On Your Toes

What I've been wearing

I have so many old running shoes in my closet that one day, in a tired fog, I awoke early to dress for my morning workout and put two different running shoes on my feet ... never noticing till I'd spent two hours at the gym looking like a silly ditz! 

I have only been a "runner" for a few years now ... starting shortly after my last child was born.  My 9lb little butterball did a number on my body and running became my answer to losing some of that extra weight.  I used to run in some old Nike's, and often with my yellow lab who liked to pull me in a myriad of directions ... the combination of lame shoes and a highstrung dog landed me in a boot for weeks with a stress fratcture!  When I finally was brave enough to try running again, I wanted to do it right.  I went to a local running store and had them look at my stride, etc. and tried on a gazillion shoes in an attempt to find something comfortable and stable so as not to re-fracture my leg.  My first pair of real "fitted" running shoes were my Adidas Adistars.  Adidas aren't super popular among runners but these felt FANTASTIC!  I loved them from day one and ran and ran and ran in them till I'd worn holes in the mesh upper.  My next pair of shoes were Saucony Omni's, another stability shoe.  I remember not loving them as much as my Adistar's but I grew to enjoy running in them and I put a TON of mileage on them training for and running my first Race to Robie Creek.  I stepped into my new Brooks Adrenaline after feeling like I'd completely flattened and worn down my Saucony's.  I ran the Haulin Aspen 1/2 Marathon, a trail run, in my Brooks and they were awesome support.  It was a true trail run and I watched a lot of other runners twist ankles, etc. tripping over roots and rocks.  My Brooks really held well as a stability shoe.  And this year I bought my first ever trail shoe ... again a Brooks shoe, the Cascadia.  I HATED it the first time I ran in it.  Coming downhill I felt like I had no cushion.  But the more I ran in it, the more I loved it.  I had some awesome hill runs in this shoe for training, but I'm wondering if the flatness of it contributed to some of my excruciating calf pain during the downhill portion of Robie?? I will keep running trails in this shoe, but have also gone back to my old Brooks and Saucony's.  I'm testing out the theory that a flattened, stretched out shoe is better for your foot.  After reading the Born To Run book, I am intrigued by the idea that the more cushion and support your running shoes have, the weaker your feet become. (I've also noticed the brand new, second pair of Adrenaline's I bought because I loved the first so much, feel really tight and uncomfortable.)  There has certainly been a surge in barefoot running in recent years ... and you may have seen someone running about in these at a recent race ...

Vibram Five Fingers Bikila

I don't know that I'm ready to kick of my shoes and make like a gazelle around the block ... but I'm doing my research and ... maybe, just maybe all these barefoot trailblazers are onto something! 

"Barefoot running has been one of my training philosophies for years.  The deconditioned musculature of the foot is the greatest issue leading to injury, and we've allowed our feet to become badly deconditioned over the past twenty-five years.  Pronation has become this very bad word, but it's just the natural movement of the foot.  The foot is supposed to pronate.  Just look at the architecture.  Blueprint your feet, and you'll find a marvel that engineers have been trying to match for centuries.  Your foot's centerpiece is the arch, the greatest weight-bearing design ever created.  The beauty of any arch, is the way it gets stronger under stress; the harder you push down, the tighter its parts mesh.  No stonemason worth his trowel would ever stick a support under an arch; push up from underneath, and you weaken the whole structure.  Buttressing the foot's arch from all sides is a high-tensile web of twenty-six bones, thirty-three joints, twelve rubbery tendons, and eighteen muscles, all stretching and flexing like an earthquake-resistant suspension bridge.  Putting your feet in shoes is similar to putting them in a plaster cast.  If I put your leg in plaster, we'll find forty to sixty percent atrophy of the musculature within six weeks.  Something similar happens to your feet when they're encased in shoes." 

~Gerard Hartmann, Irish research, physical therapist and mentor to some of the world's finest distance runners.

"When shoes are doing the work, tendons stiffen and muscles shrivel.  Feet live for a fight and thrive under pressure; let them laze around and they'll collapse.  Work them out and they'll arc up like a rainbow."
~Christopher McDougall, author Born To Run

It's probably rare you hear someone say they want to build muscles in their feet ... there are plenty of "vanity mucles" in the arms, legs, etc. that take priority!  We don't exactly notice people with well-toned tootsies ... "Wow, Man, I can tell you've really been pumping some iron with those Fred Flinstones!"  But I think having strong feet would be an added bonus for anyone, including athletes ... just some "foot for thought" 


** Please note, any change from running with a padded, supportive shoe to running completely barefoot requires a well-planned out transition over time to strengthen the foot!