The Sentient Runner

2011-11-22T02:24:00.000-08:00

Pilgrim's Story

In the early 17^th century, the Church of England under King James I held total ecclesiastical and political authority in Great Britain. Anyone who opposed the church or the state, such as those who believed in freedom of worship, were heavily persecuted, often unto death. A group of separatists (believing the government should be separate from religion) fled to Holland and lived there as a community for 11 years. About 40 of them felt that living in the New World would give them the greatest freedom, so on August 1, 1620, they sailed on the Mayflower under the lead of William Bradford. While on the journey, Bradford set up an agreement, a contract, that established just and equal laws for every member of their new community, irrespective of their religious beliefs. This was the Mayflower Compact. The inspiration for this revolutionary document came from the lessons taught in the Old and New Testaments - the ancient Israelites were their example.

When the Pilgrims landed in New England in November, 1620, they were met with a cold, barren, desolate wilderness. During the first winter, one half of the Pilgrims died from cold, starvation and exposure. When Spring came, the Indians showed them how to plant corn, fish for cod, and skin beavers for warmth. Many people have been taught that the first Thanksgiving was a chance for the Pilgrims to thank the Indians for saving their lives. It was actually a devout expression of their faith and gratitude to their God, given in the tradition of both the Old and New Testaments.

What schools fail to teach is that the original compact by the Pilgrims called for everything they produced to go into a common store, and each member of the community was entitled to one common share. All the land they cleared and the houses they built belonged to community as a whole. They had formed a collective, a socialist society, where everything was owned in common and the fruits of their labors were shared in common. The result of this experiment was failure.

Bradford discovered that the most intelligent and industrious members of society had no incentive to create or work any harder than the least productive members. Bradford wrote that “this community was found to breed much confusion and discontent.” Young men were reluctant to spend their time and strength working for other men's wives and children without any recompense. They thought that was an injustice. The Pilgrims decided to scrap this style of government.

In its place, Bradford chose to unharness the power of free enterprise by embracing the capitalistic idea of private property. Every family was assigned its own plot of land and was permitted to market its own crops and products. The result of this new form of society was success. It made all hands industrious. Much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been. In no time the Pilgrims founds they could produce more food than they needed, so they set up trading posts and exchanged goods with the Indians. Their profits allowed them to pay off their debts to the merchants in London. Their success attracted more Europeans and began the “Great Puritan Migration.”

Thomas Hooker was one of those attracted to the new-found freedom and prosperity in the New World. He established his own community in Connecticut. This was the first full-fledged constitutional community and perhaps the most free society the world had ever known. Embodied in his community's foundation were principles such as strict limits on the powers of government, no taxation without representation, due process of law, trial by a jury of peers, and prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment.

The Pilgrims commitment to pluralism (diversity) and individual freedom were streamed into the form of government this great nation fashioned, a government unlike any other the world has ever known, one that cradled a society that has produced the greatest individual prosperity and freedom than any other. Our commitment to those same principles will allow freedom and prosperity to continue to flourish and to keep this nation the greatest on earth.

2011-06-29T12:36:00.000-07:00

What's It Really About?

This was posted by fellow barefoot runner, Harrish Shetty, at the discussion group called http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/RunningBarefoot/ -- I thought it was excellent, so I am copying it here!

It is not about "Shoes vs Barefoot"
it is not about " that for millions of years Humans have been running barefoot"
it is not about "that running barefoot teaches you good running form"
It is not about "that running barefoot improves your balance, posture, strength
and stability"
It is not about "faster race recovery with running barefoot"
it is not about "saying goodbye to injuries therefore saving time and money"
it is not about "that you can save money that you spend on running footwear"
It is not about "that there is not enough research that barefoot running is
good"
It is not about "that there is also not enough research that running with shoes
is good"
It is not about "that your feet are your best coach"

Then what is it about???

It is about freedom
It is about being in touch with the Child within
It is about being playful
It is about being amazed and discovering magic
It is about being connected,
It is about dissolving in nature
It is about dancing, gracefully
It is about Poetry in motion
It is about having a smile and not just enduring
It is about being peaceful, joyful
It is about being limitless
It is about simplicity
It is about being vulnerable
It is about being in Love

If you can experience that then it does not matter "to shoe or not to shoe"

Shoeless Shetty
(with a few edits by Me!)

2011-06-06T12:05:00.000-07:00

Fame - (meh!)

Some seek it at almost any cost.
Some avoid it.
Some (like me) just stumble and fall into it.

Some time ago I got an email from a newspaper reporter (Mary Ann Albright, Features Writer, The Columbian) asking if she could interview me for an article she was writing on barefoot running. She was happy to find a local barefoot runner and wanted to get my insights about it. We had a nice chat and she asked if I would pose for a photo shoot. The next day I met the photographer at a small local park and he took a gazillion shot of me running towards him, away from him, standing still, showing the bottoms of my feet, running fast, running slow, etc. etc. etc.

Almost a month later a huge article appeared in our Sunday newspaper - and suddenly everyone I know is congratulating me for being famous.

I was worried she might write about how insane I was for risking damaging my body or other negative things. I am very happy about the article she wrote. I congratulated her on a job well done.

Here is the article -- available online to read, at least for now - not sure for how much longer!

http://www.columbian.com/news/2011/jun/05/running-shoeless/

Ryan

2011-04-12T11:09:00.000-07:00

Trail Running

Yesterday I hooked up with fellow Northwest BF runner Josh Humbert and friend Dan to run a short section of trails in the Forest Park area in Portland, Oregon. I have run very few trails in the 7 years of my BF running experience. I felt like a total newby! Josh was gracious enough to slow way down to accommodate my clumsy efforts. He and Dan floated over the rough stuff with exquisite grace while I seemed to test every sharp rock there!

It was quite cool out, sub 50F (sub 10C) and rainy. The service road from the parking area to the trail head was quite rough and rocky (by my standards). It was maybe 1/4 mile long. The trail itself was a mix of very slimy mud with a few patches of rock & gravel. The constant drizzle of rain only made it more slick as we went along.
We seemed to be more equal on the slimy sections - it was all we could do to keep from slipping right off the trail. There was one section where I became genuinely concerned for my safety. We were going downhill, and gravity was pulling me along faster than I wanted to go. Every time I tried to slow down, my feet started skating across the slick mud. When I stopped slowing down, my speed increased too much, and I knew it would be that much harder to slow down later. I wondered if I was just being a wimp about it when I heard Dan behind me let out a whoop as he also slipped. Josh tried to comfort me by exclaiming several times that this was the most slippery he had ever seen. I wondered what it would be like on a dry, sunny day.

When we got back to the service road and its relative roughness, Dan and Josh glided on ahead of me. I felt like the turtle of the group.

When I was done I found that my left foot had a puncture wound, and it was probably filled with mud. It felt like there might be something solid stuck in there, too. Last night I soaked my foot in calcium hypochlorite powder (pool shock). This converts to "hypochlorus acid" when dissolved in water, and is one of the most effective antibacterial agents (and anti fungal) out there. It has the added benefit that it does not harm healthy tissues at all and it is painless (unlike hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, or tincture of iodine.) Last night I sprinkled some calcium hypochlorite powder on a bandaid and slept with it applied directly to the puncture. Voila! No more swelling or pain by morning. I HIGHLY recommend this as a cleansing/healing method. (If you want to try something really "out there" - I know some people who put small amounts of this powder inside of gel capsules and ingest it for health. Search "MMS2" for more info.)

What I learned from yesterday's run:
> rough surfaces encourage better form,
> Josh and Dan are leaps and bounds ahead of me in trail running,
> slimy muddy trails are fun in their own way, very challenging, and something I will not actively search for in the future, and
> trail running has its own unique sense of accomplishment.

Saturday I went out and ran a 10K that was actually a walking event. It was fun, lots of people, lots of stares and friendly comments. I still get a kick out of those people who stare but don't want to be caught staring - and those who have a look of total disgust on their faces (they are just feet, people, pretty common things!)

See you out there!

Ryan

2011-03-03T10:36:00.000-08:00

Good Run Yesterday!

I looked up a possible running route by looking at some bicycle trail maps online and then went out to see if they were runnable. I've wanted to find a decent route from Vancouver across the river into Portland. The routes I have tried in the past were not all that great. This one looked promising so I decided to give it a go.

It was mostly very barefoot friendly, except for a couple of sections. I was glad for our heavy rainfall this past week because it seemed to have helped wash a lot of the ice sanding grit off, giving me some smooth pavement where it usually would be very sharp and difficult.

One section of sidewalk was covered by a large puddle about 2 inches deep and twenty feet wide. It was under the freeway where beggars congregate. One of them saw me splashing through the water and said "THAT's what I like to see!" Huh??

At one point a police car came by, and the officer slowed down to look at me. Probably wondering if I was a danger to myself or to society. I smiled at him and he drove on.

Once I had traversed the out-going part of my planned route, I was needing to find a bathroom. Knowing I would more likely find one if I kept on running, I kept on running. Several places said they did not have facilities open to the public, so I kept on running. Finally I found a place that would let me in, much to my relief, and I was ready to turn around for my return trip.

I took a few different turns on the way back, one of which crossed over an industrial road that had the worst wear on it from all the big rigs driving on it. I just sucked in it and ran smoothly over one of the worst surfaces I've ever encountered. Luckily it was only across about four lanes of road, so it was quite short.

The run back seemed much easier than the run out for some reason, until the last mile or so. I think my mindset has something to do with how well I ran. As long as I felt I had a long ways yet to go, I just settled in and ran easily. When the end of my run got near, I anticipated being finished a little too early, and so my body said "Done!"

My total distance, according to www.runningmap.com, was 12.25 miles. It was mostly over very wet surfaces, including some water puddles and one section of soft slick mud. I was lucky it had stopped raining for most of the run.

All in all, I'm very pleased with this run!

Ryan

12 Mile Run - Vancouver to North Portland

2011-01-10T12:51:00.000-08:00

BTW: Happy New Year

Saying happy new year is kind of trite. What else are you going to say? Crappy new year?

It fits in the same category as people telling me "Hey - you don't have any shoes on!" (like I don't know?) ((I thought something seemed different ... holy crap! where'd my shoes go?))

So, at the risk of sounding trite and obvious, happy new year to anyone reading this lonely post. I hope my saying it makes your day, or year!

Ryan

2011-01-10T12:45:00.000-08:00

Another Minimalist Shoe Idea

I heard about some kind of shoe/slipper made by a company called Zemgear. http://www.zemgear.com/

They are less expensive than Vibrams, more expensive than water shoes. They come with different colored stripes, and they have a high ankle model. I got a low ankle pair and tried them out. Fantastic for cold weather running! I chose black on black. My wife calls them my duck feet for some reason.

Easy to put on, easy to take off, fit is superb, feel is great, extremely light weight, nicely warm, and I can easily stuff them into a fanny pack without feeling like I'm lugging a bowling ball around. I really like how they hug the arches of my feet. Their design is so simple, I believe I could replace the sole myself if it wears out. In fact, by turning them inside out, it would be easy to duplicate the size and shape of each component part and just make me some new ones out of any material I choose. I think I would like fleece; or maybe felted wool.

My only problem with them is they soak up moisture like a towel. Not good for wet weather running. This means not good for about 80% of my runs up here in the northwest! But considering I only got them for running during the most extreme frigid weather, they should work out just fine. We only get a few days of truly frosty, sub-freezing weather here. I can run in everything else without any foot coverings. I'm not sure how they would do on icy surfaces yet.

Happy running to you - in any temperature!

Ryan

2010-11-11T11:40:00.000-08:00

2010-10-11T10:09:00.000-07:00

Huaraches Abandonados

I have given up on trying to make a Huarache sandal that works for me! I just wasn't very satisfied with the results of any of them. It turns out that I so much prefer running barefoot, that the Huarache concept seems to be taking my running in the wrong direction! Perhaps its because the Vibram material I chose was too thin. No matter what I did to it, it ended up flopping or bending in an undesireable way.

I noticed that Ted McDonald (Barefoot_Ted_McDonald) is now making a Huarache sandal with a thicker sole. Its his Luna model. Here is a review: Jason's Review of the Luna Huarache

I am much too "Scottish" (i.e. CHEAP!) to pour money into trying something that I am trying to avoid using! So while the Luna looks like a very promising minimalist sandal, I probably won't be getting it any time soon.

This is likely my last comment about minimalist sandals.

Although . . .

I am aware of some kind of "stick-on" sole that adheres to the bottom of the feet. Its advertised as a strapless sandal. I wonder . . . ?

Nah.

Ryan

2010-08-05T08:22:00.000-07:00

Huarache Redux

Another idea came from my Half-Huaraches experiment. This is a full-soled Huarache sandal idea.

Previously to trying my half-Huarache idea, I had laced the sides of my full-foot Huaraches in-line with my ankle bones, which - in retrospect - may have caused the ankle strap to pull the rear of the sandal forward, causing the sole to bend downward into a kind of a bow, which then collapsed when I stepped on it, making the clacking sound that bugged me so much. (That's a weird sentence - sorry.) So I was thinking, what if I connected the laces just forward of the actual ankle joint, in line with where the top of the foot meets the leg? (Perpendicular to the sole instead of at a backwards angle.) That way the straps would not be pulling the rear of the sandal forward. This also might have the advantage of helping the heel strap to stay on better. It kept on sliding off on my first Huaraches - maybe because my foot is a weird shape.
See the following illustration. The red lines are where I had tied-in the side laces on my first Huaraches. The green lines show where I think they would work better.
I also liked the idea of using the elastic from my half-Huaraches somehow. (The elastic turned out to be a girl's hair band. I found it on the beach one day and kept it for some future project. I'm like that - a scavenger always on the lookout for things that might prove to be "useful." I saw a package of 12 in the store for less than $4 the other day, many colors and several widths.) So last night I made up a new pair of Huarache sandals using my newest ideas. Here are some photos of them:

Description: They are the standard full-sole Huarache design. I put the side holes a little bit forward from my ankle bone. I added a second hole in the front, between my 3rd and 4th toes. The elastic band goes into the front two holes, with knots holding it in place. The elastic strap makes a 'V' on the top of my foot, one end of the strap goes between my big toe and #2 and the other end goes between my 3rd and 4th toes. The thing I like about the elastic is how it keeps the sandal nicely connected to my foot at all times, no matter how my foot is flexing and moving.
I put a leather lace through the outside side hole and knotted it to stay in place. I ran that strap through the elastic loop at the top of the foot, and through the inside side hole. I then ran the strap around the back of my ankle and knotted it to itself at the outside point (near the beginning of the leather strap.) The knot I used was a Boy Scout "Taut Line" hitch. This knot can slide up and down, increasing or decreasing tension. Really cool knot. I used this so that once my foot is in place, I can slide the knot a little ways up towards the top of my foot, tightening the whole lace-job and making the sandal more secure. I can loosen things by sliding the knot back down towards the outside edge again, in case my foot swells during a long run, or to make it easier to slide the sandal off. [After-thought: Looking at these pictures, I wonder how it would work to put my slider-knot on the strap that goes around the heel instead of on the strap that comes over the top of the foot? I'll experiment with that idea and see how it works.]

I wore them around the house last night to get the feel of them. I was worried all those knots under the sole would feel weird, but they were not bad at all.

These Huarache sandals slide on and off my feet very quickly and easily. Having the elastic strap connected in two places at the front of the sole makes the sole hug my toes more closely, which I like. Having the adjustable side-knot makes it so I can quickly adjust the tension of the lacing without having to untie and re-tie everything. Once these are tied to my liking, I don't have to untie them ever again. They are slip-on and slip-off. I like "quick and easy!"

I ran with them on a short run this evening, maybe 2+ miles. They definitely worked out better than my original ones. They fit very well and I liked how they tracked with my feet. I stopped and changed the sliding knot on one of them, so it slid towards the heel. It was a little bit better for tightening things up, but was a little bit awkward, perhaps because I put it together in a hurry and could have done a cleaner job of it.

That being said --- I still like running with nothing on my feet a whole lot better. Its just annoying to have artificial things in the way. I actually stopped and took them off (easily done!) and finished the last 1/4 mile barefoot. It felt so much better!! I would not hesitate to put my Huaraches on to get through short sections of "impossible" but would not wear them the entire distance. They will always be just a short-term crutch.

Ryan

2010-08-04T14:30:00.000-07:00

Results of my Half-Huarache Sandal Experiment

Well, I tried them out on some very nasty sections of sidewalks near my house. They have been "repaving" the roads using the diabolical chip-seal method, which leaves a lot of very sharp bits of rock all over the sidewalks. At first I was running barefoot until it started getting too thick, then I stopped and put on my half-huaraches. As predicted, they went on easily and quickly.

However, once I started running in the razor sharp loose gravel, my heels didn't like being poked painfully and I ended up running too much on just my toes. Very tiring on the feet and calves!

I tried some super-bending of my ankles, keeping my knees closer to the ground, which naturally helped keep my heels up a little while allowing me to completely relax my calves. But that is an awkward way to run and my ankles aren't used to bending that much. I finally just turned around, got to where it was smoother and just took the sandals off. My ankles and calves were sore the next day from the extreme work out I gave them.

I realize that the type of stuff that would make me want to protect the balls of my feet, would also make me want to protect my heels. If its tolerable for my heels then it is tolerable for my whole foot! So a half-sole sandal just doesn't seem practical.

After-thought: While running, I thought about how my regular Huaraches were laced, and realized something that I could adjust to make them fit better without having so much "clacking" while running. Problem is, I destroyed my old Huaraches making the half-sole versions. I have just enough Vibram cherry 4 mm left to make another whole-sole pair to try lacing differently.

My thought was that by punching a hole directly beneath my ankle joint, as instructed, caused the lace cross over the front of my ankle and pull the heel of the sandal forwards, towards the toe when my weight was off it. This made the sole bend outward, away from my foot, so each time I stepped down on it, the curved sole would smack against the bottom of my foot. My new idea is to punch a hole more forward, so the lace does not want to pull the rear of the sandal forward; just "up". I suspect they will continue to have the problem with the "scoop" in the toe. Maybe I can do something to pull the toe of the sandal up when I curl my toes. Back to the drawing board!

Ryan

2010-07-29T11:13:00.000-07:00

Half-Huarache Sandals

Many people are using minimalist footwear to run in. One popular item is a sandal patterned after the one the Huarache Indians in Mexico make. Ted McDonald in Seattle markets Huarache sandals starting at $50 a pair. He also posted on his website how you can make your own. I tried making some but didn't like how they worked. So I thought of making a half-sole design that might suit my purposes.

I realized that my only purpose in putting things on my feet to run in is to give some protection only to the balls of my feet. The rest of my feet never need any assistance. It was having the rest of the sandals on my feet that were contributing to most of my complaints about the original Huarache design. So by getting rid of most of the sole, I hoped to eliminate most of the problems!

Here is a photo of my "minimal-minimalist" design, or Half-Huaraches.

The straps across the base going up to the top are elastic. I used elastic to eliminate having to adjust and tie laces each time I put them on. The straps going across the tops are to help keep the tip of the sandals closer to my toes, so when I bend my toes up, the sandal follows them instead of staying open and catching the ground. When they don't bend with my feet, they act as scoops, grabbing gravel and sometimes folding under. I would have used elastic there, too, but I ran out of material. I might change it later on.

I'll give them a try on some mileage running and see how they do. I'll let you know later what I think!

Ryan

2010-04-27T11:23:00.000-07:00

Observation

For the past year I've had recurring problems with a very old ankle sprain. I suspect the ligament never healed quite right. Periodically it starts to flare up, feels puffy, burning sensation, and I have to be careful of it. Its not enough of a problem to prevent me from running, its just something I need to watch out for.

I was concerned for my half-marathon run last Saturday that my ankle might not take that distance. It had been sore for the prior month or more. It didn't bother me at all during the run! Not only that, but yesterday and today, I've noticed that the ankle feels completely well - no nagging aching going on at all. I also feel like my legs are relaxed and limber, with more pep and bounce in them than usual. Is this the result of going on a long run??

Maybe I'm more ready to run a full marathon than I think.

Saturday I wasn't trying to make a fast time. I was just plodding along at a steady pace - no 'racing' going on at all. Yet I still managed to come in just over two hours. A friend of mine ran her first-ever marathon in Salt Lake City a couple of weeks ago. She did it in 6 hours.

