Barefootin'

I've never been a fan of going barefoot. I really dislike stepping on things in my bare feet and I'm also very ticklish. It just kind of weirds me out for some reason. But, I just finished reading "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall and was blown away by it. While not a soap box proponent of barefoot running, the idea does play a part in the story. So, today, being the first day I've felt healthy after this 4 day cold, I got back on the treadmill for a 30 minute run. I decided it should be more of a walk since I still have a little bit of a cough. After about a half mile I decided to take my shoes and socks off to see what it felt like going barefoot. I did drop the speed down a small amount at first. But, since I was nicely warmed up, I did a little jog at 3.5 mph. Normally I run at 4.0 mph. It seemed being barefoot changed that a little. I felt like my stride was the same but the speed of the treadmill was just slower. It was really weird how much it didn't bother me to run barefoot. I thought it would totally suck. It was fun actually. I did about a half mile. I didn't keep running without shoes though. I finished the rest of the 1.5 miles with my shoes on. Just to see the difference. It felt like my toes were constricted in my shoes, which wasn't the case before. And my treadmill speed was faster even though I felt like my stride was the same. I don't know enough about this running stuff to make any interesting observations about that.

It was only a half mile but I think I'll try this again some time. Interesting.