Like every other runner in the world, I read the book "Born to Run." And like every other runner in the world, I was inspired by this fascinating book. As soon as I put it down, I decided to change the way I run and my whole outlook on running altogether.
Inspired by one of the characters in the book, I adopted the minimalist approach to running and decided to take up barefoot running. I figured there was no need to transition from my cushy running shoes to a minimalist shoe or the 5-finger shoes that everyone wears now. No, I decided I would go barefoot and I would do it cold turkey....
Ten days after my first barefoot run, I was able to walk again without discomfort. I had run less than a mile barefoot, at my normal marathon pace, when I was forced to hobble home with open golfball-sized blisters on the bottom of my feet. You'd think I learned my lesson. But that first bad experience didn't stop me, I was determined to make it work.
I went back to doing my normal schedule of running 3 to 4 times a week. At the end of 1 or 2 runs each week, I'd take my shoes and socks off, and make a slow jog/shuffle home for the last quarter mile. After a couple weeks I was doing the last half mile barefoot. Anytime Maren, Emry and I would go on walks, I went barefoot. I tried to toughen up my feet as much as I could. I even bought a pair of minimalist trail shoes, and began to use them once a week. Gradually I built up to where I could do 2 miles barefoot at the end of my easy runs.
My feet were ugly enough before I started the process, but they became absolutely hideous! The bottoms were always black and callused. Even though the skin was starting to become tough, I still developed blisters from time to time. I was always careful to watch where I stepped when I was barefoot to avoid rocks, glass and other things that could impale my feet. Somehow, I still ended up with cracked and broken toenails and little bruises on my feet and toes.
The funny thing was, I really enjoyed it and how natural it felt. My stride had vastly improved. I was no longer striking my heels as violently as before. Now, even when I was in my normal, cushy running shoes I maintained a good, midstep foot strike. I wasn't ever concerned about time or pace or distance while I was barefoot. To me, just making it home without cutting my foot open was satisfying enough.
I'm sure I looked like an idiot running down the street with my shoes in my hands. To add to the bizarreness of it all, during the summer I was waking up at about 4 in the morning so I could run before Emry woke up. I often wondered if people driving by at 4 in the morning saw me running down the street carrying my shoes and thought I was a drunk college frat dude. But I didn't care what I looked like, I was on a mission. But the problem was I didn't know what my mission was: to never purchase running shoes again?...to improve my running technique?...to gross out my wife with my nasty feet?...I couldn't figure out why I liked doing this so much.
Eventually it all caught up with me. My calves and achilles were sore all the time and were never recovering between runs. It got cold outside one day and I realized winter would be here soon(yeah, I was very short sighted on that one!) Maren was constantly telling me how disgusting my feet were. But most of all, I just didn't know where I was going with this whole process. I finally decided to put my shoes on again.
It wasn't until a couple of weeks later that I realized it wasn't the barefoot running I enjoyed. No, it was the natural, minimalist style and philosophy that I really craved. It wasn't just how it applied to running either; I thought about how the minimalist philosophy could be applied to my life and our family life.
We use so much time, energy, and resources trying to be involved in so many things, trying to balance work, friends, church, church groups, kid's activities, home chores, family time, excercise, social groups, etc. We get caught up with emailing, texting, tweeting, blogging(oops!), multitasking, working, and making money to provide for our families that we tend to overlook our family life and relationships.We try to fit as much as possible into each 24 hour day, but we do it with the good intention of providing the most we can for our families.
What if we change our approach? If our intention is providing for our family, why not put the focus on the home and our relationships there? We are so concerned with doing more, but maybe we'd be better off doing less? I know, it sounds stupid to say. Instead of putting our time and energy into getting as much done as possible, what if we focused all our time and energy on just one task? Instead of stringing ourselves out by trying to do everything, why not try to do a couple things really really well?
Just as an example, I thought about how many times I've sent someone an email. Then sent them a text later that evening to make sure they read the email. I remember when texting was new and some unnamed relatives would send Maren or I a text then call 5 seconds later to see if we got it. Instead of blogging, facebooking or tweeting to a bunch of nameless, faceless people, or sending 20 texts to your family or friends, why not have one deep conversation with one family member?
I couldn't stop my mind from pondering all these ideas. How could this philosophy affect other areas of our lives? Many more thoughts and changes were on the way...
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