6 hours! I realize that if I had kept up my pace from last Saturday for a whole marathon, I would have been done in less than 4 1/2 hours. So maybe I've just got to target a marathon run some time and give it a go.

I've wanted to do the St. George Marathon in October, for several years, but never made the commitment. Is this the year??

Ryan

2010-04-25T22:34:00.000-07:00

Here I Am Again

Wow, I haven't posted much lately!

I've been trying to run (barefoot) more regularly, even if that means doing a lot of shorter runs. I found that I was doing about 2 runs a week, pushing each one to around 8 to 11 miles, and then having to rest in between.

So about 2 months ago I started going on more frequent runs, doing 4 miles one morning, 5 miles the next, etc., and trying to get a run in close to every day. This meant I had to get up earlier and do some early morning runs. I usually don't like running in the mornings, but this time it wasn't so bad.

Then a couple of weeks ago, I was on a longer run and cut my foot on a hidden piece of glass in the river beach. Not a bad cut, but I figured I better let it rest a few days. It persisted to bother me, plus our weather got nasty, so I ended up taking more time off from running than I planned. Then, last Sunday, I came down with a head/chest cold which took me out of running all week long. I had signed up for a 10K on Saturday (yesterday), which I was determined to do even if I was sick. But I had problems registering online for this run and that got me a little pissed off at the race sponsors, so I finally just said 'Forget it!'

Yesterday they had an annual event here in my city called the Discovery Walk. It is for walkers, with distances of 5K, 10K, 21K and 42K, plus bike rides and swims. At the last minute, I decided to sign up for the 21K, and intended to run it, sick or not.

So with very little running the past two weeks I got up Saturday morning, ate a light breakfast, and went down to the starting location. Since it wasn't a timed event, you could start any time you liked within a 2 hour window. It got really chilly overnight so I wanted to wait and leave as close to 9 AM as I could, to catch as much warmth as I could. It was still only about 45 degrees outside when I arrived.

I got my starter's card punched and they gave me a map to use, and I was off at an easy pace. None of the route was coned-off from traffic, so there were frequent stops to wait for traffic lights - chances to stretch and visit with some of the walkers. They changed the course from last year, and I was apprehensive about some of the areas the new course would go through. There were three checkpoints along the route where walkers are supposed to get their card's marked for "credit" towards their Volkswalk points. I didn't care that much for points, but it was nice to get the water and orange slices they offered. Those were the only watering holes along the route.

The first part of the run was very familiar to me -- courses I have run many times. Around mile 1 it turned into a neighborhood I had never run through. I was pleasantly surprised at how smooth the road was - new pavement. This took us directly to the Deaf School, the first checkpoint, around mile 3 or so. I knew a lady and her son who were volunteers there. When I got to the checkpoint another volunteer was just telling my friend about some barefoot guy who ran the half-marathon last year -- and then I ran up just at that moment! She got a big laugh over the timing of my arrival. Drinks, orange slices, some conversation, and I was off.

The course became weird after this - all new territory for me. It cut through the Deaf School's back lot over grass and gravel, out through more residential neighborhoods, and ended up going to a very rough patch of road. This road was at the bottom of a ravine, heavily shadowed by dense trees, hardly any shoulder to speak of, and cars traveling fairly quickly. No part of the road was coned off for our event, and the shoulder was strewn with gravel and lots (really lots) of broken glass. I tried to run on the roadway as much as I could, all uphill, but the frequency of cars zooming down the hill towards us forced me to jump into the glass and gravel too much. I finally noticed that there was a strip of washed-up pine needles on the outer most edge that provided quite a bit of padding, so I ran on it as much as I could.

I came up to a group of Russian walkers. They were so impressed that I was barefoot that they wanted me to stop so they could take my picture, then they wanted to be in the pictures with me. I obliged, smiled, posed, and then handed out some of my barefoot running cards that explain who I am and why I run barefoot. I continued up the hill and eventually back into civilization (sidewalks).

The route took us across some major roads where I had to stop and wait for traffic a lot. It reached a paved trail that we followed for a couple of miles. The first half of the trail was pretty decent, asphalt strewn with a fair amount of gravel to avoid. The second half was cement with a corrugated surface that was not pleasant. There was a smooth strip on the side about 4 inches wide that I followed. I passed a lot of walkers along this trail, and heard a lot of comments about my bare feet. This was around mile 5 of the course.

The route turned onto a street that took us right past the local hospital surrounded lots of doctor's clinics. There was a check point somewhere around there, but for some reason I didn't see it. This was too bad because I could have used the water and orange slices. I forged onward, to a road that led mostly downhill towards the Columbia River. This road was very rough. I tried running on the sidewalk, but it was just as bad or worse. I ended up aiming for the white paint stripe on the edge of the road, but it wasn't much better. I had to just run gingerly along this road into a very ritsy neighborhood near the water. The roads through here were just as rough.

The route followed a very old road that was mostly cement with quite a few asphalt patches on it. The road itself was very smooth, but the shoulder was the roughest, worst stuff I'd seen the entire run. I couldn't even stand to walk on it. I ran on the roadway as much as I could, but again, traffic was a problem. I could see a long ways ahead so I could plan accordingly. I saw a long stretch of vehicles coming, and not willing to stand and wait for them, I decided to slip on my flip-flops I carried for just such an occasion. I only had to wear them for about 100 yards. Traffic disappeared and so did my flip flops.

The route crossed some railroad tracks, went over a short stretch of gravel, and then down to Wintler Park -- an area I have run very often. From here on out I was on familiar paths. I was near mile 8 - about 5 miles to go. The sidewalk through this area was brand new last year and had lots of very sharp edges on its corrugated surface. Thankfully the surface had worn down over the year and was not too rough. My feet were starting to feel sore by this time, but I knew that the rest of the route was mostly easy. I noticed a painted marker that said 4 miles to go. 9 miles down and 4 more to go -- I can handle this!

About a mile later I came to the final checkpoint. I was glad to find some water and enjoy some orange slices. I wolfed them down because I wanted to keep going and get this thing done!

I kept thinking that the first walkers left at 7:00 a.m. - two hours before me. I wondered if I might catch up to them. There was no way of knowing who was 'first' - it was just something on my mind as I thought about finishing the 21K. I passed a few more walkers, and then it got eerily empty. Nobody but me. I thought I might have taken a wrong turn or something. Nope, I found a route marker. Huh! Maybe I had overtaken the earliest of the 21K walkers after all. I ran on and on, through very familiar country. I could go on automatic from here on out. After a stretch of easy running I noticed another marker on the sidewalk that said 1.75 miles. I had gone from 4 to 1.75 without hardly noticing. Sweet!

At this point two routes converged. The 21K and 42K routes overlapped the 5K and 10K routes for the last part. I came upon a family I know from church. I stopped and gave them high-fives, congratulations and such. Then on my way. Of course there were a ton of walkers from here to the end. I was zigging and zagging through groups of people. At one point it was so crowded that I called out: "Make way for the barefoot runner!" Lots of turning heads, lots of stares, and like magic - a path opened up through the throngs. I felt like Moses.

My feet were sore from those rough patches I had gone through earlier on and I was ready to be done. One mile to go. I was just coasting, focusing on form as the sidewalk passed underneath the I-5 bridge to Oregon. Here the cement was that nasty corrugated stuff, the worst in all the route. Having run on it many times, I knew it felt worse if I slowed down to walk on it, so I just kept lifting my feet and landing them as squarely as I could. The rough part was short-lived. Only 1/2 mile left to go. Soon I was on some of the milkiest smooth cement sidewalks I've seen. The last two blocks were so filled with people and strollers that I gave up trying to run any more. I walked behind everyone else to the hotel where the whole thing started.

The hotel was having some kind of convention, and there were lots of people dressed up in very nice business attire, trying to impress all the other folks attending. I stopped to talk to some cashier people for the convention to find out what it was. 'Pre-Paid Legal' was the answer. I smiled and told them I'm an attorney, in kind of a loud voice so the people in line could hear. A lot of stares after that! I had to walk past a bunch of them -- me, sweaty, thirsty, hot, tired, dirty bare feet -- and them, hoity-toity penguins and ladies in stiletto high heels looking down their noses at me. I didn't care. Not only was I an attorney, I was proud to have finished a half marathon barefoot! So I held my head high as I walked past them all to the part of the hotel where the walking course had its final check-point.

This event did not have a 'finish line' or anything. You just moseyed in to the hotel and showed them your participation card with its checkpoints marked, and they gave you a nice little ribbon with a medal. No snacks, no water, nobody saying 'Yay you made it!' It was kind of a let down. I wanted my ego stroked a little bit. I looked around for something to drink or eat, because I was feeling kind of weak by now. I found a vendor's booth that had tid-bit samples of their energy bars. I grabbed a tooth pick and started loading up on them. All flavors. I had energy bar shish-ka-bobs! One of the ladies working the booth said she had seen me running barefoot sometime last summer and was happy to finally meet me in person. Okay, ego pumped! I gave her one of my barefoot running cards. Then it was out the door, past the hoity toity bunch, and out of the hotel. By now clouds had formed, the temperature was dropping and it was raining. Time to get out of there! I gingerly walked the 3 blocks to where I had parked my car and headed home.

Mission accomplished! Time: 2 hrs 15 minutes. I claim 2 hours because there was a lot of time wasted on the course at checkpoints, stopping to wait for traffic, and working through some crowds.

Ryan

2010-01-08T21:46:00.001-08:00

Northwest Running Hazards

Forget the common fears over glass, rocks, needles, pinecones and animal poop --- one of the things that worries me the most on barefoot runs, especially at nights, are these big beauties:

This is a slug I found outside my back door a few years ago. Its not even considered all that large!
If you step on one of these barefoot, expect to go down hard!

Ryan

2009-12-14T09:51:00.000-08:00

The True Face of 'Global Warming'

This is from the website: http://climateaudit.org/

Those who want and need us to believe in a global warming crisis in order to bolster their political and economic agendas have an inconvenient truth standing in their way. The earth is NOT warming up!

Nevermind this irritating little fact, they have manipulated and revised their statistics to hide the truth from and bamboozle virtually the entire human species. (Do you think the goal at the current Copenhagen conference is to discover the truth or to promote an agenda?)

On the left is just one attempt at hiding the truth (the green line is a global temperature graph).
On the right is what the earth's global climate thermometer really looks like:

So don't lose any sleep over this "hot" issue. Chances are greater that we will we end up shivering our way through this global warming crisis!!

Ryan

2009-12-09T12:22:00.000-08:00

Global Warming? Copenhagen?

I just came across this open letter to Ban Ki Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, signed by 141 scientists.
http://www.copenhagenclimatechallenge.org/

Just look at their credentials! Is there any doubt left that the whole global warming fear was completely fabricated / manufactured for political purposes?

Stop the madness!

Ryan

2009-12-03T22:27:00.001-08:00

Turkey Leftovers Soup

Ingredients

* 1 1/2 cups shredded cooked turkey
* 4 cups vegetable broth
* 1 (28 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes
* 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
* 2 roma (plum) tomatoes, chopped
* 1 onion, chopped
* 2 cloves garlic, crushed
* 1 tablespoon lime juice
* 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1 avocado - peeled, pitted and diced
* 1/2 teaspoon dried cilantro
* 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Directions

1. In a large pot over medium heat, combine turkey, broth, canned tomatoes, green chiles, fresh tomatoes, onion, garlic, and lime juice. Season with cayenne, cumin, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, and simmer 15 to 20 minutes.
2. Stir in avocado and cilantro, and simmer 15 to 20 minutes, until slightly thickened. Spoon into serving bowls, and top with shredded cheese.

Its great with crumbled tortilla chips added!

2009-11-20T10:12:00.000-08:00

The Cry-mary

My wife and I are volunteer teachers in a class at church called the Nursery. The Nursery is a part of the larger Primary organization. Children start going to Nursery when they turn 18 months and they graduate into the Junior Primary when they turn 3 years old. Many of the new children go through a period of adjustment when they start out, which means a lot of crying and missing their parents.

So it occurred to me that we are Primary workers in the "Cry-mary" class!

Ryan

2009-11-20T10:06:00.000-08:00

Excellent Rumination On Running

I found this very nice posting by barefoot runner extraordinaire Ken Bob Saxton that says some things exactly the way I would want to say them! Here is what he posted on his website, http://runningbarefoot.org/

Ideally, if we could run without ever touching the ground, we would eliminate all running injuries – except for the odd, being run over by cars, falling off clifs, etc..

Seriously, puncture, abrasion, impact, etc., virtually all running related injuries are the result of the forces, the friction, and impact of our feet interacting with the ground.

Most of us do remove our feet from the ground, by wearing shoes. But, that simply moves the ground forces, to the bottom of our shoes, which are attached to our feet, which are attached to – well, you get the idea… And we continue to pound, skid, twist, push, etc., barely aware, that we are pounding, skidding, pushing, etc..

The next best thing to keeping our feet off the ground, something a bit more attainable, would be to barely touch the ground, to reduce, if not eliminate friction – skidding, excess pushing, twisting, slipping of the feet. If we could distribute the forces across our entire sole, our foot landing on the road at precisely the same speed and direction as the road is traveling underneath us, perhaps even decelerating our foot, as it touches the ground, just like a space shuttle docking with the space station.

The difficulty, of course, is that we are rarely aware of these problems. Most of us run in a kind of dazed condition, not really paying attention to these ground forces.

Some of the wealthy, or elite runners could have coaches watch, and let them know when their running technique is getting sloppy. For most of us, this sort of personal coaching is far too costly. And even if we could afford it, for many of us, it takes a bit of repetition before we learn something, and make it habit – as soon as the coach is gone, we go back to our old, sloppy ways of running.

If only we could have a coach, who worked very cheap, maybe for food, and could be with us constantly, someone to remind us, emphatically, perhaps by hitting us on the palms of our hands with a ruler or something, with each and every step, when the ground forces change, so we could make adjustments, and keep on running gently.

Maybe, something like those shoes with computer chips that change the tension in the springs depending on how hard we are pounding our feet into the ground? If only we had something like that, but even more sophisticated (hey, as long as we’re dreaming, let’s go fully sci-fi!), built into our body – a complex system of sensors, maybe concentrated on the soles of our shoes, in direct contact with the ground, sensing every little detail, of each and every step, and some sort of very complex computer (the most powerful ever built) attached to those sensing devices, to process the information, and maybe a way for that computer to communicate directly to our muscles, so we could make the necessary adjustments to the way we run.

Then we could step more gently, like we’re sneaking up on someone. We might actually start running more efficiently, more gracefully, more “naturally” (oh the irony!), like, maybe, in some ways, better than, any other running creature on this planet.

We could even shift our weight, instantly, when we stepped on sharp pointy objects – if we could figure out a way to implant these sensors in our skin, we might even be able to run, dare I say it –– BAREFOOT!

And with this kind of instant, and continuous interaction, we might just find running more stimulating, exciting, maybe even, FUN!

But, of course, that’s all science fiction. We’ll have to wait until scientists perfect artificial intelligence before we could have anything like that.

If only we had a brain!

2009-10-15T09:46:00.000-07:00

Talking Feet??

I'm intrigued with the idea of talking feet. Barefoot runners are often advised to "listen" to our feet, because they can teach us to run with better form.

Even though I'm almost 56 years old, I think my feet are still teenagers. They have a very limited vocabulary. They just don't like to get into meaningful discussions with me. If they aren't ignoring me outright, my feet mostly just mutter and grumble. I can put up with that for a pretty long time.

Its those occasional blood curdling screams that really get to me. Almost give me heart attacks! I have to stop and comfort them for a while, telling them "That's okay, that's okay, you'll be fine. There's nothing to be afraid of." They usually sob and shudder for a few minutes but then settle down. At those times, you'd think they were still little babies! That's also when they start to whine and pester me. "Are we there yet?" "Soon." "Are we there yet?" "No!" "Are we there yet?" "Shut up! I'll tell you when!"

I hate it when they talk back and argue with me. Hey! I'm the boss -- you'll do what I tell you and you'll appreciate it! Problem is, they usually end up getting their way no matter what I say, impertinent things! But I feel I have to at least try, for principle's sake.

But when they argue with each other? Don't get me started on this! Its incessant -- "I'm first!" "No, I'm first!" "No - I'M FIRST!!" It just goes on and on and on. I swear - they can argue 180 beats a minute sometimes.

Sometimes we get along pretty well! What's really nice is when they laugh or even sing. That really makes me smile. Its a little embarrassing around other runners, though. Me, grinning like a Cheshire, my bare feet pouncing along briskly. I suspect those other runners can feel the good vibes because some of them smile back.

So, some words of advice. Listen to your feet. Its uncanny how much they really know. Why, you might just learn something from them!

Ryan

2009-10-05T11:35:00.000-07:00

Goodbye, Doran

My oldest brother, Doran, passed away on September 26th in Denver, Colorado.

He logged more than 65,000 miles bike riding, 22,000 of those were climbing mountains. He biked up Pike's Peak several times, border to border across Ohio and Kansas. He biked the Rocky Mountains in Montana. He biked up Sandia Peak in Albuquerque.

On June 15th he was out for an early morning bike ride before work in Denver, Colorado. At about 5:30 a.m. he was almost all the way across an intersection when a pickup truck broadsided him, throwing him almost 100 feet. He was conscious when paramedics attended to him, giving them the phone number of his wife so they could contact her. But on the way to the hospital his internal injuries bled out so much his brain was oxygen starved and he never regained consciousness.

After 3 months of hoping and praying for a miraculous recovery, his wife and we all knew that this was the best he was going to recover, so the decision was made to pull the plug. He died just four days later, on September 26th.

His funeral was last week in Denver. We estimate that over 500 people attended it. He was a very loved and respected church and community leader where he lived!

He was a steady, shining example of plain old goodness, humor, generosity, love, and support. He will be sorely missed.

Ryan

2009-08-07T14:06:00.001-07:00

Something I Composed Today:

2009-05-01T12:06:00.000-07:00

Places I Like to Run Barefoot - Portland

These following pictures are taken of a beach on the Portland side of the river, where the Columbia River joins with the Williamette River. This is an area I sometimes go in between my longer runs where I can just take it easy in the sand and water and give my feet some relaxing therapy.

To the left is the beginning of a trail from the parking lot through the woods to the beach. This is a nice surface of hard sand. This area is known to have a lot of stinging nettle, so I don't venture off the established trails! This is a favorite area for people to brings their dogs and let them run free on the beach. Often I bring some dog biscuits to hand out, just because I love dogs.

This is a grassy area used for group picnics and parties. Sometimes I run through here just for the fun of it. To the north of this area is the Columbia River. To the west is the Williamette River. The two rivers converge near this park.

This is looking north onto the Columbia River at the beach entrance.

This is the beach along the Columbia River. Laying on the log is a fisherman "hard at work." The river was at high tide this day, so the beach is really narrow. When the tide is out, I sometimes find these bad rusty wires and spikes in the sand. One time I got a nasty gouge in my foot from one of them. This area is not well maintained at all. I have spent a little time trying to pull the metal out and move it some inconspicuous place up in the trees where nobody will ever come across it. In the distance is a port where they sometimes load and load cars from large ships.

This is looking south on the Williamette River shore. Off in the distance is some industrial shipping port. Near that port is the 'beginning' of this little beach. It is about 1 1/2 miles from the beginning point to the end point on the Columbia beach side, so one up-and-back run is 3 miles. I sometimes double that to get in six miles on this beach.

Just up from the beach front are woods with some trails in them that lead up to the parking lot. As long as I stick to the trails I can avoid the stinging nettle that grows in the area. In the Spring there are edible mushrooms called Morrells growing in these woods, and I see quite a few people foraging for them.

This is looking towards the south end of the beach, on the Williamette River. There is usually a ship docked there getting filled with grain or something. Those look like grain elevators.

More trails in the woods leading to the parking lot.

More trails and logs to leap over. Some wimp put up some cross-boards. Too lazy to leap, I guess.

Trail in the woods.

Beach looking north next to the Williamette River.

My footprint in the wet sand.

Wide trail leading back to the parking lot.

More of the same trail.

2009-05-01T09:19:00.000-07:00

Where I Run Barefoot -- Vancouver Pics

I decided to go out and take some pics of some parts of my favorite running routes in and near
Vancouver, Washington. (The OTHER Vancouver! The OTHER Washington!)

