There’s something truly wonderful about feeling earth beneath one’s feet. The feel of the rocks, grass, different textures, different temperatures. There’s a feeling of “connectedness” that happens when one is outside with bare feet.

Now my issue is that my feet are always cold, so bare feet isn’t always an option, but when it is, I’m all for it. Many of you are aware of the weird shoes I wear when I train, and the only time I wear anything else for training is when it gets below -20°C, and my Vibrams can no longer keep my feet warm enough to avoid frostbite – a discovery I made with some consternation last year.

Also, unless you’ve got (or want) really calloused, hard feet, you’re going to need some minimal protection to keep your feet from getting rubbed raw or stabbed by sharp rocks and glass. There are some great companies out there with shoes that totally fit the bill of being almost barefoot. Take a look:

Vibram Five Finger
FeelMax
Terra Plana Vivo Barefoot
Tom’s Shoes (and these ones come with a cause!)
Soft Star Shoes
Arrow Moccasins
Pocket Slippers
Walking Liberty Moccasins
Gola Store
Steger mukluks and moccasins
Socwa Shoes
Stem Footwear
Skora

Should be enough choice there for even the fussiest of tastes!

Of course, if you’re so inclined, you can even make your own: How to Make Cool Weather Minimalist Running Shoes – wikiHow

The problem is, we’ve all been brainwashed to believe that God had no idea what He was doing when he designed feet, and so we must make up for His lack of education. We’ve designed footwear with so much support and cushioning that our feet no longer know how to “read the road” and we get injured. In fact the injury rate in those who wear “properly designed running shoes” is much higher than in people who run barefoot. Don’t believe me? Check the evidence: Barefoot Science

Or take a look at this site, with some interesting video: The Definitive Guide For Going Barefoot

And then there’s this one that’s almost humorous from Stanford’s Athletics team: The painful truth about trainers: Are expensive running shoes a waste of money?

I think Vibram says it best on their site

The typical human foot is an anatomical marvel of evolution with 26 bones, 33 joints, 20 muscles, and hundreds of sensory receptors (over 7000 nerve endings apparently -DH), tendons and ligaments. Like the rest of the body, to keep our feet healthy, they need to be stimulated and exercised.

Some of you reading this have some real issues with your feet – plantar fasciitis, flat feet, etc. For those of you there is a great book called “Fix Your Feet: Build the Best Foundation for Healthy, Pain-Free Knees, Hips, and Spine” by Dr. Phil Maffetone with some simple, yet effective treatment for problem feet. (read teven Robbins, Edward Waked, and Ron Rappel. “Ankle taping improves proprioception before and after exercise in young men,” British Journal of Sports Medicine, 29(4), 1995, pp. 242-247 for more background information on his methods).

Now, if you’re used to those comfy shoes, don’t go whole hog on me and decide to go totally barefoot starting tomorrow. You need to break your feet in slowly – remember, all those muscles are now badly aligned and atrophied. You can’t fix that overnight.

Start going barefoot at home. Then get yourself a nice pair of minimalist shoes and wear them around outside in your daily activities. Take them for a longer walk, then use them to do your warm-ups and cool-downs when you run, etc.  Go slowly, and retrain your feet to work the way they were designed to work.

Ah, the joy of setting my feet free – it’s such a great feeling, that once you try it, you’ll probably never go back to traditional shoes.  I know I dread dressing up with heels…

Oh, and if you’re like me, cold feet all the time, you might want to check out this site: Cold Feet, and see if you can nail down the cause. I’m going to spend a little time here myself to see if I can generate nice toasty toes for myself!

What do you  think, am I nuts (well, ok, that fact has already been established numerous times!)  Have you tried this yourself?  What’s your opinion?  Comment below!  I’d love to have your input.

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Who is Darlene Hull? Click here: www.darlenehull.com to find out!

My funky shoes have become my trademark, and rightly so.  I adore them.  Given my ‘druthers, I’d wear nothing else (well, nothing else on my feet, that is..).  They are just the greatest thing to have on your feet, though they won’t help you win any fashion points!

With the Frostbite, I’ve had to switch to something different when the temperatures are below 0°C to prevent frostbite from happening again, but I’m not happy about it.  This is the case at least until Vibram gets caught up with their world-wide back orders.  They do have winter shoes, but none in stock in my size anywhere in the world, apparently.

Everyone thinks you need all this cushioning and support for your feet.  The research now shows that the more you pay for your shoes, the more likely you are to be injured.  When you buy shoes – especially for exercise – the rule of thumb is, “the less the better” if you want strong feet, and if you want to avoid injury.

According to the Vibram site:

The typical human foot is an anatomical marvel of evolution with 26 bones, 33 joints, 20 muscles, and hundreds of sensory receptors, tendons and ligaments. Like the rest of the body, to keep our feet healthy, they need to be stimulated and exercised.

That’s why we recommend wearing FiveFingers for exercise, play, and for fun. Stimulating the muscles in your feet and lower legs will not only make you stronger and healthier, it improves your balance, agility and proprioception.

Want more information on getting the best shoes for your feet?  Check out this excellent article

Still not convinced?  Read this: Athletic Shoes & Supports: Facts & Myths

Want to risk trying the Vibram Five Finger shoes?  Get them here -but you’ll probably have to wait until Spring.  Sigh.

