibrams were good, but not for concrete. I blamed the concrete for my stress fracture (it was me, not the shoes…) and not my mileage. So I put the Vibrams away and brought out my new Nike Free 2s. Nike’s answer to the minimalistic running shoes. For anyone who owns them or have seen them, they’re not that minimalistic. They still have a good chunk rubber and heel padding. Walking in them, they’re great. They’re light shoes and look very snazzy. Running in them was another story – that’s a bit later. I began changing the way I ran, from a heel striker to a forefoot striker. I began to mimic all the videos I watched on how to midfoot strike and forefoot strike.  Things were going great. My calves were getting stronger and I was feeling alright. Well… I felt alright as long as I stayed under 2 miles. When I hit the 2 mile mark my arches started to become sore and painful. The shoes would dig into my arches and I would have to stop, it hurt that much. One day I powered through the pain and got to 3 miles. My shoes hurt so much I got sick of it and took them off and ran the last mile completely barefoot. IT FELT GREAT! I know I read similar stories in books and online articles but experiencing it first hand was amazing. After 2-3 more failed attempts in my Nike Frees, I decided to retire them.

Luna Sandals

After the horrible experiences with the Nike Frees I decided I needed something that didn’t have arch support. I began running with an old pair of Converses. They were heavy shoes compared to the Nike Frees but at least they were flats. They didn’t have arch support or extra rubber on the heel. I did this for a while to work on my form then decided that they’re too heavy. I put on my Vibrams again and began running but it just wasn’t the same as the first time I put them on. Running barefoot ruined me. The Vibrams were like gloves and felt tight where my feet were wide. They didn’t feel as free as barefoot and I couldn’t get over that. Also the padding allowed me to have sloppy form and it would feel okay. I did some more research and found a better alternative. In the book ‘Born to Run’, there is a guy who goes by the name “Barefoot Ted” or “BFT” for short. He runs a ton barefoot. I found out he has a sandal company he created and he has used these sandals to run the Leadville Trail 100 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadville_Trail_100). Luna Sandals – http://lunasandals.com/. They do custom orders where you can trace your foot and send it to them to cut out a custom pair of sandals – No extra charge! I pulled the trigger early February and sent in my custom footprint for my Lunas. While waiting for my sandals to be cut and shipped to me I began to strengthen my feet. I would drive to the beach and run barefoot in the sand. I also would take light runs around my neighborhood barefoot. I carefully analyzed my gait and posture with every stride. I continued to do research on minimalistic footwear and running.

I received my Lunas mid February and began running in them. They felt GREAT! They do look a bit strange at first but no where near as strange as the Vibram Five Fingers. They have different kinds of laces but that’s another post when I review these. After much fiddling and changing laces, I finally found the ones I liked to walk and run with. Also settled on tying method that works for me.

TAKING IT SLOW

Everywhere you read, you read that you should only increase your mileage 10% every week. With barefoot and minimalistic shoes, it’s a rule you do not want to break… even though I bend it here and there. I talked to a doctor friend of mine who also knows about minimalistic shoes and barefoot running. He confirms that 10% is what you have to do. Your bones can’t adapt any faster than that. You risk getting a stress fracture. Been there done that… don’t want to do it again.    It has been a month now and I have been running every other day. I am now able to run 3 miles without… serious injuries. Slow and steady. It feels good to run again!

UPDATE: Before I stopped running a lot and got injured again – I reached consistent 6-8 mile runs barefoot without injury