These pics are of the areas I run when I go from my work. You can click on any of t
hem to really see the details. Depending on which shortcuts I take or don't take, the
distance can be anywhere from 4 to 12 miles. Most of the run is on cement sidewalks,
with a sandy river beach at the far end - if I go that far.

The following is small city park about 6 blocks from my office. They have a small wading
pond where lots of parents bring their kids to splash and play on hot days. One day I
stopped to dip my feet into the water to cool off. I got a lot of strange looks from people.
They probably thought I was some kind of weirdo, so I haven't done that again!

The following is looking the other way from the city park, looking south, in front of a
new Hilton Hotel. This part of the sidewalk is the smoooooothest section of my run.
I love it! Its about a 1/4 mile from here to the Columbia River which separates
Washington from Oregon. When I get to the river I can go up onto the bridge and go
over to Portland or I can turn and run along the river-side sidewalk that takes me to a
nice park with lots of beach sand.

The following is on the river front sidewalk, about mile 1 from work. It has a grass
border available in case my feet need a soft change of pace. I try to just stick to the
cement for training and toughening purposes. Some sections of the sidewalk have
a corrugated pattern scratched in which can be a real challenge. In the Spring these
trees drop this nasty little seed casings that have some kind of goo on them. They
end up sticking to my feet and act like flypaper - everything ends up sticking to the
glue-like tar which requires me to stop and try to scrape it off frequently. It takes
days to get the black gunk off my skin after I run on those things.

The following shows a foot bridge I sometimes cross. It goes over a freeway and some
train tracks. Its very nice. The surface is weird -- something between packed dirt and
cement. Its mostly very smooth, sometimes with sandy grit in places.

The following is looking at the path on the other side of the foot bridge. This is the
historic Fort Vancouver site. The path makes a bend to the right and connects up
with "Officer's Row" on Fort Vancouver.

The following is Fort Vancouver, on the right, taken from the foot bridge.

I reversed my direction and came back down to the river front. The following is
looking eastward on the river front sidewalk.

The following is looking back towards the I-5 bridge that crosses the Columbia
River. Washington on the right, Oregon on the left. I have crossed this bridge and
run around different parts of north Portland.

The following is approaching mile post 2 on my run of a rough sidewalk that goes
past a bunch of condominiums and some fancy restaurants. I run this when I want
to really give my feet a hard workout (and when I feel like 'showing-off' because
the restaurants have outside tables where I always get a lot of curious stares from
diners.) At the far end of this row of buildings I can either veer to the north and
eventually connect back to Fort Vancouver and return to my office to complete
a nice 4-mile run, or I can continue eastward to eventually get to the parks and
beaches along the Columbia River.

The following is taken at the beach near Marine Park. This is a little past mile post 3 on
my run. The river was at high tide, so there wasn't much of a beach to run on this day.

The following is further up the beach, looking east. In the distance is the I-205
bridge that connects Washington and Oregon. That pole in the water has an
osprey nest on top. Every Spring there is one or two fledglings in the nest. There
is always one parent or the other baby-sitting them. The other parent is always
close by.

The following is another sidewalk along the water's edge. It goes past a bunch of
new condominiums and takes me to Wintler Park, just beyond the little spit you see
in the distance. I can run on the beach a total of about two miles in each direction,
making a total 4-mile beach leg to my run. Its a great chance to experience a change
of surfaces and some cool water. While I am on the beach I always do my civic
duty and pick up any pieces of glass and deposit them where they won't hurt anyone
or any animal. If the tide is low enough, I run on the sand you see on the right. This
day the tide was too high.

The following is the view to the east and right of this sidewalk. It shows the Portland
International Airport tower sticking up in the distance.

The following is looking further east from the spit. Usually this is a wide sandy
beach, but it was high tide this day. This is probably my favorite part of the entire
run. This beach goes to a public beach called Wintler Park and on past a bunch of
million dollar homes. I've had home owners thank me for picking up glass from the
sand in front of their homes. I wish the beach went all the way to the I-205 bridge.
That would be a fun extension to this run. The bridge is almost two miles from WA
shore to OR shore. When I run to the end of this beach and back to my office, it
makes it a 10 mile or 12 mile run (depending on if I add any extension loops along
the way.)

While I was on the spit taking photos, I noticed this animal swimming close by. I
think it is a beaver, which is odd because they usually aren't seen during broad
daylight. I see a lot of places where the beavers have gone up on shore , chewed
off branches and dragged them across the sand to the water. Odd thing is, I have
never seen any beaver dams anywhere.

The following is of a couple of other water friends I saw along the way. These two
were actually quite close to me. The geese I have seen are usually very comfortable
being around me. Perhaps my white baseball cap looks like a bird-bill to them and
they think I am just some weird, big bird. Or else they think this ridiculous guy with
no shoes on cannot really pose any kind of threat to them!

2009-03-25T07:48:00.000-07:00

MMS and Budwig

Some friends of ours are taking MMS for their health. One has Grave's Disease, a thyroid condition that has many symptoms, including the trademark bugging out of the eyes. She started taking MMS and noticed some changes almost immediately. By the second day, she felt things in her throat, in the thyroid area, "coming off." That's the only way she could describe it. It felt like things were coming off and being swallowed. She has noticed already that her eyes are doing better. She has many other symptoms I didn't get to talk about with her that she says are also improving.

Another friend has adult-onset diabetes. She started taking MMS with hopes it would help her. It is. She has been taking MMS for about two weeks. Her blood sugar levels have been dropping dramatically. I didn't hear the counts exactly, but she said is was about 30 or 40 points lower now.

While my wife was in the hospital, I seemed to have picked up some kind of infection or fungus while visiting her there. It was a like a case of hemmorhoids gone ferocious. I'll spare all the ugly details, but it was awful and putrid. I tried Prep-H but it did nothing at all.

As soon as our MMS arrived, I made up a solution of it and used it in an enema. Within 1/2 an hour I had a couple of sharp cramping sensations and then passed some very funky, strange things. I repeated the enema the next day and again had some sharp cramps then passed more similar funky, weird stuff. After that, all my painful, burning, swollen, bleeding, putrid symptoms completely disappeared and have been gone ever since.

These are some examples of success with MMS. There are many, many more to read about on the web. This stuff works!

Ryan
Healthy in Vancouver

2009-03-25T07:37:00.000-07:00

Simple, Inexpensive Health

Just as running barefoot is a simple, inexpensive healthy way to exercise, so I have discovered two other very simple, inexpensive ways to enjoy good (perfect?) health.

Last month, February, my wife had an orange size tumor removed from her colon. It was adenocarcinoma of the colon. She didn't want to do post surgical chemotherapy because of some other health concerns she had. So we went on a search to find what other natural cures there might be for her cancer. We found two things which are extremely simple, inexpensive, and effective. Each one has evidence of 90-95% success rate (compared to chemo's 50% rate). Not only do they each help eradicate cancers of all types, but they help to remove all kinds of diseases, pathogens like fungi, yeast, bacteria, viruses, and parasites.

The first one is called "MMS" which stands for Miracle Mineral Solution. It is a low dosage form of administering chlorine dioxide, commonly used in water purification systems. It is made at home by combining Sodium Chlorite with a food acid like lemon juice, vinegar or citric acid. The acid releases chlorine dioxide, a gas, which can then be taken with water or juice. Chlorine dioxide is a pathogen specific oxidant. It leaves healthy, good cells alone, but it explodes bad cells or molecules it comes in contact with. You can think of it as a pathogen vacuum cleaner. It has been shown to heal malaria, anthrax, cancers of all types, flu, colds, bacteria, viruses, hepatitis A B & C, AIDS, Candida, among many other things, plus it chelates heavy metals out of the system. Its cost is only $25 to $50 per year, and it leaves absolutely no trace residues in the body.

The other one is called the Budwig diet. Dr. Johanna Budwig was a German scientist who worked on the effect of healthy fats and oils on the body. She discovered that flaxseed oil has some very powerful properties that help cells respirate (transport wastes out and nutrients and oxygen in). However, being an oil, it has a hard time passing by the cell membranes. Dr. Budwig discovered that by combining it with the food-based sulphur found in cottage cheese, the oil molecules chained with the sulphur and became a water-soluble oil. This made it possible for the oil to be used by cells much more easily. Dr. Budwig has used this protocol with terminal cancer patients and reversed their disease in just a couple of months. The list of diseases, including cancer, that the Budwig protocol has healed is very long. Interestingly, Multiple Sclerosis is among them! It costs about $9 per bottle of flaxseed oil and cottage cheese is less than $3. That averages to be only $12 every month or so.

We figure that these two diet protocols, each with 90% and better healing records for cancer, will do a lot more for my wife's health than chemotherapy could. Chemotherapy destroys the body's immune system, which is why it is so hard on people, especially people who may have immune systems that are already compromised by autoimmune disease. Plus the drugs used in chemotherapy are known to be carcinogenic by themselves. Many times its the chemotherapy itself that kills people. MMS and Budwig both enhance the body's immune system, and enable it work to its peak proficiency, with no side effects except better health.

I have posted links to each of these protocols on my sidebar. There is a lot more information available on the web.

Ryan
Healthier Than Ever in Vancouver

2009-03-24T11:50:00.000-07:00

More on Barefoot vs Shoes

This is an ongoing blog posted discussion at PopSci about someone's new design for running shoes. I got a response from someone with the label meowmix4jo from Las Vegas, Nevada, who said:

"Ryan, if I understood right, you are basically saying that if they flattened All Stars more they would make better running shoes? "

I replied:

I don't know if flattening All Stars would make them better running shoes. What I am saying is that its odd for a shoe maker to claim their shoes promote a "more natural" running style, yet they include so many un-natural characteristics in their design.

What is "natural?" I think bare feet are the most natural thing we have for running. It stands to reason that shoes that try to come close to natural should be true to bare feet -- no artificial curves, curls, arches, uneven surfaces, pinching, fat bulbous spots, and they should be lightweight with flexibility. I think simple aquasox might be better shoes for running in than the hyped up expensive versions we see.

In fact, I told a 65 yr old retired dentist about my barefoot running. He had to stop running because his knees were giving him too much pain. He tried wearing aquasox, practiced the barefoot running forms I taught him, and he was able to resume running again. In just a few weeks of practice, he could run from two to three miles per run, three times a week. He was ecstatic that a simple pair of aquasox did more to help him run successfully than the thousands of dollars he had spent on chiropractors, podiatrists, orthopedic doctors, massage therapists, and on the many various shoes and orthotics he had purchased.

Some of the best runners in the world are the Tuharamara Indians of the Mexican highlands. They run races that last up to three days and nights and cover 150 miles. Their choice of footwear are simple flat sandals they make themselves, called Huaraches.

Ryan
Vancouver, WA

2009-03-20T13:51:00.000-07:00

Turn Off Your Lights for the Earth

My son sent me a ridiculous email urging everyone in the world to turn off all our lights for one hour at 8:30 pm on Saturday, March 28th, to show our support for fighting global warming and to save the earth. This whole concept makes me upset. I went to the website he referred me to. Here is what I wrote to them:

What global warming? What do lights have to do with it? If we really want to stop global warming, we need to learn how to change the sun's solar flares and how to change the amount of water in our atmosphere! Those are the two largest contributors to global warming. Carbon dioxide, other gases and particulates in the atmosphere only account for about 4% of the effects on global temperature. Of those, mankind is only responsible for and can only realistically effect about 2% (that's 2% of 4%). So no matter what we try to do, or how much money we want to waste trying, we can realistically have virtually zero effect on the earth's global temperatures! Too many groups are just using (abusing) the global warming myth as a way to extort money from everyone and to impose their own political views and methods on others. Stop the madness! Refuse to play along! Refuse to be duped by these self-serving leeches!

Oh -- and WHO SAYS leaving lights ON is a VOTE FOR global warming!??

What I do with my lights is not a vote for or against anything or anyone. It makes as much sense as saying if we don't all hold our breaths for two minutes at 8:30 on Saturday evening, we are voting FOR Global Warming! or we should all hold in our bowel movements for one day. BS!!! They are not related, not connected, and I refuse to let someone else dictate my behavior based upon their erroneous misconceptions and self-righteous false causes.

Try this one: If you don't turn counterclockwise fifteen times at 12:00 midnight on April 30th then you are voting against changing the earth's magnetic field, which we all know IS MOVING! and if we continue to allow it TO MOVE, it will affect ALL OUR COMPASSES, the flight paths of migrating birds, the flow of winds around the globe, and the incidents of hurricanes, tornados, cyclones, El Nino, desert storms, and mosquito outbreaks in Sierra Leon! Oh my, oh my, oh my! What are we going to do about this? We must stop the earth's magnetic field from shifting out of place!!

Ryan
Still sane and level-headed

2009-03-09T17:11:00.000-07:00

Global Warming is a Myth &
"Man-Made" Global Warming is a Dirty Rotten Scam

I have never considered there to be any truth whatsoever to the hoopla over global warming. It is a myth at best, at worst, it is an intentional scam designed to hurt humankind, limit freedoms and steal money for nothing.

Here are a bunch of news articles that support my thoughts on this. Some are old and may be outdated. I haven't checked them for some time.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=440562

http://www.dailymail.com/Opinion/DonSurber/200902250614

http://tinyurl.com/7jl5yb

http://www.dailytech.com/Article.aspx?newsid=13834

http://tinyurl.com/7k88z3

http://tinyurl.com/7kkyrl

http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/69623

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/Content/Article.aspx?rsrcid=34576

http://www.newsmax.com/weyrich/al_gore_global_warming/2008/07/10/111671.html

http://tinyurl.com/5prdpj

http://www.kusi.com/weather/colemanscorner/19842304.html

2009-03-09T11:43:00.000-07:00

On "Natural' Running Shoes

Someone on the Running Barefoot discussion group (http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/RunningBarefoot/) mentioned an article on the Popular Science website about some newly designed running shoes that were supposed to be much more natural. (See it here: http://www.popsci.com/node/32702) I watched the video and read the report. Then I just HAD to leave my comment about what I saw. This is what I said:

I look at these shoes from the perspective of a true barefoot runner. I have been running exclusively barefoot for almost five years. So I have some questions about this 'natural' shoe.

Why does the toe-box curl upwards? Natural feet rest flat on the ground. What does the upward curl do to the natural movements of the foot? I can only believe forcing the toes of the foot up like that will constrict their natural movements, and will create an artificial stress in the arch of the foot.

Why do those shoes have such a large, built-up heel on them? Natural feet have the heel resting at the same level as the toes and the mid-foot. The video claims there is no need to heel-strike with these shoes -- so why have the big balloon on each heel? Having the heel built-up like that almost guarantees that it will get in the way, almost forcing a heel strike.

What kind of arch support do these shoes have in them? The arch of the foot is designed to flex, contract and expand with each step. If there is an "arch support" in the shoe, then it will interfere with this natural movement and weaken the foot's arch action and strength. Since I have been running barefoot, my arches have become more pronounced because I am actually using them when I run.

I am fascinated by the shock absorption claimed by the little pockets in the forefoot. How much shock can they really absorb? When I run barefoot, I have the benefit of my natural shock-absorbing arch in my foot, my Achilles tendon and calf muscles, plus I have the benefit of up to many inches of bending in my knees if necessary. From my perspective, that little bit of shock absorption contained in about 1/2 inch of space or material just doesn't compare. Proper running technique uses all of the body's natural shock absorbers, making the 1/2 inch of artificial absorption in the shoe unnecessary.

I would be much more interested in a shoe that had no heel whatsoever, and a flat, flexible sole. If they could whack off that bulbous heel, and flatten out that toe box, I might be interested in giving the modified shoe a test run. But - would I BUY it? I run naturally for free - it costs me absolutely nothing to prepare my feet for running. Those (modified) shoes had better offer me something really impressive to make me want to fork out $70-80-90 or more for them.

Ryan
Vancouver, WA

2009-02-09T14:44:00.000-08:00

Answer to a Question

Someone on a discussion board I visit asked, "Has anyone considered whether shoes actually cause over-pronation?"

I thought about this and came up with my own answer. Here it is:

I agree that shoes can be the cause of either over-pronating or under-pronating, depending on the way the shoe was built. I noticed that running shoes are made with pre-assumptions that people's feet need correction. So they make them with corrections built-in, thinking that will satisfy most of their buyers. In fact, there are very few shoes that do NOT have some kind of 'compensation' factor built in them!

Imagine this:

Suppose every time you took a step, someone next to you gave you a shove. Always in the same direction.

Step, (shove).
Step, (shove).
Step, (shove).
Step, (shove).

Let's name that evil guy "Shoe."

At first, this would tend to throw you off balance. Over time, you would learn to anticipate and compensate for the constant imbalance that Shoe was causing you.

If you finally had enough of the rude guy named Shoe, you might just get rid of him at some point.
[Murder not advocated.]

The problem with many people, is they get rid of Shoe, only to replace him by Shoe2, and then by Shoe3, Shoe4, etc. Each new iteration of Shoe still likes to shove you in one direction or another with every step you take, and you learn to anticipate and compensate for each one, after an initial 'break-in' period.
(You might think you are breaking Shoe in, but Shoe thinks he is breaking You in!)

Let's say you just get rid of Shoe completely. Even though he has quit shoving you around, you might still find yourself anticipating and compensating the shoving, just out of habit. Without the actual shoving taking place, you would once again be off-balance by your own compensating actions. Eventually you would get used to Shoe's absence and you would be able to walk and run completely naturally again.

This is one reason why it is almost impossible to learn to run barefoot by only running barefoot part-time! A Very Wise Man once said, "No man can serve two masters." This ties in with that.

So, as good looking as Shoe looks, or as helpful as he claims to be, he still wants to shove you off-balance with every step you take. You can't learn to run barefoot while continuing to let Shoe push you around.

Ryan
Vancouver, WA

2009-01-17T10:32:00.000-08:00

A Word to a New Barefoot Runner About Technique

I've been thinking about what you said about lack of absorption of shock when your ankles are compressed.

I noticed how my feet react to my bent knees that last time I was out running, and I noticed some things:

My old paradigm for running was basically: "Propel the body into the air and wait for it to come crashing down on my fully extended leg so it is all caught by my one foot. Then do it again with the other foot." Hence the perceived need for padded heels in shoes, etc. (Boy, was I proud of my knotted, tight calves, that were used for the launching, springing part!)

My NEW paradigm for running is more like this: "Lean body forward beyond its balance point, swing rear leg forward with knee bent, start to bring fore leg down towards ground before body weight is committed, touch down with forefoot as body passes over, whole foot then engages ground as body weight transfers to down leg and rear leg starts its swing forward, repeat."

Its hard to put in words what is going on, because so much of it is done simultaneously. I actually 'feel' as if my legs are doing a circular peddling motion, as Ken describes, and that my foot and ankles are doing a front to rear, or forefoot to heel, transfer of weight - like they are working in the opposite direction from what my body is moving.

Its like this: In my old running ways, my body was moving forward while at the same time, my weight was caught by my heels and transferred forward to the front of my feet, which then propelled the weight forward again. It was all forward, forward, forward.

But now, even though my body is moving forward, my weight is 'caught' (actually only a portion of it is caught at first!) by the front of my foot, and the weight is transferred in the opposite direction -- from the front of the foot towards the rear. So its: body forward, weight transfer backward! This cannot be done with the leg fully extended, the knees must be bent. The weight transfer is not a one-time crashing down all at once moment, but it is partially caught as the forefoot touches down, then increases across the whole foot -- so it is spread out a little bit. The heel may touch down, but not so much in a load catching way. Its more of a 'set the spring' mechanism within the Achilles tendon, so when you are ready to lift and swing the leg forward, the natural spring effect helps lift the leg. I guess there is a Yin/Yang effect going on: body forward, feet backward (overly simplified).

I don't know if any of this is making sense. I'm trying to describe how it feels for me to run barefoot. Someone else noticed that running barefoot requires "running from the core." To me this means your feet are not the focus of your running; that is, we don't think about 'landing' on the forefoot, etc. We think of moving the core of the body forward, and the arms, legs, feet, hips, shoulders, etc. all engage in satellite activities towards that end.

Enough postulating for now -- I hope this helps!