Happy Walking!

Darlene

Every now and then I hit a place in my walking where I need to take about a week off.  Because I’ve never had problems starting up again, I allow myself this grace.  It happens about once or twice a year.  No biggie.

About a month ago, such a time had arrived.  I just needed a break, so I took a week off.  That weekend I got the dreaded flu, and the following two weeks, while there were no messy flu symptoms, I was so tired as to be useless.  I did do a couple of walks, but not enough to brag about, and each one left me drained and exhausted.

Following that my husband and I took a week off and went to Montana.  Training wasn’t even slightly in the picture.

In the meantime, due to complications with getting the winter version of my “funky feet” I succumbed and bought a pair of Skechers.  Since having begun with my Vibram 5 fingers, I’ve really only worn shoes with next to no support or cushioning in them, and my feet have loved it.  When I got the Skechers (SUPER comfy shoes with lots of support and cushioning) I’ve been wearing them quite a lot to get my feet used to them, and have hardly worn my normal shoes.

So for about a month I’ve not done much in the way of serious walking, and my feet have also been relaxing in these lovely skooshie shoes.  On Monday I went for my first serious walk in ages, with my Vibrams, and came home with feet screaming in agony.

I told them to “suck it up” and went again on Wednesday.  Well, my feet then went on strike altogether and I could hardly walk.  It meant I had to take a break from walking yet again, and baby my feet, getting them used to the Vibrams again.

What a nuisance.

The moral of the story is “suck it up”.  Don’t get lazy.  And if you DO get lazy, don’t let your feet get lazy too.

Ouch.

Darlene

Marathon Countdown: 20 days

I know, I know.  I’m an extremist.  I tend to go off the deep end, jump on bandwagons, and get fixated on weird stuff.  Ach, it makes life interesting.

Like this new tangent.

You see, shortly after deciding to walk a marathon, I began reading everything I could about walking.  All of these books talked about footwear.  One of them, Brain Training For Runners: A Revolutionary New Training System to Improve Endurance, Speed, Health, and Results mentioned trying an extremist shoe called the “Vibram 5 Fingers” shoe.  He said that it was like running in bare feet.  I thought that sounded dangerous.

When my sciatica showed up, I bumped into a book called Fix Your Feet: Build the Best Foundation for Healthy, Pain-Free Knees, Hips, and Spine and he’s a big supporter of being bare foot as often as possible. Still sounded a little extreme, even for me!

But here’s the premise:  If you always wear good supportive shoes, the muscles in your feet no longer have to work, and they begin to atrophy, causing all kinds of problems in your legs, hips and back.  Also, if you wear shoes with super spongy soles, your feet have trouble adjusting to your weight and the impact because they can’t read the signs properly.

Here’s the rub.  The shoes are wierd – I mean, look at them!  They also cost $70 and up.  To pay that much for an extremist shoe that looks stupid and might not be all it’s cracked up to be was too  much of a risk.

But my $170 shoes aren’t holding up very well.  300+ kilometers a month wear them out pretty quickly.  I’d rather replace them with $70 shoes if I can.

So, here’s the great news.  Steamboat Springs has a shoe store that carries them, and they were on for 50% off (I guess they’re ugly enough to put off the general population!) and so I took the risk.

My verdict?  I LOVE THEM! It’s a bit like walking in Ballet slippers (though they don’t look quite as graceful, LOL!) You somehow feel really connected to the ground, and you feel all the small pebbles and groves and bumps, but without pain.  Your feet kind of “spread into the earth” as you walk, and it’s a really cool experience.

My first test was just walking around town here (kudos to Tom and the kids who didn’t die of shame while walking with me).  Then I took them on a one-mile nature hike over stones and twigs and very uneven ground.  I didn’t turn my ankle once – which is unusual for me – and it felt wonderful to feel the earth beneath my feet.

The next test was 5k on concrete and asphalt to see if my heels could stand the jarring. No problems there.

Now, here’s the funny (sad?) bit

Then I tried a 16 mile (26k) hike up the mountain. I had a 26k endurance walk scheduled anyway. This seemed like a good idea at the time. It was a colossally bad one (understatement of the century). The shoes come with a warning that you need to get used to them slowly. Anyone with half a brain would have realized that going from 5k to 26k, and from smooth pavement to really rough mountain terrain with gravel, rocks, roots, and twigs all over the path, would have known that that was probably not wise (Duh!). I seem to have left both halves of my brain at home that day.

Actually, I did the first 15k without incident, and, in fact, really enjoyed the feel of the earth beneath my feet. Even the rocks were fine. The next 5k began to get uncomfortable and the final 6 were painful. I spent the afternoon and evening icing my feet and massaging them with anti-inflammatory cream, unable to walk. The next day was more of the same. PAIN. They healed pretty well by Sunday, enabling me to walk about 10 miles through Yellowstone Park – which was GREAT.

Did this discourage me? Not in the least. My stupidity does not mean the shoes are bad.

The result?  I got a second pair at 50% off before I left Steamboat Springs, and I’m ordering the thermal shoes for winter training once I get back to Calgary.  These are going to be my new favourite shoes!

VERY stylish, don’t you think? I think I could start a new trend here!

Darlene
(yep, those are my feet and my Vibram 5 Fingers in the photo)