Whew. What a weekend! It flew by so quickly, but it was excellent despite the speed that it passed. Regardless, I have been MIA!!!

Good friends of ours (who live in Austin now—yet another reason to visit) got married and my family had one last big celebration dinner before the little brother leaves for college on Tuesday.

However, I did manage to schedule some time to get some laundry done which included my Vibram FiveFingers. Man, oh man were they stinky! I love that all you have to do is stick them in the washer and then let them air dry (which doesn’t take long). It is so convenient because they can get pretty stinky.

Barefoot Bit: The Runs

This week I logged my longest “barefoot” road run: 2.5 miles (approximately. And no stopping, either).

Since I have been adding distance (not just time) to my “barefoot” runs, I have noticed an increase of blisters. I have also been adding distance to my regular runs as well because of the this upcoming half—and I have been noticing resultant blisters, too.

I used to think of blisters as bad things, and I would pick at them and think, “if only was I girly enough to go get a pedicure maybe my feet would be nice.”

I have a different opinion now! Now when I kick off my VFF or even my Brooks, I study my feet for any new blisters (they usually aren’t hard to spot).  When I find them, I pop them (sorry, gross I know), put a Band-aid on for a day and anxiously away the formation of calluses.

The danger posed to your feet’s naked skin is one of the biggest arguments against barefoot running. I love the Vibram FiveFingers provide a solution to that, but I also want to become a confident barefoot runner and not have to rely on my “toe shoes”. Ugly blisters are a step in the right direction.

So next time you notice a nasty blister, don’t think it’s a bad thing. Remember that it’s part of your body’s natural process to protect itself from its environment. There are other steps, too. But I’ll talk about them later, k?

Nature is just so cool!

Barefoot Bit: In The News

It ain’t no shock, but barefoot and minimalistic running is getting some attention in the media. You might even say that it’s becoming a fad.

I don’t like to think that it’s a fad because the connotation is that it is passing and of no consequence and I strongly believe that barefoot and minimalistic running is a solution to so many running injuries that plague runners of today.

So despite that some might call it a fad, I am thrilled to see the publicity that barefoot running and Vibram FiveFingers have been getting. Chris McDougall’s best-selling book, Born to Run, definitely has a large part to play. That is also great because it might finally start to change the public’s mind that running, specifically long distance running, is harmful to the body.

This past week I received four separate emails/tweets/messages from people sharing barefoot running articles that were in the media.

My dad emailed me an article found in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette about Michael Sandler (author of Barefoot Running). Apparently he was in Pittsburgh at REI (10 minutes from my apartment—how did I miss this?!?!!) to give a talk about barefoot running (probably what Ashley went to in Colorado). Anyhow, he was in a life threatening accident that left him with a titanium hip and femur, along with the diagnoses from doctors that he would be lucky to walk—let alone run—again. So whenever I hear that people are concerned about running and what it does (or might do) to their knees, I point them to Sandler and barefoot running. It’s not only easy on the body—it’s good for you too! I love that his story is getting out into the public eye.

Yahoo! was featuring some information on barefoot running on their webpage this past week, too. Both a friend from work and Caitlin directed me there.

Dorry tweeted a great article to me entitled Is Barefoot Running Good For You? This article was excellent because it took some of the common questions asked by barefoot skeptics and addressed them. There are four questions asked and each is addressed with logical and research based answers. It’s a good article to check out if you’re skeptical about this latest craze!

What excited me the most about this publicity is that it is mostly positive. I can only remember on negative article awhile. I don’t remember where it was but it was about the increase of plantar fasciitis that doctors are seeing in barefoot runners. But even in that article, the writer said there it’s not simply a matter of an increase of an injury in barefoot runners, it’s a matter of an increase of barefoot runners. More barefoot runners would naturally mean more barefoot runners with injuries. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the injury is caused by the barefoot running itself.

If you ever come across an article for or against barefoot running, please send it my way. If you find one, you can always leave a comment, email me at abby.normally.blog(at)gmail(dot)com, or tweet me at @abbynormally.

So what about you? Have you been seeing barefoot/minimalistic running invading the news as well? Anything catch your eye?

Barefoot Running Q & A 

The Bare{foot} Essentials I
The Bare{foot} Essentials II
The Bare{foot} Essentials III
The Bare{foot} Essentials IV
The Bare{foot} Essentials V
The Bare{foot} Essentials VI
The Bare{foot} Essentials VII
The Bare{foot} Essentials VIII

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