Ryan
Vancouver, WA

2009-01-06T13:53:00.000-08:00

Sick

I have a very strong constitution and have only been truly sick a couple of times in my entire life. Last week was one of them. I got a GI bug that really laid me down hard with all the yucky symptoms you'd expect. It even made me pass out at one point. That was different!

So its been about five days of nothing but listen to my insides slosh and boil. I wondered how long I should go without eating or drinking anything. By day 3 my logical side said 'eat!' So I did - a little. Lot of good it did me. I found I really like tonic water with quinine.

Today I'm finally starting to feel like normal, appetite coming back, holding things in a little longer. Wanting to go out for a run! That's the real mark of recovery for me.

Ryan
Vancouver, WA

2009-01-05T10:52:00.000-08:00

Global Environmentalism is a Scam and a Hoax

I had a conversation with a friend about my contention that humans are not and cannot be a major cause of global warming. He asked me if I had any scientific backing for my belief. Ever since then I have noticed more frequent mention in the news of articles and scientists who support my beliefs. Here are some of them:

http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/69623 This is from the Dailyexpress in England, written by naturalist David Bellamy. He was a popular lecturer on the environment, wrote over 35 books, and presented over 400 programs. Then about 10 years ago, he was suddenly blacklisted and hasn't appeared in public since then. Why? Bellamy says he doesn’t believe in man-made global warming.

http://tinyurl.com/7kkyrl This is from the Belfast Telegraph, written about Ireland's Environment Minister, Sammy Wilson. The article states that Mr. Wilson believes spending billions on trying to reduce carbon emissions is one giant con. He claims that ongoing climatic shifts are due to nature and not mankind.

http://tinyurl.com/7k88z3 This is from Investor's Business Daily, Editorials and Opinions section. It says,

" 2008 has been a year of records for cold and snowfall and may indeed be the coldest year of the 21st century thus far. In the U.S., the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration registered 63 local snowfall records and 115 lowest-ever temperatures for the month of October.

" Global thermometers stopped rising after 1998, and have plummeted in the last two years by more than 0.5 degrees Celsius. The 2007-2008 temperature drop was not predicted by global climate models. But it was predictable by a decline in sunspot activity since 2000.

" When the sun is active, it's not uncommon to see sunspot numbers of 100 or more in a single month. Every 11 years, activity slows, and numbers briefly drop near zero. Normally sunspots return very quickly, as a new cycle begins. But this year, the start of a new cycle, the sun has been eerily quiet.

" The first seven months averaged a sunspot count of only three and in August there were no sunspots at all — zero — something that has not occurred since 1913.

" According to the publication Daily Tech, in the past 1,000 years, three previous such events — what are called the Dalton, Maunder and Sporer Minimums — have all led to rapid cooling. One was large enough to be called the Little Ice Age (1500-1750)."

So, this is a large part of my contention -- that we can only purposefully control the earth's global temperature when we have figured out how to control the sun's activity. Not before then.

ht tp://www.dailytech.com/Article.aspx?newsid=13834 This is from Daily Tech, written by Michael Asher.

He says,

"Thanks to a rapid rebound in recent months, global sea ice levels now equal those seen 29 years ago, when they first started recording ice levels via satellite."

It also says, "Earlier this year, predictions were rife that the North Pole could melt entirely in 2008. Instead, the Arctic ice saw a substantial recovery."

and, "In May, concerns over disappearing sea ice led the U.S. to officially list the polar bear a threatened species, over objections from experts who claimed the animal's numbers were increasing."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This goes to support my belief that proponents of the green movement and environmental protectionism use hysterical, non-scientific approaches to gather support for their theories, including the use of inaccurate or falsified data. In other words, the movement has an agenda of its own, facts be damned!

I lament the fact that our politicians have adopted the same hysteria that the pro-global environmentalists suffer from, and are spending billions of dollars chasing an impossible dream. The problem is, the more they see how badly they are failing to affect the global climate, the more they will be convinced that "the problem" needs more money thrown at it. It is like a dog chasing its tail -- maybe if they do even more, go even faster, they will catch up. Meanwhile, they will tax us beyond our limits to withstand, they will impose unnecessary and silly added-upon expenses to doing business, and they will eliminate perfectly good industries because they don't fit well with the 'green' theories. For example, I read today that the EPA is considering a greenhouse gas tax on cows and hogs, to pay for all the CO2 they breath and fart into the atmosphere! Ever hear of anything so ridiculous?

What's the end of all this? Total economic melt-down, total public inacceptance of inept and blind politicians, and an eventual rebuilding of society based upon sane and sound principals (hopefully). If not, then possibly the complete take-over of freedom by socialist and communist societies. But, most likely, the advent of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Humans will never figure it out by themselves.

Ryan
Vancouver, WA

2008-12-30T12:22:00.000-08:00

Second Run this Week

I decided to go out again today. It was cooler, 39 F (3.8 C) but no wind or rain to contend with. I intended to run one of my favorite routes along the waterfront in downtown Portland, Oregon. Usually I just run one loop, which is 4 miles. This time I felt really good so I added an extra loop, winding up through the streets in the business districts. My total distance on this run was 6.2 miles. I got lots of stares. The only comment I heard was from another runner. He called out, “Hey Abebe Akila! Ghetto style!”

I get some serious inquiries about barefoot running sometimes, so I made some business-sized cards that I carry with me. Once in a while I hand one out if someone seems interested in knowing more. My cards say “Barefoot Running” with a pic of some bare footprints, my name, and the words “Natural! Fun! Healthy! Strong!” I was going to give one to the “Abebe Akila” guy, but it would have taken too long to dig one out of the plastic bag with my gloved hands.

I noticed that I could handle some gravelly sections quite well by making sure I placed my feet straight down gently with no lateral force. My ability to handle the rough stuff may have been helped by a dietary experiment I have been doing. Someone suggested adding ground flax seeds to my diet for the good oils they contain. I have been trying this for the past 3 days and I believe it makes a difference. The skin on my feet seems to be more supple without losing any toughness. The skin seems to mold itself around bumps and lumps better with less pain.

Happily running barefoot in the great Northwest!

Ryan
Vancouver, Washington

2008-12-29T17:36:00.000-08:00

My New Years Resolution

I decided I need to keep better records of my running, so I know how far I'm running each week/month. I estimate that I have run about 2,500 miles barefoot since I began in August, 2004. This is a only an estimate.

In 2009 I'll try to keep more accurate records.

Today I ran four miles in cool, wet weather. We just got thawed out after a 10-day deep freeze with almost 18 inches of snow. I didn't do any running during that stretch -- I may be a barefoot running fool, but I'm not foolish about it!!

So today was a nice, short run to get me back into it again. I expected to find a lot more gravel on the sidewalks left over from sanding the icy streets -- but it was no worse than usual.

Still running barefoot in Vancouver, Washington
(the other Vancouver)
(the other Washington)

2008-11-20T11:30:00.000-08:00

Listening To Our 'Youngers'

There is wisdom in listening to our elders and learning from them.
However, there is also wisdom in listening to our "youngers" sometimes.

I noticed some kids walking barefoot across a parking lot one time.
When they came to a rougher gravel-covered section, they all did some
familiar things:

Bent their knees more
Shortened their strides more
Stepped more on their forefeet than on their heels
Appeared to look past the rough area - not focusing on the immediate.

So yesterday I was running and took a trail that goes from a parking
lot down to the sandy banks of our local river. The trail was mostly
smooth and leaf-covered, very easy and pleasant! There is one section
that is rocky and rough. I have usually had to switch to a slow walk through
there and try to step only on the large, smooth rocks.

This time I remembered the example of the children and did the same
things they did. I was able to cross over the rough part very easily
and much more quickly, no problems at all. Something to keep in mind
for future runs.

Quite often people ask me "Where are your shoes?" I usually carry a
couple of bandaids in my pocket in case I need them (I rarely do).

One time I pulled out some bandaids, showed them to the person, and
said, "Here they are! I carry them in my pocket."

Ryan

2008-11-14T11:43:00.000-08:00

Running in the Rain

Last Wednesday, I felt like going running all day, but it was very windy and blowing, the middle of a big storm. Once I am out in it, I usually don't mind so much; the hard part is overcoming the initial resistance to the idea of voluntarily getting soaking wet. It was not even that cold out, a balmy 62 degrees! So I was vacillating between going or not, to get wet or to stay dry.

I thought I would compromise -- go out just for a short run (or so I say to myself) which won't be so bad. Except I know that once I'm out in it and am already wet, I'll have no reason at all to keep it short. So, I asked myself, shall I go out at all, knowing I will probably make it a longer run in the end?

So I stewed over it for some time.

Anyway, I ended actually venturing out into the full-on rain storm. It was still 62 degrees F (16.6 C) out and less than an hour before sunset. I knew I would get soaking wet but I did it anyway.

It was windy, wet, wild -- and wonderful!

Yep, I did go further than I originally planned, 7.5 miles instead of 4. There were some fairly strong wind gusts, some spells of extremely heavy rain intermixed with steady, constant rain. Some deep puddles that I intentionally aimed for, especially when wet leaves were sticking to my feet and ankles.

I even saw a few other runners and bicyclists out! I passed two women, one who was wearing only a sports bra, shorts and shoes. She pointed at my feet and exclaimed, "No shoes??" I pointed at her and said, "No
jacket??" We both laughed and continued on our way.

Today is sunny and blue skies -- not too bad running weather either!

On another note... I get asked about barefoot running so much that I broke down and bought some business card paper and made me up some Running Barefoot cards to just carry with me and hand out on runs. I don't know how they will fare in sweat and rain, so I'm looking for a plastic holder of some kind to keep them in so they stay dry.

My desert-dwelling sister was up here for a visit. She asked one day, "What's all that stuff falling out of the sky?" (joking about all our rain
versus her lack of it.)

I smiled and told her, "Around here, we call that SUNSHINE!!"

Ryan

2008-11-06T12:35:00.000-08:00

More on: "Is Going Barefooted Good for You?"

Someone on the Yahoo sports group, Runningbarefoot, sent me a link to another very well written and thorough article written by Joseph Froncioni on his web site, Quickswood --- about shoes, bare feet, and injuries. Excellent material! Read it here:

Essay on Athletic Footwear and Running Injuries

Ryan

2008-11-06T12:02:00.001-08:00

Is Going Barefoot Good for the Feet?

I got a private email from someone wondering if running barefoot was proven to be good for the feet. Here is my answer:

Hi there! I got this email from you, where you said,

"I think you guys are a little loose running barefoot. There is no proof that it is better for your feet."

My first proof is myself, but that might not convince anyone. So I did a quick web search and found these articles, linked below. There may be others I didn't discover. I suppose these come as close to 'proof' as we have right now. There is not a lot of money in proving barefoot is better; scientists get a lot more money proving that a certain shoe or an orthotic design is good so some company can sell those products!

Enjoy these, they were very helpful to me!

Article 1
Article 2
Article 3
Article 4
Article 5
Article 6
Article 7

Ryan

2008-10-30T10:52:00.000-07:00

National Guilt

I read on someone's web page that we can't ignore the national stain on our history because our nation practiced slavery for hundreds of years. They were saying our nation now owes the descendants of the victims of slavery reparation for the inhumane treatment and lack of justice they suffered.

That got me thinking --

Slavery was not a national problem -- it was a regional problem. I belong to the nation that DEFEATED slavery! It was the United States of America that rose up and told the Confederate South that not only could they not secede from the union, but they could no longer own slaves. It was my country that defended freedom for blacks. It was my country that destroyed the awful system of human trafficking!

It was the Republican Party that defeated slavery! Abraham Lincoln, that great defender of human rights, was a Republican.

None of my ancestors owned or condoned the practice of slavery.

So I oppose the idea that my country owes anybody any reparation for a practice that my country defeated.

I oppose the idea that the Republican Party is worse and the Democrat Party is better for blacks.

I oppose the idea that I owe anybody any reparation just because of my skin color and because of their skin color.

Even if reparation might be somehow justified, it should only be paid by those who are proved by a high percentage to be descendants of actual slave owners, and the only ones who should receive reparation money are those who prove by a high percentage to be descendants of actual slaves.

Even those reparation payments would have to be filtered. During the slave trafficking days, it was African tribe against African tribe, blacks against blacks, who captured and sold slaves to the traffickers. If someone descended from a black slave captor, then they would owe reparation to someone who descended from a black slave captee. The reparation debt would apply not only to people living in America. There are many descendants of black slave captors still living in Africa. Many of those who received the slaves and transported them to this country were from other countries. So the ship captains and crews and their descendants would also share the guilt. Look out Dutch, French, English and Portuguese!

How ridiculous can this whole issue become? Its like the man who was trying to prove he was 25% American Indian so he could collect reparation money from the U.S. Government. Wait a minute! If he was 25% American Indian and 75% white, then three-fourths of him owes the other one fourth of him payment!

So, if someone proved they were actually descended from slaves, we would also have to see if or how much their ancestors intermarried with non-slave descendants, and adjust their reparation payments accordingly.

There is hardly a group living in this country who can't point to some injustice committed upon them or their ancestors. Besides blacks, there are American Indians, Germans, Jews, Italians, Polish, Hispanics, Japanese, Russians, and others I probably did not think of. I think by the time we all pay reparations to everyone else, we might have just about done an even swap all around.

The reparation issue is not about justice or equality. It is about preference, reverse racism, and self-interest.

Those are my thoughts on this matter.

Oh, and I am still running barefoot! and loving it!
For those who think it matters, I wear no animal products and I wear no petrochemical products when I run! How's that for environmentally friendly?

Ryan

2008-10-03T08:27:00.000-07:00

A Letter to My Congressman:

While it appears that a financial bailout is imperative, I ask that you demand some answers before approving it:

1. Where did all the money GO and how do we make those who took it RETURN IT??
Sallie Mae, Freddy Mac, WaMu, etc. were not failing to be profitable for all these years -- it appears their profits were being siphoned (stolen) and misappropriated. Who took the money, how do we get it back so taxpayers don't have to foot the entire bail-out cost?

2. Will those responsible for the financial mess be held accountable? We expect to see a list of indictments against politicians, investors, and business leaders who truly caused this mess. You could start by making public the list of names who are responsible, and the list of names of those who wrongfully received money from these failed institutions.

I believe Barack Obama and Barney Frank will be on those lists - if so, let the chips fall where they may. We want all the evidence and all the facts to see the light of day in an open and unblinking inquiry. How come so many politicians, who are not supposed to accept gifts or bribes, suddenly end up being millionaires when their government salaries don't support it. They got their money from SOMEWHERE illegal!

3. If these are such tough financial times, why does the bailout package have so much EXTRA spending in it? Cut out the pork! If a financial bailout is necessary, let's not spend any more than is necessary. This shouldn't be a free-for-all where everybody gets a free lollipop.

4. Where did we come up with 700 billion dollars all at once? This tells me that we have been WAY OVERTAXED. Cut the taxing, cut the stupidity with money, cut the assault and the punishment on the productive citizens.

5. Wouldn't eliminating all the illegal aliens and closing our borders reclaim most, if not all, of the cost of this financial bailout? We are losing millions of dollars supporting people who are law-breakers, who do not have any right to be here, and who siphon money straight out of our economy. Correct this mess and we wouldn't mind so much having to fund this bail-out by our own sweat and labor.

Do the right thing!

2008-09-23T11:06:00.000-07:00

Barefoot Ups and Downs

A couple of weeks ago I was walking - not running - on a sandy beach when my foot struck something hard and sharp hiding in the sand. Turns out there was some very old metal debris buried in the sand. You'd think that this being a city park and all, and this beach being visited by lots of fishermen, families with kids, etc., that someone at some time would have thought -- "You know, that old rusty, sharp metal hiding in the sand just might not be such a good idea!" and might have decided to remove it.

Well, my foot got quite a deep gouge from it. I didn't have any bandaids with me, so I let it bleed out pretty good and then rinsed it in the water. When I got back to my car I doused it with a saline-hydrogen peroxide solution I have. The skin break was not the extent of the damage. Apparently I also got quite a deep bruise and a slight sprain to my ankle. So I was limping around for quite some time after that. The skin tear has healed nicely, the bruise has eventually gotten better, and my stiff and sore ankle has now quieted down.

A couple of weekends ago my wife and I visited friends in Astoria, Oregon. One of my goals was to go on a long, easy beach run while there. We made it to the beach, the weather was absolutely gorgeous, but my foot and ankle were still too stiff and sore, so I could only manage a short 2 mile run/walk on the beach. Oh well, I'll take what I can get!

This week I have been able to get in a couple of good runs, at last. 10 miles and 8 miles each, on pavement, cement sidewalks and beach sand. Saturday my wife and I went to the river beach and dug up fresh water clams to make into clam chowder. I really enjoy wading in the mucky parts of the river as well as the clean sandy parts. Barefooting is so much more interesting than wearing sandals or even aqua socks!

Ryan

2008-07-09T12:19:00.000-07:00

Thinking Green

I just don't buy into the whole global warming political theory. There's no doubt that global warming is occurring; it has cycled up and down for as long as the earth has stood. My contention is that we just don't know enough about the earth's global climate to conclusively say that MANKIND is contributing to any global warming! There are tens of thousands of reputable scientists who also don't agree with the current pet theory and warning that "the earth is warming so we must DO something about it!" In fact many of the scientists who were brow-beat into signing onto the Kyoto Protocol have recanted their support of it and many have since been shunned by the politically correct body of "correct thinking" scientists.

I know the argument sounds good, that says, "But WHAT IF we could have done something about it and didn't try?" I believe the forces at work in shaping the earth's global climate are not only massive beyond our calculations, but are self-correcting. I do not believe that man-made pollution HAS any effective impact on global climate, and I also don't believe mankind COULD make any effective impact no matter how hard we may try. Not only does the global climate correct any imbalance of pollutants, no matter what their source, but it will also 'correct' any relatively puny attempts by mankind to try to steer the climate in any direction. Even our successful efforts will be short-lived and will be absorbed or adjusted according to nature's own rhythms and cycles.

Remember in the 80's when global cooling was the great fear and a global ice-age was the dire prediction? Well, nature compensated! Now the earth is warming (again) and I fully believe the earth will compensate on its own very nicely. This isn't the first time the earth has warmed up. Finland (Vinland) was once known for growing grapes and producing wines (hence 'Wine-land'), which meant it had much the same climate as present day France or even Italy! Then things cooled off a bunch, and not due to man's influence.

I live about 40 miles from an active volcano, Mt. St. Helens. When it first erupted back in the 80's, it spewed out hundreds and even thousands more tons of "pollutants" that are high on the environmental bad list, than all of mankind has or could put out for all of human history. Since its first modern eruption, it has continued to pump out even more "pollutants" every day in one long, slow-burn eruption that has lasted about 20 years. And it is just one volcano. There have been and now are many active volcanoes that daily put out far more "pollutants" than we could ever imagine putting out even if we tried to with all our effort. Nature simply rolls with the additional input, corrects for it, and rebalances itself.

My greater fear than that of a future global desert caused by mankind, is the presently very active political fear-mongering going on and the call to tax, limit, modify, and shape our lifestyles and activities in the name of protecting the environment, when (I believe) nothing we may try to do will really have any noticeable effect on the global environment at all.

So, years down the road when billions and trillions of Euros, dollars, yen, pesos, or what have you, have been senselessly wasted or extorted for private gain by those who stand in the money stream, and realizing that nothing we may have done has changed anything about the climate, will those concerned give-in and admit they were powerless to change the climate? NO!! They will cry louder and predict more dire results, and demand that we do even more to try to change the climate.

I firmly believe that there are those pushing the "green" movement and who say they are trying to save the earth, who are really using that as a front for a much more insidious agenda. I absolutely believe there are those who are using this as a means to destroy free enterprise, free will, human potential, and to impose dictatorial government systems upon people everywhere in the world. I also believe that there are many, many people who completely buy-into the fears and the face-value goals proposed by these groups, who innocently support all of their agendas in perfectly good faith, and who are just blind to the real direction the movement is taking them. A totalitarian government doesn't have to force chains around people's necks if they can be enticed to put them on voluntarily.

I believe those scientists who say that global warming is 99% caused by the sun's activities and by the amount of water in the earth's atmosphere. I won't believe mankind can effectively change the global climate until we learn how to modify the sun's output, globally change the amount of water in the atmosphere, and modify the ocean and wind currents at will. Until then, we are simply at the mercy of natural forces far greater than any influence we might exert or imagine we could exert!

