Happy Sunday Night! Who is ready for Monday morning?

Yea…me neither!

But let’s not look ahead…let’s look back in time:

Who knows what happened to me one year ago today?

One year ago today, I lined up at the start line at the Hollidaysburg Area YMCA half marathon. I knew that I shouldn’t be standing at that start line. I was over trained, defeated and exhausted, yet I thought I could run a half marathon.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

I didn’t finish that race. Nope. I got about halfway through and was sidelined because of an excruciating pain in the top of my foot. A pain soon diagnosed as stress fractures in all of my metatarsals in my right foot.

At first I thought that my life was over. What would I do if I am not able to run? Certainly I’d be depressed, bored, and gain weight. How will I ever make it through the 6-8 weeks void of running?

Funny how I thought that at the time, because looking at it now, I am so happy that I had those weeks to reevaluate my self as a runner. I learned a lot (thank you, healthy living blogs!). I learned so much about nutrition and fueling as a runner. I learned the importance of treating my body specifically for the wear and tear.

I learned that nature knows best.

It was at this time that I started to look into barefoot running. It took  number of months until I actually started to run in my Vibram FiveFingers, and since I knew the importance of a SLOW transition I was wise and cautious.

Well, sort of.

I haven’t run in my VFF for about 2 weeks? Why? Well, because I felt a foot pain. Not like the pain I felt a year ago (I was about 100% convinced that my stress fracture was healed before I started running in my VFF), but a pain that I thought could eventually turn into a stress fracture if I didn’t slow down. So I did.

Now I’m sure that you’re all wondering if this means that I’m rethinking the safety of barefoot running. Is it really a better way to run? Do I still think that it’s better for my body?

Well, friends…I still stand behind my convictions that barefoot running is more natural and therefore better for your body.

Barefoot running isn’t to blame for my foot pain. I am. Here’s why:

1) There was a week in early September that I ran 12 miles total in my VFF. That was about a 100% increase in my VFF mileage from the week before. I remember thinking on one run that I probably shouldn’t have made such a big jump, but I felt ok and just told myself that I wouldn’t increase my mileage anymore for a few weeks. So I ran the same the next week. My bad. Damage done. That’s way too big of a mileage jump…experts recommend over and over again never to increase your mileage more than 10%. I take that to apply to barefoot/minimalist running, too.

2) It’s my right foot that hurt again, my left feels completely fine. If barefoot running was what caused the pain, the left foot would hurt too. It’s not like I run with a sneaker on my left foot and a VFF on my right… This makes me think that maybe my foot wasn’t 100% healed. Again, my bad!

So what am I going to do?

I’m going to reintroduce my VFF with lower mileage and less frequent runs and build my way back up. I ain’t no dummy, and I won’t be making the same mistake twice. But in the past two weeks I have realized how important those VFF runs are. You see, since I’ve been running solely in my Brooks, my knees and hips have been hurting—pains that I haven’t felt since I began running in my VFF.

Has this setback taught me anything?

You bet! What good would my brain be if I didn’t use it now and then to apply some lessons to my life?

I’ve learned that whenever I think “this might not be a good idea”, it probably isn’t.

I’ve also learned that I don’t have to exclusively run in my VFF to feel the benefits. Ultimately, I’d love to run only in my VFF or barefoot, but now it seems that that goal is a long way off because of the injury sustained a year ago today. But that’s ok. My joints really benefit from the occasional VFF run, and so I just need to focus on that if I want to keep running.

So there it is: quality over quantity.

Gosh, I need to write a book: “Lessons my feet have taught me.”

Ok, the title’s a work in progress. As is the content. At this point there are only two chapters…I kinda hope it doesn’t get any bigger. Who has time to read a long book anyway?

Have any of you learned important lessons from injury? Have you realized that being sidelined was more beneficial than getting out there and running?

Missed the other Bare{foot} Essentials Posts?

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
The Bare{foot} Essentials IX
The Bare{foot} Essentials X
The Bare{foot} Essentials XI