Okay, so I recently started running again… more like shuffling my feet quickly.  🙂  By the second day I got a slight twinge of pain in my right knee.

I didn’t go from sedentary to attempted marathon.  I’ve been walking regularly for about six months and started cycling again about two months back (between crappy cold days.)

I read the book Born to Run last April and was inspired to do the barefoot thing.  I did it for awhile, but life got really busy, we moved and I just didn’t make time for it.  I still believe that most of our aches and pains associated with running come from worn shoes, ill fitting shoes or just the fact that we are wearing shoes so have a dilemma.

Should I get back into the barefoot thing?  Doing so would mean starting out by walking barefoot until I can rebuild the callouses etc.?  It would greatly delay any real running, but isn’t that better than not running at all?

Or do I just decide this Clydesdale is not a runner and stick to cycling, walking etc.?

For now, I am waiting for the cold weather to leave and then I will be mixing it up.  I will barefoot walk one or two days a week – cycle two or three days a week – and maybe do some Focus T25 or P90X a day a week or so.  That should allow me to keep it fresh – do something every day and not get bored.  I think I will forego running until it feels right… and it is okay if it ends up never feeling right.

by Chris Doelle