Now, all that being said, I do not believe in blindly polluting our air or water. I support wise and careful stewardship over those thing that we are able to affect or influence. We do have the capability to produce chemicals that are very bad; we need to be prudent with how those are used and disposed of.

Those are my thoughts on the matter!

Ryan

Still running barefoot, just not commenting on it as much.

2008-04-08T10:56:00.000-07:00

Relax, Relax, Relax!

Ken Bob's repeated reminder to relax, relax, relax is more than just a cliche. I think there's a reason his recommendation is usually expressed in triplet. Here's my philosophy on the meaning of "relax-relax-relax."

Relax - the Body

Shod runners are trained and practice to build up their tension-based muscles. They feel the need to be able to "push off" with tremendous force and whip their legs forward with staccato speed.

Barefoot running is a whole different mind set. We learn to relax our body, let nature take over and do the hard work. Stress, effort and tension waste energy and invite injury.

Instead of thinking about the "trying" of running, we feel the "doing." Falling to go forward. Natural loading of the built-in springs in our feet, ankles and legs. Taking shorter and quicker steps that reduce stress, impact and friction. Running from the core.

Relax - the Mind

When learning to run barefoot, there is a tendency to think, re-think, analyze, formulate, evaluate, focus, compare, and so on. The best part of barefoot running is learning to un-hook the mental processes and allow the body to learn to speak for itself. We are conditioned to fear and avoid mistakes, so we panic when trying a new thing and want to analyze the heck out of it, hoping to become pros at it immediately.

Barefoot running is much more than just doing certain movements or placing the feet just so. Its about re-growing weak muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Its about re-shaping arches and muscles. Its about quieting sensation-starved nerves that initially scream from overload when starting out going barefoot. Mental analysis does not grow new cells, experience and effort do.

Barefoot running is also about putting aside fears, prejudices, social embarassement, self-doubts, and self-limitations. We fear the pain that we will and do experience in our muscles and on our feet when starting out. We fear stepping on that rock or glass that might injure us. We hesitate and tense up when trying something new. We tell ourselves we could never ..., we will not be able to ..., its too far to ..., etc. We worry about how we will look and what others will think of us.

Little by little, however, we vanquish each fear, doubt, hesitancy, and limitation. Each step of success builds confidence to take another step forward in our progression. Rocks and glass can be avoided or can be stepped on without consequence. Yesterday's stopping point can be today's half-way point. We receive the harsh comment or word as not being given in malice, but evidence of someone's own misunderstanding and feelings of inadequacy -- and we forgive them.

Relax - the Spirit

Barefoot running begins to open up a new attitude and acceptance of life. The process is as fulfilling and important as the goal. A bad run is still good. We learn from setbacks as much or more than from success. In fact failure is only a new learning opportunity, and it is also good. We find that we are not really competing with or against others. We only compete with the self we were yesterday, we strive to achieve the self we want to be tomorrow, and we are aware of and enjoy the self we are today. Other's successes are not our failures, so we rejoice when others progress. Progress is great, whether its learning to run that first block or two without pain, or running a second marathon the very next day after the first one. We focus on "what's next?" instead of "what might have been."

---------

So, remember when running barefoot, whether you are just starting out or you are aiming for yet another ultra run - to "relax, relax, relax!"

See you "out there!"

Ryan

2007-11-21T10:04:00.000-08:00

Reporting: Nothing Much

Not much to report. I've been getting more busy at work, which means less time to run. I am not an early morning person, so its hard for me to get up in the dark hours of the morning and go running. Besides, its a lot colder out at that time. I did get up a couple of times last week, and only went for about 4 miles each time.

When running barefoot was a new and daring thing for me, I had a lot more to share. Now it has gotten pretty mundane and I don't report as much.

I'm finding that it is a lot easier for me to run a 6 to 10 mile run. I used to be proud as buttons to be able to run that far. Now its kind of routine. I ran a 14.5 mile run on my birthday a few weeks back, which was the longest I've run in a long time. Usually my runs are around 4 to 10 miles each. My technique has settled down fairly well so that I can pretty much run abrasion free. Sometimes if I get lazy, I still get a rubbed spot on the outside of my left big toe. I decided its because it just turns downward a little bit. Not much I can do about that, except put a bandaid on it if I'm worried about it getting worn.

I went out yesterday for a very nice 6.5 mile run in the sun. It was brisk outside at about 50 degrees but was still very nice out. I planned on running the whole distance without walking, which I figured should keep me warm enough, so I wore my running shorts, not my long pants. It was pretty chilly in the shady spots, but I survived.

Some time ago I bought a cute running hat with a small LED light in the front. It barely casts enough light to see where I am going in the dark -- not bright enough to see the little bits of stone that might be on sidewalks, but bright enough to see if I am stepping into a hole or something. Sometimes I turn it on just so I can be seen better by cars.

Its interesting to see the weather turning colder, making me have to bundle up more. People who see me almost always ask me "Aren't you COLD?" I wipe the sweat off my brow and tell them I'm cooking! One time I said, "Yeah - I sure wish I had some gloves!" My feet don't suffer much from the cold. I think they have adjusted with an increased blood supply or something.

I'm just rambling here... feeling guilty for not contributing any new posts for a long time.

Last night I found that I can post my running route on MapMyRun.com and then view it using Google Earth. Thats pretty cool and it can give somewhat of an idea of what my routes look like. Still, I think it would be nice to have some kind of head-mounted mini-camera that I could film my running routes. I wouldn't want to film the entire run, but it would be cool if the camera could be set up to snap a forward photo every 5 seconds or so. That series of pictures would combine into a kind of motion picture of my running route.

Oh - my old running barefoot shirts I made a couple of years ago were wearing thin and fading, so I made two new ones. One is the same as before "It Takes Balls to Run Barefoot!" and the other one says, "Why Barefoot?" and I list ten reasons. My favorite reasons are "Designed by God!" and "Animal friendly - Earth friendly!"

I better log-off and get busy.

Happy trails (with few sharp rocks) to you!

Ryan

2007-11-01T12:18:00.000-07:00

Shoeless in Seattle!

Last Tuesday found me up in Seattle with some time on my hands, so I changed into my comfort clothes and went out for a run along the Alaskan Way waterfront. It has a very nice sidewalk running past piers, stores, shops, and lots of people. It leads straight into a nice waterfront park with its own paved pedestrian path. The path was a little rough in places and I
was tempted to jump over to the bicycle path, which looked smoother. But I would probably get in trouble for obstructing bicyclists.

I did a turnaround at the end of the park and was headed back when I saw a gravel path leading up and over the railroad tracks, past a bunch of interesting sculptures. Since I wanted to go in that way, I braved the gravel incline, zig-zagged around the sculptures, and went down the other side - also on a gravel path. I then worked my way up to the Space Needle and ran around its park a little bit.

One cute thing I saw. A little girl about 6 or 7 was standing there with her mother. She was staring at me with big, round eyes of wonderment. Her mother had her dressed in a coat, hat and gloves even though it was 55 degrees out. When I made eye contact with the girl, she suddenly grinned a big toothless smile and waved enthusiastically at me. I swear that kids just "know" that running barefoot is a lot more fun.

I headed back down towards the waterfront and saw that a very long train was blocking my progress. So I headed back up the same gravel path as before and down the gravel path on the other side. Kind of ouchy, but not too bad.

My impression is that Seattle-ites aren’t as barefoot friendly as Portland-ites. I got quite a few comments while running, many not favorable. The friendliest comments came from the street-people camped out along the way. Maybe they felt sorry for me that I couldn’t find any shoes.

Total distance, seven miles.

Ryan

2007-10-18T10:47:00.000-07:00

Some Thoughts on Pain for New Barefoot Runners

1) Switching to running barefoot causes a lot more changes that just on the surface of the sole of the foot. There are lots of interconnected bones, tendons, and ligaments throughout the foot. When you switch to BF, these are suddenly called into play after being mostly dormant and atrophied from being in restrictive shoes for years. Like Ken says, try wearing a cast on your arm for 12 months and then see how strong your arm is when you take it out.

So your pains could be the inside structures of your foot adjusting to the new uses demanded of them. At first, your foot is likely to respond with some cramping and pain - trying to resist the changes. This is why you want to start BF running slowly and build up gradually - let those bones strengthen and those tendons stretch.

2) Also, shoes have a tendency to deform the shape and structure of the foot components. These need to readjust and move to new positions, sometimes, which can be painful. (Ever wear braces on your teeth?) My feet have gotten wider and flatter (laterally) and my arches have increased (axially). Yes, bones can move and tendons can adjust their length, but they complain in the process. If you push the changes too hard or too fast, you can end up with stress fractures, so be careful and don't over-do it!

3) There is correct BF form and incorrect BF form. Bad form causes more pain and problems than correct form does. After running with a certain form in shoes for years, your form does not magically change just because you kick off the shoes. The pain in your feet might be the result of some lingering elements of bad form. Study the basics of proper BF form and practice them. Sometimes its harder to re-train the brain than it is to re-train the feet and legs! My own challenge has been to remember to place my feet *beneath* my center -- not out in front, and to keep my knees *bent*.

Early on, I noticed that I kept drifting back to my poor form ways. To overcome that, I had to toss out any idea of running fast or far at first. I would start a run by literally just running in place, freezing in my brain that feeling of BOF placement beneath my body, bent knees, etc. -- then gradually leaning into it to get forward movement. As long as I could keep that same feeling as running in place, I kept on going. But as soon as I noticed I was putting my feet too far out in front, I would stop, and begin the process all over - running in place, etc. This way I was not practicing running with bad form; I was forcing myself to run with better form by interrupting the bad stuff.

Lately, I remember to place my feet beneath my body by telling myself that I need to step within my shadow at high noon. It might not be high noon and I might not have a shadow, but I know where it would be and where I should place my feet. Even when running faster, and my legs are lifting backwards higher and my knees are driving forward with more intensity, I still place my feet beneath my body. That is the 'happy zone.'

Still running and loving it!! -- Ryan

2007-10-15T11:12:00.000-07:00

Foot Placement

The question has come up in the past about the best foot placement to follow. I sometimes feel that I am running with my feet placed on parallel lines (like the left side on my diagram below), but sometimes I wonder if they should be placed on one center line, like the right side. Sometimes I do run along one line, like when I'm running on top of a curb or on a painted fog line. I'll have to experiment and see what difference it makes.

2007-10-11T00:11:00.000-07:00

How I Lace My Huarache Sandals

I 'Gimped' up a simple drawing to show my new tying method. Here it is:

2007-10-07T11:09:00.000-07:00

New T-Shirt

My home-made t-shirt has pretty much worn out after several years of use. So I made a new one, pretty much the same. Here are some pictures of the new one:

2007-09-23T21:12:00.000-07:00

Huarache Sandals

A fellow-barefoot runner has run with the Tuharamara (sp?) Indians down in Mexico and discovered their ultra-simple sandals they make. He copied their style and explains how to make your own sandals on his website, http://www.barefootted.com/.

I think he posted somewhere about the straps wearing out on the sides where they go through the soles, so I came up with some little tabs on my design for the straps to go through in such a way they never come in contact with the ground.

The side tabs are positioned just in front of the ankle bones. I made my tabs a little wider than necessary. I may move the hole closer to the bottom of the sandal and keep the tabs smalled - but then, I might not. I figure if they are a little longer, they will bend easier. So maybe I'll just leave them the way they are.

Ryan

2007-07-03T10:55:00.000-07:00

More on Barefoot Running Form

I found some photos of runners which show very well the correct running form I mentioned in my earlier post. Here they are. A picture is worth . . .

Ryan

Pictures (Top to Bottom)
1. Ken Bob Saxton
2. Rick Roeber
3. Ted McDonald (in Vibram 5-Fingers)
4. Brett Williams
5. Zola Budd

2007-07-02T10:35:00.000-07:00

More Thoughts on Running Form

A new barefoot runner posted in http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/RunningBarefoot that he sustained a stress fracture in his foot because he was trying to land on the balls of his feet without changing the rest of his form. Ouch! This is why it is so essential to change the whole running form, not just how your feet contact the ground! Here is what I wrote in response to his post:

Hello and congratulations!

You have been very effectively "taught" by your foot how NOT to run!
Barefoot running education may be free, but not without costs, sometimes.

I also suffered a stress fracture in my left foot almost identical to yours - I was doing the same (wrong) thing by trying to land "ball" first without changing the rest of my running form. This happened to me just about 7 or 8 months into my barefoot running career. I was 50 years old at the time and, like you, had to "un-learn" many years of wrong running form.

My advice, now, to you is this: Let the foot heal completely, expect 8 to 10 weeks for this. Don't push it at all during this time!

After your foot has completely healed, start back to using it very slowly. The most important thing is to NOT repeat the process that got you injured in the first place!

Yes, you can learn to run barefoot correctly. The hardest thing for me was (and is) to release from my MIND my old running form and force my new running form in its place.

When you are completely healed, I suggest you try this:

Run in place, barefoot, for some period of time before actually moving forward. The reason -- you cannot land wrong on your feet while running in place. In fact, I challenge anyone who wants to try it, to really try landing heel-first while running in place! Good luck!

While running in place, don't push off with your forefeet. Think about lifting your entire foreleg by lifting your thigh and knee straight up. Notice that your shins stay at a nearly vertical angle each time you put your foot down. Experiment with bending your knees. What happens when you bend your knees MORE than you think is necessary? Notice how easy and natural it is to land forefoot? Notice the nice stretch in your Achilles?

Implant in your mind the feel of this running form. Close your eyes and imagine you are running miles upon miles over hills and highways while using only this form. You are trying to re-train your brain to forget your old form and to accept a different form of running.

When you are ready to actually start going forward, don't change a thing about your foot and leg action. The only thing you need to change is where your hips are in relation to your shins. While running in place, your hips and torso are pretty much directly above your (nearly vertical) shins. To move forward, let your hips and torso be a little more in front of your shins. Keep knees bent. You're moving forward! Yay!

Good running form feels a little precarious at first, as if you are balancing on the edge of a forward fall. This is because your body's center of gravity IS balanced on the forward edge of your comfort zone. If you hold that feeling while running, you will have many hours and miles of smooth, effortless running in store.

As soon as you feel your form start to change (your brain is getting in the way) STOP. The problem is, IF you let your brain convince you to move more into a 'protective spot' -- that is, relaxing your form so your torso is comfortably and 'safely' in the middle of your strides -- you will no longer be running easy and your feet will take a beating for sure! You WANT to be at the leading edge of your forward stride. So correct your brain: Run in place a little bit, and start to press your hips and torso ahead of your shins again. Allow yourself to LOVE that precarious position.

I think of the difference between running in the correct zone and the incorrect zone in terms of triangles. Imagine your hip is the top point of a triangle (looking from the side), your forward foot is the front point and your rearward foot is the back point.

Poor form wants to balance your top point in the middle of the front and back points - a 'solid' 'safe' position, but terrible for your feet. In this 'solid' position, your front foot blocks your forward movement and you have to pull and push your body weight forward with your legs to get your center over the spot where your front foot first slammed down.

Correct barefoot form tips the triangle forward so the top point is over the front point and the rear point is somewhere up in the air. It feels precarious. But its very easy to lightly place your foot directly beneath your torso and you keep moving forward without any push-off. With your knee bent, your 'front' foot is naturally and effortlessly placed BHB without forcing it.

So, to run barefoot easily and safely for your feet, joints and muscles, learn to run inside of that forward, precarious balance position.

2007-05-02T15:07:00.000-07:00

Diet Experiments

We got a book called The PH Miracle which talks about how diet can control your body's PH levels for optimal health. One of the things they talked about was eating a green salad for breakfast!
I thought that sounded really weird and not very appetizing so I didn't think much of it.

Then I read an account about a guy who went and lived with the Tuaharamara Indians in Mexico to see how they can go on long (150) mile footraces and not even seem tired. They broke all the rules of health. The night before the race, they smoke, drank booze, stayed up all night partying, and at the crack of dawn took off running and didn't stop until the following morning. Sometimes their races can go on for a couple of days. What was the secret to their amazing endurance? One of the things was what they ate for breakfast. This caught my attention. They ate a green salad each morning! They also chewed on corn soaked in water, kind of like an all-day munchie food.

So that clinched it for me. Last Friday morning, I helped myself to a large green salad for breakfast - nothing else. I thought I would be starving by 10:00. I went the whole day on just that salad and I felt absolutely fine. I skipped lunch because I went on a 10 mile run instead. I have had nothing but salads for breakfast every day since, and every day I have felt just fine. Well, today I am feeling a little hungy. Its 3:00 p.m., no lunch yet, and I just got back from a 9 mile run. I think some fruit would be nice, so I'll go get something soon.

I am going to continue with this salad for breakfast thing for a time and see how it goes. So far I am very much impressed with it!

Grazing for breakfast...

Ryan

2007-05-02T15:03:00.000-07:00

What A Difference Form Makes

After doing a lot of moaning and groaning about how sore my feet have been the past couple of weeks, today I 'went back to basics' and really focused on maintaining my form. What a difference using good form makes!

I completed a 9.1 mile course without any problems at all - in fact, I felt like I could have just kept running forever. Where before I felt bruising and hypersensitivity, today I felt warmth and a happy tingling in my feet. I seemed to just glide over rough spots, and I was unaware of the passage of time.

So, even though I probably sounded like a "moaning Susan" when talking about my runs the past couple of weeks, today's run more than made up for all of the sorry, pitiful runs I had recently.

The main difference was that I really made sure I was putting my feet down beneath me, not even a little bit out in front, and keeping my stride close to the center line. I experimented with taking short steps, high steps, low steps, high back leg lifts, etc. and none of it seemed to make much difference. The key was "center down" foot placement. I noticed that doing a high rear leg lift along with a higher knee lift in front, while still doing a center-down foot placement, made my forward speed pick up quite a bit.

It was a fantastic run for me. The wind blew, the rain came down hard at times, the sun came out and dried up all the water, it hailed, it blew some more, and we ended with a hard downpour and thunder. What a rush!

At the end of the run my feet not only felt more than fine, they tingled like they were ready to get out and go again!

Big NW Smiles

Ryan

2007-02-16T14:28:00.000-08:00

Still Learning

Running barefoot has been such a challenge to me! But a very enjoyable and rewarding one.

I've been thinking about why my feet still suffer from abrasions while running. Something in my form is still not right. I've narrowed it down to two things: 1) I'm still trying to place my feet too far in front of my body; 2) I am allowing my trailing foot to remain on the ground too long.

I just checked out Nicholas Romanov's POSE running site and learned that he recommends a quick lift of the trailing foot, getting it off the ground immediately! I have definitely been letting mine trail behind me too much, probably causing a "pulling-forward" scuff. I have also felt that I allow my legs to go too straight, probably connected with leaving my feet against the ground too long. If I keep my knee bent and pull my foot upwards immediately after each step, I should (hopefully) be able to eliminate the abrasions I have been suffering.

My heel pads and the pads over the outside edge of my feet have built up very nicely and are quite strong. But I cannot seem to develop similar pads over the balls of my feet because of the abrasion problems. I hope by employing faster foot lifting to reduce abrasions and then build up more padding on the balls of my feet.

Happily running

Ryan

2007-02-07T13:47:00.000-08:00

Still Running

I am still running, although at reduced distances than in the past. I've been letting my left toe heal up. I ran 29.5 miles total a couple of weeks ago, then I only ran 19.5 miles last week. Last week my second run was 13 miles, a new PR for distance!! I felt very achy throughout much of the run, probably because it was pretty cold and windy out and I did not wear long pants. I'm sure my form was not up to par which probably contributed.

This week I have gone out two times, but only 4 miles each run. I'm thinking about doing a longer run today, 12 miles maybe? Its cool out, kind of rainy (drizzly is a better term) and some winds, so I'll have to gauge my running accordingly.

Happy trails!

Ryan

2007-02-07T09:33:00.000-08:00

Astronaut Antics

This news report about Lisa Marie Nowak has got me thinking. What a great opportunity for Depends! They ought to fund her defense team. I can see a whole course of new ads appearing on TV.

A desperate, haggard looking lady is driving down a lonely highway late at night, piles of fast food wrappers and pop bottles strewn about her car. Scene changes, she is still driving, piles of wrappers and bottles getting larger as time passes. Mile post signs whizzing by: 350 miles, 495 miles, 631 miles, 849 miles. As she passes mile post 900, a voice-over announces: "Depends! They keep on working when you got to keep going!"

Just a thought.

Ryan

2007-01-30T09:45:00.000-08:00

Letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi

I sent Nancy Pelosi the following letter by email:

I just learned about the anti-Bush protesters who sprayed graffiti on the US Capitol steps. The Capitol police were ordered to stand back and allow the anarchists to commit criminal acts in their presence. Since the Capitol police act under your direction, how can you justify giving such an order?

In your new precedent-setting position you are under the strictest public scrutiny. Protesters can certainly voice their opposition to our President but criminals are NOT allowed to deface our nation's capitol building! Allowing criminals to run rampant and intentionally do nothing to stop them when it was in your power to act is tantamount to being in complicity with them. Do you really want your name and office associated with a criminal conspiracy?

This looks very bad for you. Shame on you for preventing the Capitol police from doing their job! They were there and ready to act but their hands were tied by orders from your office. Shame on you for putting your petty political bias before the integrity and respect of the institution of our United States! Shame on you for allowing yourself to be seen as a vacillating woman reluctant to exercise the power she holds to defend the honor of our Nation! I am frankly very surprised that you would so easily allow your name to be tainted by consenting to such a stupid act of violence.

I hope you buck up and improve the position of your office before the nation regrets your abuse of your new position of power.

2007-01-25T09:22:00.000-08:00

Reporting In

Funny how I feel the need to "report in" to my blog here. I feel like I'm writing only to myself, but still, just in case...

I went on a long cold run in December and got hit with snow and sleet on the way back, making my feet numb from the cold. That's to be expected, nothing much to worry about. However, I must have stepped on a little baddy and got something in my left big toe. I thought I had just bruised it or gotten a regular blister. So I waited an appropriate length of time for it to heal, kept it bandaged, etc. Only it wasn't healing very well.

Okay, I thought, it must have been deeper than I thought. Give it more time, etc. More time went by and still it remained very sore and tender. It affected the way I walked and I had to severely reduce my running, although I did venture out a couple of time with the toe bandaged up nicely. During one run it actually felt pretty good, but later on I noticed what appeared to be a deep blister that had broken open. So I removed the dead skin around the edges and saw a little piece of glass sitting in there. Ahah! The culprit!

I removed the piece of glass easily and thought it would heal up quickly now. Only it was still very sore and tender despite all the Neosporin and bandaging. One night I lay in bed and it was throbbing. That told me one thing -- infection and pressure. Sure enough, it had partially healed over the top but was still festering inside. Once again I opened it all up, removed the dead skin, and this time got serious about clearing this thing up. I drenched it with tincture of Iodine, bracing for the sting which never came. For the next week, I kept on changing the bandaids and respotting it with Iodine. Finally, it is starting to feel better! I feel like it is healing properly.

On Monday this week I went out for a 4 mile run, but I felt so good it ended up being 7.5 miles! Skipped Tuesday and went out again yesterday (Wednesday) for a longer run of 10 miles. I felt the effects of not running much these past 3 or 4 weeks! Stiffness , muscle fatigue and harder to keep in my proper running form.

Today, Thursday, I'm considering if I want to run again. The ambitious part of me says, Yes! Keep pushing yourself to gain more strength and endurance, gain back what you have lost. The lazy part of me says, No! You must rest after yesterday's run. Maybe I'll compromise and only run a short 4 miler (ha-ha, like I did last time?)

I am going to see if I can be ready to run a marathon on April 14th in SLC. I'll have to get my miles up and my form down to be ready for that!!

That just inspired a cute saying, "To get your miles UP you must get your form DOWN!"

Ryan

2007-01-01T10:22:00.000-08:00

Review of my Barefoot Running Career

I began running barefoot in August 2004 as recovery from a very painful and debilitating bout of plantar faciitis. My running developed from a "zero" level and progressed very slowly. I was up to running a couple of miles at a time by March, 2005 when I got a stress fracture in my left foot. So I had to take about 10 weeks off for that to heal. It left me with some toes on my left foot that are no longer straight. I picked up my running again in June, 2005 and have been steadily building since then.

I've had to overcome my brain which kept on imposing its own idea of how running should be. This has taken a long time to overcome. So my running in 2005 was very spotty, lots of foot abrasions, setbacks, and disappointments. My longest runs were about 4 to 5 miles with the need to rest and heal after nearly every one. Despite the difficulties, I have actually enjoyed running barefoot very, very much! I have felt my deeper foot structures strengthening and developing along the way.

In 2006 I was determined to figure it out - to get it right! So I re-examined my running form and really concentrated on practicing pure correctness, so my body could overpower my brain. It has been working. I have focused on key form habits that I needed to develop and each time my running has improved. By the end of 2006 I have finally been able to run with very little to no foot abrasions at all, which means I have been able to start pushing my distances up. This has allowed me to develop my cardio-vascular conditioning as well as strengthen my running muscles -- thighs, calves, hips, back, etc.

My running development took one small downturn one month ago with a piece of glass in a toe that developed a very deep blister around it and then got infected (because I kept running on it). So I finally got to the bottom of it, got the glass out, and have been healing. I have run very little for the past couple of weeks because of it.

This last week I only ran 6 miles, a test run which went very well. But I still felt I should rest and recover some more so I have been taking it easy!

My goal in 2007 is to build steadily upon my current levels, develop more cardio-vascular and muscle strength, then to run more races, including 1/2 marathons and marathons! I want to travel and run with other barefooters, too.

Looking forward to 2007 - a very good year!

Ryan

2006-12-22T11:18:00.000-08:00

Waiting to Heal

After that one cold morning run where I got blood blisters in each toe, my right toe healed up just fine, but my left toe continued to bother me. I ran with it bandaged up a few more times, putting in 8 miles on Dec 13th and 10 miles on Dec 15th. The blister on my left toe then got infected and had to be opened up to drain it out. That's when I discovered a little piece of glass in it! Now that I know what was bothering it so much I think it will heal now. I have been nursing the open wound left over with hydrogen peroxide and Neosporin. Today, the 22nd, is just about one week since I had to cut it open, and although its a little sore still, I have been itching to get out and go running again!

I got me some super-strong bandaids to wrap around it so I think I will venture out today for a run. Its not raining today so at least I will be dry! This might be a good day to go down and run on the Portland waterfront. Its been several months since I did that. I'm sure they all miss me!

Ryan

2006-12-04T13:07:00.000-08:00

Weekly Total Report

My total for last week was 29 miles.

Monday I ran in sleet and slush and got a couple of blood blisters on each big toe. My left toe has been the sorest. So I rested them a few days.

I went out Friday for a five mile run. My course took me through one section that was littered with lots of gravel all across the sidewalks, so I wore my new Vibram 5Fs for the last part.

Yesterday I went out for a 12 mile run. I ended up wearing my Vibram 5Fs again because of lots of gravel again in certain sections.

Vibrams aren't the same as running BF, but they do allow me to keep going at a faster pace through rough territory. I've noticed that while wearing them I tend to hit the ground harder with my feet. After wearing them through one section I took them off to continue going barefoot. I enjoyed the barefoot experience much more than I did wearing the Vibrams.

I noticed that my running pace has been very slow, around 10 minute miles. I prefer trying to keep it around 8:00 minutes or less. I don't know if its caution or me adjusting to the longer distances I've been trying to run. Or maybe old age. I just turned 53 years old a couple of weeks ago!

I went to a church Christmas party last night, "A Night in Bethlehem" dressed up in period garb. I decided to go barefoot. I told a few people that I had just come back from running 12 miles, an hour before the party. They each wanted to see the bottom of my feet! One couple had to touch them to see if I had tough callouses or not. They were surprised to see fairly normal skin, though a bit dirty. That "comes with the territory!"

Ryan

2006-11-28T13:17:00.000-08:00

Observations About Cold Weather Running

I went out yesterday for a 12 mile run. It was 39 degrees when I started, not bad, my feet warmed up naturally and felt nice, even while I was running through some soggy, swampy wet grass in a park at about mile 6. Then on the way back I could feel the temperature dropped quickly, and about mile 9 it started to snow/sleet and the street got covered with slush. That's when my feet started getting numb. I thought No Problem! I'll just keep running with good form and my feel will just take care of themselves! Right?

After my run I noticed that each of my big toes had blood blisters on them, my left one is also very sore to the touch. Why would they be sore? The rest of my feet were in pretty good condition, even though I was a little worried about possibly having too much skin wear on the balls of my feet. But only my big toes seemed to have any problems.

The Role of Toes in Running

I believe that our toes help act as proprioreceptors, helping us feel the lay of the land, etc. When our feet are warm enough, the toes aren't needed as much and we can just pull them up out of the way. When our feet become numb from the cold then we instinctively start using our toes to help feel for the ground, for balance, etc. because the feet aren't feeling enough feedback. That's my theory, anyway. When the feet cannot feel the ground, the toes kick in to try to help out.

I noticed that evening and today that my feet (as well as the rest of my body) are very warm and comfortable. This supports my old theory that the feet act as thermostats for the body and help it to regulate the over-all body temperature.

Ryan

2006-11-27T11:10:00.000-08:00

Last Week's Total

Last week I only got two runs in. We've had some pretty bad wind and rain storms which didn't inspire me to get out and run much! On Monday I ran 12 miles and on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, I ran 10.2 miles. I was disappointed on Friday's run because I thought the course I was following would pan out to be closer to 12 miles. Oh well. Time to replot my course and make it longer!

I got some Vibram 5-Fingers for my birthday and have tried them a couple of times. They will be a nice alternative for really cold days or really rough surfaces I might encounter. I now wear a hip pouch with my 5-Fingers and a water bottle in it when I run.

I'm looking forward to some good running this week - cold or not. I've decided I can't wait for winter to end, so I'm just going to jump into it and keep running anyway!

Happy trails!

Ryan

2006-11-22T10:55:00.000-08:00

New Course & New Personal Best Distance

I plotted out a new course last Monday using mapmyrun.com and then went out and ran it. It was a 12 miler from my work. The first and last two miles were all on nice smooth cement sidewalk. I was afraid the course might have a lot of gravel and glass since it follows an industrial use road. But it was actually fairly clear. I did most of my running on the white lane marker line (we call that the "fog-line"). The last section before the turnaround point is 1/2 mile up and back on beach sand, which was kind of nice! I even did some running in the water just for fun. The area is near a bird refuge, so there were a lot of birds flying overhead. I think they were trumpeter swans by their very distinctive sound. This run matches my furthest single distance I've run so far!

Someone asked me about my recent success in increasing my running distances & frequency. Here's what I answered:

Most recently, I have focused on keeping my feet more beneath my torso and keeping my knees bent. It was such a hard to shake, in-grained belief that I had to put my feet out in front of me to run.
I have been thinking about the angle of my shins with each step. I try to keep the angle of my shins relative to the ground as close to 90 degrees or less (when my legs go behind me) and try to never let them go more than 90 degrees (meaning I'm putting them out in front of me too much.) This has helped me a lot.

Closely associated with this exercise is knowing that I need to keep my knees bent more than I thought necessary. This forces me to automatically place my weight more towards the fore-foot, so I don't really have to think about BHB (ball-heel-ball) action.

These two things, angle of my shins and knees bent, have helped me to stop sliding and twisting of my feet against the ground, which was causing me to have skin erasure.

One other thing I have been working on is increasing my "swivel-hip" action with each step. This also seems to help align my foot as it is placed on the ground and helps eliminate friction to the skin on my feet.

So, those have been the secrets to my slight rise in success lately. I'm always working on improving things, though. As I slowly increase my distances I am also increasing my over-all conditioning. So form and conditioning go hand-in-hand, or foot-in-foot. I can't improve conditioning with bad form which limits my ability to run.

2006-11-20T10:39:00.000-08:00

Personal Weekly Best Last Week

Last week I went out running four times and logged a total of 36 miles. That is the most barefoot miles I've run in any one week since I started running barefoot back in August, 2004! I am slowly convincing my brain to just let my body do what it should do and not try to impose its old running rules any more. I ran: Monday - 10 miles, Tuesday - 6.5 miles, Thursday - 10 miles, and Friday - 10 miles. I took Saturday off, but did find time to mow my lawn barefoot before the next rain storm moved in.

I have been playing with employing more hip rotation during my running. I believe it helps to reduce foot wear somehow. Its a pretty different way of running. I lead more with my hip of my leading leg, so I have more "swivel hips" type action. I'll keep playing with it to see if it something worth keeping up.

On one of my runs I opened up and did some faster speeds for a couple of miles. I noticed that at faster speeds, my feet kick up higher behind me, but they also place down more gently beneath me. I felt like faster speeds make the rough sections of road actually easier to negotiate! This might explain why Ken Bob Saxton says he always speeds up through rough sections to get through them faster - maybe it also makes them more gentle on the feet!

This week I probably won't match what I did last week. We have a beautiful Fall day today, sunshine, but then its going to be a lot of rain the rest of the week. It would be cool if I could find a 5K or a 10K on Thursday morning to run in.

Ryan

2006-10-30T17:26:00.000-08:00

Healing Run

Today I decided to challenge myself, after several painful, disappointing runs last week. I was determined to have a successful run. I chose to follow my tried and proven running route so I wouldn’t have any surprises. It was a crisp Fall day, lots of leaves on the ground, temperature about 52 degrees, sun shining brightly.

I ran 10.3 miles today, really trying to keep my form true and correct. It paid off. I had a very nice run, felt like I was “in the groove” the whole way. I concentrated on pulling my feet up a little higher than usual, just to make sure I was not pushing off in any way. I also concentrated on placing them straight down beneath me. I felt like I was really working my thighs, in a good way, by keeping my legs bent in an "S" curve, strengthening them and my hamstrings.

I successfully negotiated some “corrugated” cement sidewalks. I ran into several sections of ouchies in several places where little acorn-like seeds were scattered on the sidewalk. I just tried to step through them as carefully as I could -- mostly successful! My feet did not scream at me like they did last week. The best part is that I returned completely fired up and energized. A picture perfect day and a most satisfying run!

Call me happy.

Ryan

2006-10-30T11:18:00.000-08:00

Goodbye Garden

Last night we had our first frost. And it did freeze well in my backyard. I still had a lot of lettuce that I was planning on picking. Oh well, its all frozen now! Just the same, I'll wait until later today to see if any of it survived enough for one last picking of lettuce. I pulled out my pepper plant, some tomato plants, and some other things. I'm waiting to see if I still have raspberries that are pickable. Once I'm done picking them I plan on cutting that monstrous bush back to more tame dimensions. I'm worried that all of those overripe berries that have dropped off will grow into a jungle next year! I'm going to be busy hacking out extra shoots that grow in the wrong places. I have a number of carrots still in the ground. They last all winter if you mulch well over the top of them. I don't think they suffered any last night. I also have a lot of onions. They are the sweet variety, so they won't winter-over in the ground. They never grew very large, some are maybe 2 inches in diameter, most are smaller. So tonight I'll pull them up and see what shape they are in and figure out how to use them up quickly. Maybe I can dry them.?

So my lush garden is quickly being scaled back to the dry dirt, waiting for next year's new crops. I love the growbox method of gardening. Once its set up, its the absolute easiest to care for!

Happy barefoot gardener,

Ryan

2006-10-30T10:55:00.000-08:00

Painful Record Week of Running Barefoot!

Last week was one of accomplishment and pain. Accomplishment because I ran a personal best total mileage for the week. Pain because I kept on going over areas that turned out to be rougher than I expected. Monday I ran 8.5 miles as reported earlier. I rested on Tuesday to let my feet recover.

On Wednesday I plotted out another course that I hoped would be nicer to my feet. On the map, at least, it had sidewalks all along the route. It was pretty good for most of the run, but one area had older sidewalks that were quite weather beaten, so they were very rough and raspy. I changed by route and cut my run a little bit shorter than I planned on and headed back. While I was running this particularly rough section a lady stopped in her car and asked if I was alright. She must have figured only an emergency would make a guy run down the road barefooted!

When I got to within a few miles of finishing, my left foot developed a very sharp pain in it. At first I thought I was getting a stress fracture (again - same place as one previously). But it felt different. So I thought maybe I had gotten a glass puncture or something. I stopped and checked for fresh signs of new glass wounds, found nothing obvious, and so I figured it must be an old piece of glass I got in my foot one time that I couldn't get out, even went to the doctor's for some probing, and he couldn't find it either. I think its lodged in there but sometimes gets worked a little loose and starts poking places that hurt. My foot was painful and kind of swollen at exactly the same spot where that old piece of glass was stuck in my foot.

So I carefully finished my run by the most direct route possible. Still -- I logged in a 9.75 mile run!! Yippee!

I decided to see how I would do if I ran the very next day, so on Thursday I headed out again. This time I planned on running an old, tried and proven course. It was going very well, along predictably smooth surfaces through downtown Vancouver, a very rough but manageable short section that resembles corrugated cardboard, only its sharp cement ridges - as the sidewalk bends to run along the edge of the Columbia River. Then it was quite smooth running from there on.

I ran a couple of miles along the waterfront sidewalk, keeping to the smoother edges as much as possible, then kept on going towards Wintler Park. They had even made some areas better than it was last year. New pavement on some of the cross streets made intersections a lot smoother and nicer. Ahhh! I love new, smooth asphalt!

Once at Wintler Park I ran down to the water's edge to experience the sand and cool water. My feet felt a little tender, but not all too bad. Then I looked off in the distance and saw the I-205 bridge a few miles away. I thought how nice it would be to run all the way to the bridge on the river's sandy bank. So I took off. There were places in the sand where it got kind of rough, lots of pebbles, shells and glass. I was careful as I could be, but I could tell my feet were starting to complain. I went as far as I could before the sand ran out, then returned and started to retrace my steps back to my office. The closer I got back to my work the more my feet were complaining. My left foot was feeling some stabbing pains again and was a little swollen, and the soles of my feet just complained in general. I ran gingerly the last mile to my office, took a shower, and patted myself on the back for another long run. This one was a 10.25 miles run -- nice even if it was painful!

I was also happy to have logged in the most miles I've run in a week barefoot! 28.6 miles!!

Now, I just need to condition myself a little more and hold true to good running form so my feet don't get so upset with me! I know I can do it -- I have run 12 miles before without any problems! It all comes down to keeping the proper form consistently throughout the run. When I get tired I sometimes let my feet start slapping the pavement too much.

So, I rested my feet the rest of the week and that weekend. Well, almost. On Saturday I mowed my lawn barefoot. It was therapeutic. It was soft and gave my feet a gentle stretch and massage that they needed! By Monday my feet felt completely well again. Ain't the body wonderful??

Ryan

2006-10-24T11:29:00.000-07:00

Rough Run

Last Monday I looked on my map (www.mapmyrun.com) and plotted out what looked like would be a nice run taking me to areas of the city I have not visited before, hoping to run about 10 miles. It was a beautiful, clear sunny day and I thought I would increase my distance a little bit.

Maps don't tell you all you need to know.

Turns out that a lot of the course I planned to run did not have any sidewalks at all. Worse, they didn't even have shoulders on the roads! I came through this one section which was nothing but broken up pavement, gravel and glass for about 1/2 a mile on the very edge of very fast moving cars. I hoped it would just last a short distance and then I would get back to nice sidewalks. Not so. The road split -- one that wound its way up through some very dark, shady trees and had even less of a shoulder -- no room for me plus cars that were speeding up or down this windy, narrow road in the shade.

So I opted for the other route, which also had no shoulders, but was straight and out in the open. I realized that almost all the traffic was coming from one direction only, so I crossed over and ran on the less busy side without very much interference from traffic. But the road was very poor condition and rough. I found a softer tar repair strip that I could run on for about 1/2 mile which was very nice, but then it was grimace and pain time.

By the time I had gone about 7 miles into my run, my feet were very sore and complaining a lot. I finally found my way down to some businesses with long parking lots that were smoother than the roads. After that I got onto some familiar sidewalks and was able to limp my way the last 1 1/2 miles. Once I got back on smoother surfaces I got back into a better running pattern and it wasn't so bad.

Even though my skin was worn fairly smooth from that run, it still felt very nice to have done it. I won't do it again, though.

I had to cut it short because I could not get to the areas where I originally intended on going.

Total distance: 8.5 miles

Ryan

2006-10-20T17:30:00.000-07:00

Glass Field!

I went on an easy 4 mile run today over unchartered territory. I mapped my intended run on the computer first, then went out and executed it.

It was quite a bit rougher than I expected. Lots of gravel alley-ways cutting across the sidewalks I was running on. I could have just run in the street, but the sidewalks were a little bit smoother.

I ran past a home daycare and a lady was in the yard with about 8 little girls playing. One of them saw me running and yelled, "Hey, look!" All of the girls stopped what they were doing and stood watching me run past. I was waiting for some comment, but they were all fairly somber and just stared. Hmmm, I don't know what to make of that.

I wound up running next to Clark College in Vancouver, WA. On the sidewalk was a fairly large area of broken glass -- probably about 4-5 meters long with glass bits scattered fairly evenly throughout. I could have run around it by going out into the street, but at that point cars come around a bend going fairly fast and it was too risky. I'll take glass over cars any day.

I thought about turning back and crossing over the busy street to the other side, but then that little voice in my head suggested, "Maybe someone saw you coming and put that glass there just to test you. If you turn around you'll let yourself and them down!" So I just aimed for a course through the glass field that avoided the largest shards, keeping mainly to the smaller flakes and specks, and I *really* focused on non-abrasive foot placement!

When I came out the other side I stopped and looked for any damage or remaining pieces and found nothing at all. I swished my feet through some grass just to make sure and was on my way. I felt like I passed "the test," whatever it was.

It was a slow run, but nice to get out and see new neighborhoods.

Ryan

2006-10-19T15:55:00.000-07:00

Evolution Made

The Bumblebee once ran so swift and so sure,
and ever so quietly on her bare little feet,
Then said an old otter with wizened fur,
“You can’t run barefoot; an impossible feat!”

The otter extrapolated, interpolated and said:
“Its against science! And its against reason!
“It violates nature and – Oh Dread,”
“You might be committing Faunistic treason!”

The Bumblebee, thinking, became dejected,
Bereft of solutions as to what she should do,
For to ambulate was now scorned and rejected,
So without another thought, she just up and flew!

“You dare to mock us with your sleight and your cunning?”
The scientists scurried and clamored to say,
“Impossible! Preposterous! Go back to your running!”
But the joyous Bumblebee smilingly flew away.

After she thought she couldn’t, she didn’t,
But before thinking she couldn’t, she did!
So, grateful to the Nayers who said she couldn’t,
She found her true talent no longer hid.

Its not in the saying that we do what we can
But its by doing, that we say what we’ve done,
To ponder may squelch it before it began,
But by already doing it, we’ve already won!

10/19/06 by Ryan

2006-10-18T17:36:00.000-07:00

Reporting In

Yesterday I went on an easy 6 mile run. Form started slipping at the end, but overall a good run.

I decided I needed to start running more frequently. Better if I could run nearly every day. So today I went out on a run so I could go two days in a row. I didn't know how far I would feel comfortable going.

I started off feeling a little tender, so I was taking it slowly. Continued tender for the first two miles, but not too bad, so I ventured up towards the OHSU hospital again. Between miles 2 and 3 are some rougher sidewalks so I got to practice my careful foot placements. I went past Portland University. Got a lot of stares from the young brains there. One blond preppy looking girl gave me a look like, "Ewwww! For gross!" I was wearing my "It Takes Balls" t-shirt. Maybe she was offended by that. Or maybe she just smelled me. Who knows?

After mile 3 my feet were not feeling as tender any more. Something about the rough surfaces making the concept of tenderness a relative issue. Or something like that. So I kept on going up towards the hospital. I thought I would take a shortcut and save myself some distance. I ended up going up this steep, rocky trail. So awfully rough! I thought for sure that would shorten the length of my run. But once I was back on asphalt again I adapted and continued.

I got onto the sidewalk with the curbs that I ran on last time, only this time I stayed on the sidewalk and continued practicing my careful foot placement. I passed this lady running with her dog. She exclaimed, "No shoes??" I answered, "Nope, not needed!"

I turned and ran up by the Veterans Hospital, got myself kind of stuck in a back parking lot. The map said there was a road through there. I couldn't find a trail to get across this steep ravine to the OHSU hospital area, so I opted to enter one of the buildings and climb the stairs up to a long sky-way. I mean, its a long sucker! Slick, polished tile floor, windows on both sides. Very nice! It was full of people coming and going, patients with oxygen tanks, doctors, nurses, etc., (plus this sweaty old barefooted guy with a rude t-shirt.) They probably thought I was a psych patient. I expected to get rushed by security guards at any moment so I was looking to make a quick exit. I wonder if I left foot prints on their nice polished floor?

I took an elevator down to a parking garage. I've never seen so much glass on any of my runs as there was inside this garage. It was everywhere. I pity the doctor's car windows that must be getting smashed in all the time. I finally found my way down to street level and ran down the hill to re-trace my steps back to the Point of Beginning. I kept on wondering when my feet would get hyper-sensitive. They never did. I think its because I really focused on keeping my form true the whole run. That, plus I didn't walk very much. Walking hurts my feet. My hip muscles were getting tight the last mile or so. I never knew I had muscles in my hips! I passed a guy doing some squatting, stretching exercises. They looked like they might be good for me to try.

My miles today: 8.7!

It will be interesting to see if I am up to running tomorrow as well.

Happily tired,

Ryan

2006-10-12T16:39:00.000-07:00

Perspectives

Today I went running. I intended to repeat my run up near OHSU, which would have been a 10 miler. However, I noticed along the way that my feet were feeling more tender than I expected so I knew I wouldn't be running the entire thing.

As I approached the beautiful tree-lined parkway that leads up to OHSU and the Veteran's Hospital I passed three medical student looking fellows all dressed in green scrubs. They got off a bus and were walking up to the hospital. I thought it was odd that they were wearing scrubs around in public. I thought scrubs were supposed to be clean and sterile, but these certainly wouldn't be after walking around in them outside.

I ran up to the pathway I ran on last time, and even did some curb balancing like I did before. Strangely, I again passed those same three green scrubbed students. They took a short-cut that I didn't know about. I felt a little satisfaction in flashing them my proud bare feet - twice! Maybe instead of thinking "You can't run barefoot!" they might think "HOW do you run barefoot?" Instead of going up to the end of the parkway this time, I turned up a little side street and went right up to the hospital itself. I was thinking thoughts about "the mouth of the lion" or "the belly of the beast." The road led me past OHSU School of Dentistry and then up by the Doernbecher's Children's Hospital.

By the children's hospital I noticed a number of girls ranging in age from about 8 to about 16 walking up the incline into the hospital. The common feature that stood out most was that each was wearing some kind of cap or scarf to cover their bald heads. Thats the result of chemotherapy and radiation treatment. It was touching and moving to see these little souls each involved in their fight for life. Here I was being somewhat of an ass, running barefoot under the noses of doctors just to provoke them or get them to think a little bit, and here were a bunch of innocents involved in a race for their very lives -- a race I'm sure some might not win. It put things into perspective.

I left there feeling humbled and grateful that I have been blessed with a very strong and healthy body and mind.

My run was 7.5 miles, a little shorter than the 10 miles I had planned on doing. After seeing those kids, it kind of didn't matter to me much any more if I ran the full 10. I was happy just to be out running. Period. I smiled a lot at people on my way back to the Point of Beginning.

Celebrate Life.

Ryan

2006-10-06T13:31:00.000-07:00

Another T-Shirt Idea

Simple...

2006-10-04T17:46:00.000-07:00

Observations While Running

I went on a 10.5 mile run today - a bit of a stretch for me! I tried to stay true to correct form and did quite well as far as my feet are concerned. My legs, though, got very tired and stiff. Maybe I was too tense.

I went on a "revenge run" - kind of like my Nike Teaser. Only this time I ran up to OHSU (Oregon Health Sciences University) just to show those know-it-all doctors what a barefoot runner looks like. This comes about from an experience I had last Spring where an OHSU doctor went riding past me on his bike and told me, "You can't run barefoot! You'll ruin your hips! I KNOW - I'm an orthopedic surgeon!" He was gone before I could engage him in the finer aspects of running barefoot.

So I was running along this very nice road that runs up to the hospital and smiling at all the cars and other runners and walkers that passed me. Nothing much exciting happened. One guy in a nice car really stared at me hard. But no snooty doctors said anything to me this time. I stopped at one red light and a mother with a bunch of kids in the car were waiting at the intersection. One of the kids, about 7, pointed me out to the others and then all eyes were on me. I smiled and held my foot up for them to see that I really was barefoot. They all smiled back and waved. I ran by a bus stop and a mother and little boy about 4 were waiting. The little boy saw me coming and was watching me in fascination. I was waiting to hear something about being barefoot, but instead he said, "Mommy, that man doesn't have any pants on!" I laughed. It must have looked this way because my running shirt came down almost to the bottom hem of my running shorts.

Here's my interesting observation:

I was looking for the smoothest surface to run on. The road and sidewalk were asphalt, with the road being smoother than the sidewalk (more traffic & wear). There was this 10" wide paint strip separating a bike path from the main road. I tried to run on it, but that put me dangerously close to speeding traffic. So I opted to run on the raised cement curb separating the sidewalk from the bike path. It was smoother than the other surfaces, especially where it was covered with old moss growth. The curb was about 5 inches wide and was raised about 6" to 10". I must have run about 2 miles just on the curb, most of it uphill.

At first my balance was precarious and I had a hard time staying on it. Then I thought about how I needed to "run from the core." As I focused on this, my balance became completely natural and automatic. I was even able to let my thoughts wander and still keep on the curb. This was a great lesson and exercise for me.

Second observation:

Rick told me something about landing on a triangle area of his foot with a lot of the initial weight put on the outside part. When I was coming down the hill I decided to just run on the sidewalk and work more on my form. I imagined a "golden triangle" on each foot, along the right edge and towards the middle of the ball of my foot. I tried to make each step land on this triangle and roll back towards my heel from there. This made it so the area beneath the big toe was not the primary focus. This made my running a lot more enjoyable. It was almost as if my foot was just this little area, like goat feet. I ran all the way back to my car imagining each step landing on the golden triangle.

All in all a very satisfying run, although my legs were a little stiff and tired -- probably from only having low mileage this past few weeks.

I'll have to keep in mind running from the core and landing on the golden triangle in the future!

Happy and tired,

Ryan

2006-09-29T13:38:00.000-07:00

Barefoot T-Shirts

I've been thinking up t-shirts to design to wear when I'm running barefoot. A couple of these I've already made. Here are the ones I like the best, so far:

I've actually made the first and third ones and wear them all the time. The "balls" t-shirt gets smiles and some comments from people. I don't know if they catch the joke in that one or not.

This one at the right is my latest idea. I think I'll make one of these and wear it the next time I go running around the Nike campus in Beaverton!

Ryan

2006-09-27T13:01:00.000-07:00

Nike Teaser Run

Well, I did a Nike Teaser run today at noon. I parked about 1 mile away, not knowing where else to park. Turns out I could have parked curbside in front of the corporate campus! Oh well.

I wore my homemade t-shirt that says, "It Takes BALLS to Run BAREFOOT!"

I passed oodles (or is it gaggles) of presumably corporate runners, some were coming, some were going. I wonder if they get bonus points for running on their lunch breaks? A few struck me as being fairly elite runners. You can just tell who they are. Others were just plodding along, huffing and puffing, maybe meeting some quota. One lady looked terribly anorexic, poor thing. I wished I had a cookie or something to give her.

Reactions were interesting. A lot of conversations suddenly stopped as I drew near. Shock? Awe? Dumbfoundedness?

A couple of guys came up from behind me and I moved over to let them pass. One of them said, "Nice day!" and they moved on ahead of me. I decided to pick up my pace and follow along behind them. A couple of hundred yards later one of them turned and looked at me with surprise. Either he didn't know I was shadowing them or he was surprised I had kept up with them. They turned and entered the campus and I kept going.

I actually got two smiles from other runners - both ladies. Was it my t-shirt? my bare feet? or my manly legs? Whatever, it was flattering.

Quite a few times I ran past cars waiting their turn to go. Lots of stares from drivers, some actually gawking. Lots of BMWs.

I made it around the campus one time and decided to give it another go for an additional two miles. Lots of the same reactions along the way.

On the satellite map I noticed a strange lighter-colored band going around the campus, obviously some kind of trail. Turned out to be a shredded bark running trail. Maybe it became cement in some places. I thought, now why would all these runners need a soft, cushy bark path to run on? Aren't their cushy shoe soles adequate? Is the corporation worried about its workers getting running injuries upon its property?
Think lawsuit here. Did some risk manager recommend a cushy bark running path? Hmmmm, makes one wonder!

The bark was pretty chunky and rough on my feet so I chose not to try it out this time. I'm pretty sure someone would have noticed me and called security. I found it would be a cinch to get on that trail and run their private corporate running path! Maybe I'll try it next time!

I'm thinking about making a t-shirt that says: "Really Free, Nike!" I'll wear it when I try this teaser run again.

Oh - No dobermans. No black limos following me. No serious folks in shades speaking into their wristwatches. I'm so disappointed!

Anyway, mission accomplished! I hope I rang a few mental bells, shattered some corporate paradigms, planted some seeds for thought, etc. It was fun and a pretty good run.

Ryan

2006-09-26T11:05:00.001-07:00

Catching Up

Wow, its been two whole months since I last posted here! I guess things that were once new and exciting become routine and boring.

I've enjoyed harvesting lots of great produce from my garden -- chinese pea pods, corn, broccoli, beans, raspberries, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, chiles, zucchini, and onions. I usually have more than I can use so I've been giving some of it away. The tomatoes are especially nice this year. I heard that it helps them to cut back on new growth starts and to trim away some of the older larger leaves so that sunlight can get to the fruit. This helps them to ripen. Last year I only had a lot of green tomatoes that rotted before they ripened. This year I've been picking lots of nice, red tomatoes.

I'm continuing to run barefoot, about 3 times a week, usually about 5 to 9 miles at a time. I get mostly positive comments from passers-by. This week a street person on a bicycle rode along next to me for about 1/4 mile. He was amazed that I could run barefoot. He said he had never seen such a thing before. On that same run I ran alongside a guy who had a "chest band" around his chest. I asked him what it was for. He said it was for monitoring his heart rate so he could keep it within the ideal training zone. About that time he noticed I was not wearing shoes and he exclaimed, "Pass the plate for this guy! He needs shoes!" We talked for a while about running barefoot. He said he could never do it. I asked him if he had heard of Pose Method, which he had and tried one time but didn't take to it very well. He was in training for a triathlon.

The other day I was running in Portland, Oregon for an 8 mile run. I had just come back down to the waterfront after running a loop up through the city streets. Up ahead of me I saw a group of younger (20's) people sitting on a bench and one guy was barefoot and running in place with exaggerated leg motions waiting for me to arrive. The other people there were laughing at his antics, so I figured I had me a real joker to contend with.

As I ran past them he started running along side me. I asked him how long he thought he could hold out running with me, barefoot. He said he could run the whole distance with me, and explained that he runs 20 miles at a time at a 6 minute pace. I then realized that he was not really making fun of me, but just wanted to meet me. We talked about the Hood to Coast race and he asked if I had ever run in it. He invited me to run with his group in next year's race and I gave him my telephone number to contact me. He only ran with me about 100 yards -- I could tell he was not really an experienced barefooter by his form.

So it turns out he was actually sincere in wanting to meet me! I'm hoping he calls me so I can set up some runs with him and his group.

Some time before that I was running while wearing one of my home-printed t-shirts. This homeless guy saw me coming and called out, "Hey, Runningbarefoot dot com! Way to go!"

This week I ran from the Convention Center in Portland up to Washington Park and the Rose Gardens. I decided to try coming back down hill a different route and ran over to Burnside. On the map it looked like a major route and I hoped it would have decent sidewalks. It was awful. The sidewalks were very narrow and overgrown with blackberry bushes in a lot of places. The cement was covered with gravel from when they sanded the road last winter and a lot of glass. They sweep off the road surfaces but ignore the sidewalks. Traffic was too heavy to run in the roadway, so I had to gingerly pick my way through about 1 1/2 miles of very slow, tough going. When I got home I noticed two places where I had glass slivers in my right foot and I could not get them out. That was a very tough 9 mile run. For future reference, I will return the same way I went up -- no gravel or glass to contend with!

Still happily running (barefoot of course!)

Ryan

2006-07-28T16:28:00.000-07:00

Garden Update

My Mittleider Grow Box garden is doing exceptionally well (once again!)

We harvested five cauliflower heads,
each as large or larger than a dinner plate.

We had a lot of edible pea pods that we have

been giving away. The plants grew to about 7

feet high and are still producing!

My corn is growing nicely, about 8 feet tall and tassling now.

I have an English cucumber plant (foreground, left) that is completely filled with blossoms and a few cucumbers already.

My tomato plants are doing really well, lots and lots of blossoms and growing tomatoes. This year I am not letting them grow completely out of control, but have been pinching off the growth tips when they get to a certain height, and I've been pinching off the "side runners" that always seem to develope. So my plants look and act very well behaved this year!

A friend of ours wanted to do a small grow box, so I went over this week and helped them mix the artificial soil and gave them some of my fertilizer to use for a couple of months.

Happily gardening (barefoot, of course!)

Ryan

2006-07-28T16:25:00.000-07:00

Comments Heard

Oh, today during my run I passed two bicyclists who had stopped and were sitting on a ledge. When I approached them, one said "Now THAT'S what I'm talking about! Like THAT!" The other guy said, "Hey, dude, you're our hero!" I wish I knew what they had been talking about
before I came along. It was so nice getting positive cheers as I ran that I started to go around my 3-mile loop a third time just for the encouragement, but they had moved on by then. On my run a different bicyclist passed me going the opposite direction and said, "Barefoot! That's awesome!"

Just to balance things out, two walking ladies saw me, looked down at my feet, and had looks of pure disgust on their faces seeing my bare feet.

Taking a look at my own feet, I guess I can't really blame them. They aren't the prettiest of feet - but I won't trade them away!

Ryan

2006-07-28T16:14:00.000-07:00

Running Update

I went on a 6 mile run a week ago and got pretty sharp pains in my left foot (always the left foot!) I felt like I might be getting bone spurs or something that were pushing from the inside-out. But I completed my run without anything catastrophic happening.

Beginning of this week I went on an easy 3 mile run and my left foot was still hurting pretty badly. Same issue. Hmmmm. Still feels like my bones are poking me from the inside out. In retrospect, I suspect I was not really using very good form, too much putting my feet in front of me instead of beneath me. That makes it so my feet and body weight are not coming down towards the ground at a 90 degree angle, but at a sharper angle, which makes the force of my body weight move up the length of my foot. Hard to describe but easy to notice. It has to do with lateral force versus vertical force. I believe my feet get hurt really quickly when I expose them to much lateral force. Good form means not much lateral force and more vertical force, from which my feet do just fine.

So today I decided to just go very slowly and really follow good form on the same 3 mile course. I eased into it gradually, keeping myself strictly to form. Feet placed directly beneath me. Body poised forward, hovering over my thighs. Shins vertical to the ground. Ankles bent, landing on front of feet. It got easier and easier as I went along and pretty soon I was running along at a nice pace, even passing quite a few other runners. Still focusing on form and easy foot-falls.

I got done with the 3 mile loop and decided I was feeling pretty good, so I ran it again. I stopped at one point to work on ankle flexes, which made finishing the rest of the run easier.

Nice thing... left foot came out just fine! Just a slight achiness on the old problem spots, but a whole lot better than my last two runs were!

Bottom line: Form, form, form! You can't take a vacation from good form.

Happy again,

Ryan

2006-07-17T18:24:00.000-07:00

Not Much to Say

My goodness! A whole month flew past and I haven't posted anything! I have been doing lots of little fun running, no races, nothing major. I went on vacation to Glacier National Park and hiked a few trails, partially barefoot, and got to stick my feet in numerous cold lakes and streams!

A chat-buddy, Brett Williams from Salt Lake City, ran a marathon recently, his first. I had to post this pic of him - its just a great shot! Now those are feet to be proud of!

I went to Lincoln City, Oregon this past week and ran about 5 miles on the flat sandy beach. The movement of the sand under my feet gave me a blister! That surprised me because I thought the sand would be more forgiving than the cement and pavement I usually run on. Not a bad blister, just something unexpected. Today I ran 3 miles on sidewalks and noticed a hot spot on my left foot - an old blister still healing. I didn't even know that one was there! Oh the joys and surprises of running barefoot!

Ryan

2006-06-13T10:36:00.000-07:00

Easy Run

Yesterday I went for an easy run in Portland along the waterfront. I was just going to see how my feet (and left ankle) were doing after my race last Friday. They felt fine. I find that I can more easily get into the correct running form now. Before it seemed like a hit & miss deal, sometimes I was "there;" other times I was just hurting myself. Now my running is more consistently correct and feels more comfortable. Yesterday I did quite a bit of walking, because in the past walking has caused my feet more abrasion than running. My walking yesterday did not have any adverse effect that I could tell. So now my challenge is to start picking up more distances and getting in better shape until I can run a marathon some day!

Ryan

2006-06-11T13:30:00.000-07:00

Fremont 5K - Seattle

Friday I went up to Seattle to join with another barefooter named Jon to run the Fremont 5K. This was my first ever official barefoot competition! I am so used to running just for the fun of it that I completely forgot to time myself or to even look at the 'official' time when I came back in! I got my results emailed to me and it turns out my "gun time" was 26:35, or an official pace of 8.5 minutes per mile. My actual start time was some 30-40 seconds behind the gun time, because it takes that long for the crowd to shuffle forward to the beginning line. I figure my actual pace was closer to 8.3 minutes per mile.

This is me coming across the finish line. Thanks to my wife, Diane, for taking my photo! My son who lives in Seattle joined us (shod) and he decided he would run a pace faster than us. Jon and I stayed together for the first mile, but he was pacing himself so he would still be fresh for a 28-mile ultra marathon he was running the next morning! So I found myself looking to set my own happy pace, which was faster than Jon's. I picked up some speed as I fell into my groove and started passing quite a few of the other runners. My time going out was probably around 10 minutes per mile, and my time returning was probably closer to 8.0 minutes or faster. This sounds like one of those awful math tests we used to get: (If Ryan ran 10 minutes per mile for the first 1.3 miles and finished a 3.1 mile course in a total of 26 minutes 35 seconds, how fast was he running the latter part of the course?)

My appreciation to Jon and his friends who gave me lots of encouragement the first part of the race. He kept on shouting, "Hey! Isn't that Barefoot Ryan I see? How does he run without any shoes on?" I guess having bare feet wasn't enough of an attention getter!

Since this was just a fun run, I had some fun on the course. For the first 1 1/2 miles they kept runners separated from automobiles by a row of orange cones. The surface near the cones was pretty smooth, so I ran a little "slalom" couse by zig-zagging around the cones. At one point I was leaping over them like a hurdler. All in good fun.
Jon and I posing with our custom-designed "running gear"!

See you out there, somewhere!

Ryan

2006-06-08T17:32:00.000-07:00

Running Experiments

Yesterday I went down to Portland to test out my sore ankle that I got on a not-so-good run last week. I was in a hurry, wasn't relaxing into my run enough, and crossed a section of very gravelly pavement so that I was kind of running up on my tip toes trying to find bare spots between the gravel. For all my efforts I ended up with a sore tendon at the base of my left ankle.

So yesterday I started off very slowly for one block, seeing if it would hold up. It did. So I kept on going. I ran three blocks down to the smoooooth sidewalks along the Willamette River in Portland. It felt so goooood to be running!

I really made sure my form was impeccable so as to not injure my ankle worse. There were two ladies behind me running in shoes. I didn't want them to overtake me (male pride? competive spirit?) So I leaned into it and sped up.

I found myself wanting to experiment with leaning and foot placement. So I watched to make sure my feet were still landing beneath my waist, making sure I wasn't pushing off or twisting at all, and noticing how they felt. They felt great. I noticed that the distance between my foot placements (stride) was pretty far, despite my quick cadence. Interesting what leaning can accomplish. I felt I had good knee bend, like my legs were "S" shaped and like my legs and feet were lifting well behind me. I was passing quite a few walkers and slower runners. Nice. It felt like I had more freedom and less contact with the ground.

Then I saw some guy about 50 yards ahead of me moving at about the same speed I was. How hard would it be to catch him? More experimenting. I leaned even more. It felt precarious. I was "on the edge!" Checked my foot placement. Good. Checked for foot stability. Good. Checked for ankle comfort. Good. Checked my leg movement. Wings! I was flying! I caught up to the guy in seconds and kept on going. I ran on like this for about 1/2 mile more, passing all kinds of people. Is there a speed limit on this sidewalk?

Then I decided I should be careful and not risk hurting my ankle, even though my feet felt much more comfortable running this way than they do even when I walk. I finally stopped to reload with water and to stretch a little. Some of the people I had passed earlier caught up and were staring at me with big eyes. I know, the crazy barefoot guy.

I finished up going much more slowly, cooling off (recovering from a cold and fever the previous 3 days). I ran through some rougher surfaces, keeping my form, no problem. I met up with a lady who asked me a lot of questions about barefooting as we cooled off and walked back to our starting points. We had a nice discussion about form and technique, time needed to adapt, do I run in winter?, how far do I run? what are my goals? We compared running injuries, etc. All in all a very happy run.

Ryan
Vancouver Barefoot

2006-05-26T10:23:00.000-07:00

Roughing It

I ran yesterday along a new route, about 5 miles, across the bridge connecting Washington State and Oregon. The surface was mostly rough with some stretches of really rough. We have cement sidewalks here in the Northwest with a corrugated pattern etched in, probably to help friction when the slime and mold grow. The corrugated edges are usually very rough and sharp.

I ran over them by really focusing on my form, being careful not to reach my feet out too far in front, and relaxing-relaxing-relaxing. It worked! Surfaces that used to slow me down and make me walk were manageable and I didn't have to stop at all.

The highlight of my run came when I passed a lady escorting two blind people, teaching them how to maneuver in a downtown city setting. She saw me and yelled, "ARE YOU CRAZY???" She was pretty upset for some reason. I guess working with the blind makes you very concerned about hazards, and going barefoot was out of reach of her acceptance levels. I replied to her, with a big smile, "Nope! I'm happy!"

A bike rider saw me running across the bridge that connects Washington and Oregon. He asked me if I swam the river and was running back. That would justify my bare feet, I suppose. I told him, Nope, I'm just running!

Ryan

2006-05-25T09:37:00.000-07:00

Repeat Performance

After my motivating, successful run last Friday I decided to run the same course again last Monday, the 22nd. It was almost as good as last time. I actually ran a little bit further, just over 9 miles, and again, by concentrating on proper form, I had an enjoyable run. I felt just a little bit more tenderness on the soles of my feet due to a little skin erasure. I could feel that my form was not quite all there during some portions of my run, but mostly it went according to plan.

I was so excited by my recent successful runs that I got on a great website called MapMyRun.com and plotted out a number of different courses - some I have already run and others I would like to try. As I look forward to someday running a barefoot marathon, I plotted some longer courses - dreaming. You can see my courses by going to MapMyRun.com and checking out the courses for Vancouver, Washington. Not all of them are mine. There were a couple of others entered by other runners here. Wintler Park I is the course I've been running lately.

More and more, happily running barefoot in Vancouver!

Ryan

2006-05-21T21:11:00.000-07:00

Core Concepts

Another barefoot runner posted this comment about chi-running, or running from the "core."
I really like its concepts.

==================================================================

The subtleties of barefooting continue to reveal themselves; of late, the key seems to be in the core - or should I say "cores":

1) The core of our strength, in the navel just below the belly button

The basic "chi" form of engaging the core allows the very foundation of your strength to gently (and, ideally, quickly) pulse the hips alternately side to side and ever so slightly upward (I often envision the super-quick stride of the legendary "Pre" in the film "Without Limits." One-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three...). This centrally-sourced motion swings the upper legs; along with a bended knee, it creates the sought-after "lift" of the feet.

2) The core of the Earth, to which we gravitate in a forward fall

Core strength, combined with lean from the ankles up, generates forward motion.

From time to time, I catch my self focusing on "lifting my feet," per se, or arm swing to facilitate rapid [foot] turnover. I just redirect my focus to the cores, and I'm flying again; distractions such as push-off abrasions, road conditions, or torquing ankles, achilles, or knees seem to melt magically away.

I LOVE this game!

Brett

===================================================================

Isn't that a great post?

2006-05-21T21:05:00.000-07:00

Agony of Da Feet -- Euphoria of Success

Last Wednesday I tried running a new route I fashioned from my work down along the Columbia River. It was about 8.5 miles. I got to my turn around point and my feet just started aching. I ended up walking a good part of the way back, aiming for as much grass as I could for
relief, but even walking became very difficult and painful, grass or not. My skin was fine, it just felt like my bones were tired and over-stimulated. That was the 'agony of da feet.' Very disappointing.

Today I decided to re-do the same route - the old idea of "if you get bucked off, climb back on and show him who's boss!" I really focused on form: bent knees, putting my feet down beneath me, gentle BHB, etc. I decided to skip the grass and stick to the sidewalks/pavement, rough or not.

Today I was euphoric! I thoroughly enjoyed the run. I found myself just rolling along easily clicking off the miles, gentle rain making some nice puddles along the way. I arrived back at my work feeling very comfortable, my feet still feeling fresh. I felt like I could have kept running all day long! After the run, my feet feel absolutely no pain at all - just warm, happy tingling.

I'm convinced the difference was staying true to good form. There are subtle nuances, only different by fractions of an inch or slight variations of an angle, that make all the difference. Its easy to slip back into old habits because they can be so close to the correct form that they seem 'close' to right, but not 'quite' right. If I'm not careful I end up getting hurt by allowing my form to be just so slightly off and going too far that way.

Today I realized one problem I have to watch out for is allowing my shoulders to be too far back in relation to my waist. I tend to do this if I'm tired or if I'm on really rough surfaces. In my mind, its "un-cocking the gun" - losing the forward lean that gives me automatic propulsion. I then end up having to reach forward and "pull" with my legs and feet to keep moving forward, which makes my feet slap the ground with too much force and create shearing effects - wreaking havoc on my feet. Several times today I had to remind myself to "cock the gun" - pull my shoulders forward of my waist, keep my knees bent, put my feet down gently in BHB fashion. It worked. I had a great run, no discomfort, no damage, no skin erasure, no aching bones in my feet, and a feeling that I could have just kept on going and going.

Its days like last Wednesday that had me thinking I might have to go back to wearing shoes.

But its days like Today that make me think a marathon just might be in sight! Mark me down as one happy runner!

Ryan

2006-05-02T12:43:00.000-07:00

Running "Socks"

My previous post mentioned some running socks I made to help protect my feet when I don't want to be quite-barefoot. You can make a pair yourself like I did...

I bought a $12 pair of 5-fingered socks at REI and a can of plasticene at the hardware store (the stuff you dip tool handles in to coat them) about $6.

I slathered lotion on the soles of my feet to keep the paint from sticking to my skin (next time I'll use Vaseline), then I put the socks on and stood in a flat pan with some plasticene paint poured on the bottom of the pan. It took some doing to get the stuff to soak in to the fabric. This gave me painted surfaces on the soles of the socks across the pads of the toes, the ball of the foot, and the heel.

My socks are a light khaki green/tan color and I used black plasticene paint.

The plasticene does not offer much padding at all, its there mostly to protect the fabric from wearing out too quickly. I'll have to reapply it from time to time as the original coating starts wearing thin.

I thought it would be interesting to sew a bunch of zig-zag patterns across the soles of the socks with Kevlar thread (available at my local fly-fishing and tackle store) for additional strength. Next time! -- Ryan

2006-05-02T09:11:00.000-07:00

A Nice Run!

Yesterday I went down to Portland for a run around the riverbanks of the Willamette River - verrrry nice surfaces. Then I decided to cut up into the city and find me one of those Immigration Marches.

Along the way I ran to REI and stopped in to see if they had any Vibram 5-Fingers. They didn't. I showed them my home-made version that I fashioned from 5-toed socks and platicene. They were impressed but didn't think they would start selling them any time soon.

I ran around and eventually heard drums and shouting, so I steered towards the parade. I was secretly hoping some news reporter would see the crazy barefoot guy and grab some footage of me. Didn't happen. I did entertain a lot of police who seemed to get a kick out of seeing me. The parade marchers were predictably noisy and respectfully gave way to let me run past them.

It was back to the river front sidewalks where I actually wore my personally-made 5-fingers for the first time just to see how they felt. I actually liked wearing them! Just enough shielding to help keep the skin from abrasions. A nice break.

I also experimented with some form techniques and think (once again) that I have crossed a new milestone in my development. I've learned that barefoot running requires some very subtle changes that are elusive to me. This time I concentrated on picking up my feet and setting them down like I was squashing bugs gently. Weird concept, I know, but it worked. The difference is in how I lifted my feet by raising my knees instead of by swinging my feet forward in an arc.

All in all, a very nice 6 or 7 mile run.

Ryan

2006-04-14T11:47:00.000-07:00

Great Running Barefoot Pics

A barefoot runner named Rick Roeber, Lee's Summit, Missouri, ran the St. Louis Marathon on the 9th. He posted some pictures of himself on his website. One of them showed excellent running form! I'm posting it here for analysis.

These are the good things I see in his form: Straight body, torso and head erect, forward lean, knees bent, feet closely bunched together, ankle flexed, whole body relaxed, and happy! What a great example of good form! Way to go, Rick!

His form reminds me of something else I wrote about running form. I keep noticing forms in the sense of triangles while running. I see shod runners and notice they seem to run as if their head were the apex of a triangle and their feet define the base of the triangle. In other words, their forward stride and backward strides seem to equal eachother so their head is near-center.

However, when I run, I envision that I am an upside-down triangle. My feet are the apex because I'm keeping them centered beneath my torso, trying to keep them confined to mostly up and down movement. If the plane of my body is back towards the rear wall of the triangle, then I'm only running in place. But if I move the plane of my body forward towards the front wall of the triangle, the triangle wants to tip over, and that forward pull moves me forward as I run.

Putting it another way, shod runners make their broad leg movements the source of their locomotion. I make my forward body angle the source of my locomotion. I have experimented with speeding up/slowing down just by changing the angle of my lean. Its kinda cool.

Ryan

2006-04-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

Aha! Self Discovery Moment

Someone wrote on the Running Barefoot discussion board something about how hard it is to run downhill without getting foot problems. I replied with this:

Running downhill requires much less 'lean' than running on flat surfaces or uphill. Think less of leaning forward and more of placing your feet beneath your body with even quicker steps. If you "run in place" on a downhill slope, you will automatically move forward. If you wanted to stay in one place, you'd almost have to think about running 'backwards'. If you are extending your feet out in front of you thinking you need to 'brake', then you ARE creating extra friction on your soles. Keep those feet beneath you. Slow down by taking shorter steps and quicker sequences.

Calf cramping may be due to using a greater range of motion in those muscles and tendons. This can be compounded if you are still pushing off. For myself, I found that when I allowed myself to reach my foot too far forward with each stride, I tended to push off with the trailing foot to give me more 'air time' so I could have time to get my foot 'up there'. This led to the old running sequence of pushing off, leaping forward, and harsh slapping or pounding the ground with my forward foot. I still fight that tendency!

Now, I think about simply picking up my foot by lifting my heel towards my butt and putting my foot down directly beneath my body. Quicker sequence. Smaller steps. Forward progress is achieved by leaning from the ankles.

Now that I'm thinking about it, I just realized something else I'm doing wrong!

(ALERT! Self discovery moment here!)

If I am afraid of stepping on gravel, sticks or glass I tend to carefully watch the surface where I will put each foot. Its like I am 'aiming' for clear spots. But in order to 'aim' I need to see where my foot is going to land. Its best to run with my head up instead of crooning forward from my neck or my waist, so in order to watch my foot actually landing I have to reach my foot a little forward so its in my field of vision. Then I'm no longer running with good form - my feet are no longer being placed directly under my body, and I suffer for it.

My best runs have been when I've abandoned my fear of stepping on things, stopped looking directly at my feet and kept my feet directly under my body. I am then concentrating on *lifting* my feet instead of *placing* my feet. I still generally watch where I am going, but my visual focus is not on that spot 18 inches or even 12 inches in front of my foot. Its more like 10 to 20 feet out (3 - 5 meters). In fact, I cannot even see my feet landing when they are properly directly beneath my body!

Whew! Who knew that running would be so much mental as it is physical?

HINT: To help me get over the fear of stepping on things and the fear of pain while running, I use a technique called "EFT" - Emotional Freedom Technique. Learn about it for free here: www.emofree.com

Truly break-through information and help!!

2006-04-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

New Barefoot PB

PB means 'personal best'. Yesterday I went out for a run in downtown Vancouver, Washington. I have a loop-type course I like to run that is 4 miles. I ran it and was feeling pretty good! In the past I've had a lot of issues with rubbing skin on my feet a little thin, due to incorrect form. Plus I thought I got a piece of glass in my left foot about 2 weeks ago, went in to the doctor for exploratory, found nothing, so my foot's been healing from that fun experience.

I was happy to run the four miles without any real issues happening! So I decided to keep going and run it again. The second time was even better than the first! I was more relaxed, not thinking about 'running' as much as I was thinking about my form. There's this one section of wild field I chose to run through, full of weeds and grasses, pretty lumpy. In order to avoid any surprises, I had to really pick up my heels and be careful to place my feet down beneath my body - not out in front. This was a much needed hamstring exercise for me. When I got back onto the sidewalk I kept this form up and felt like it really helped my running technique!

So I finished the second loop (8 miles) and thought "Hey, let's do it again!" So I ran it again. My feet were starting to get a little tender, so I was really concentrating on form, form, form! I felt pretty good throughout the next 3 miles, including through the field again. But around mile 11 I got tired and my form suffered because of it. I completed the 12 mile run, not in the best time, but still something to make me happy and proud.

Now, to just do it again, stronger and with better form throughout!!

Run On!!

2006-04-08T16:03:00.000-07:00

Hello, Spring!

It appears Spring is really going to stick around this time. We had some unusually warm weather a while back followed by some very cold, nasty weather. But things are looking good out there lately. I'm starting to "refurbish" my garden by adding fresh sawdust and peat moss. The old stuff gradually rots away and my garden level starts looking only about 1/2 full. That's probably because its half sand. So I add more organic material to it and fluff it up a bunch each Spring. I've already added one helping of fertilizer and soil sweetener and one helping of bug pellets, getting it ready to plant.

With my running, I thought I got a piece of glass in my foot almost 2 weeks ago. I waited about four days to see if it got better, but I kept on feeling something poking me in my foot, so I went in to the doctors to see if he could get it out. He did lots of probing and mangling but couldn't find any "foreign body" in my foot. Thanks a lot! $225 later and now I'm healing from a much bigger hole in my foot. I just started running again a couple of days ago, slowly, and I can feel the scar tissue like a lump in my foot. I think it will gradually work its way out with use. I can't feel the sharp sensation I felt earlier, so maybe the doc did something good after all.

I got an urge to play guitar and last week I went out and bought a used12-string Alvarez, then took it in to a shop and they told me it had some serious problems. I shouldn't have bought it. But while in the shop they showed me a very nice 6 string guitar that I ended up buying with a case, something to learn on. I'm checking out getting the 12-string repaired, hopefully it can be done without costing me too much. I think I still want to sell it.

2006-03-17T17:34:00.000-08:00

Iraq

I read someone's blog which said:

America has launched a new air attack on Iraq.
This means more unneccesary casualties in what is an unneccesary war in the first place.

I responded as follows:

No, actually, Iraqis, with American support, have launched an air and ground attack against foreign criminal terrorists whose sole purpose is to prevent the Iraqi people from having a choice in their lives and in their government. These terrorists are lurking in back streets and underground holes, and are just as willing to kill Iraqis as they are Americans. If America abandons this moral and just cause, those criminals will only kill a whole lot more Iraqis and destroy all civilization there.

Its attitudes like yours that permit totalitarian monsters to feed off the blood, death, and terror of their victims, unchecked.

If you don't see the error of your views, then prepare to start having to pray to Allah ("the merciful") five times a day whether you want to or not -- or watch your wife be gang raped and your children be tortured before your eyes just before the monsters cut off your head!