Barefoot running

I usually dont run truly barefoot but I’ve run up to 5 miles before.

I’m my imagination barefoot running as a way for me to have fun with others, break free of corporate lies about the importance of arche support and all the shoes compansating for supination and pronation. (There are many good minimal shoe companies but they know how to charge!)

There is a place for orthotics to be sure. However, the message is this: “The genius design of your feet is not enough. You need the help of modern technology”

Last time I ran a 10k I was wearing my primitive style hemp sandals. People looked at me as if I was doing a magic trick running with barely any shoe.

Am I super human? No. I’m just a regular human living a in a profoundly insane society. Walking barefoot was the biggest life hack. I became a much better athlete after respecting the sense of my soles. Every time I put my foot on hard ground my whole body had to respond with softened.

In undergrad I asked myself “what is the perfect walking and running form?” After bare footing or near bare footing for almost 2 years I found tat the best for is formless.

There is one way to walk in hard flat ground. Another way to walk on slippery kitchen floors. Another way to walk on rocky trails and another for running on grass.

How does one know what from is best? It’s simple. Do not cram your foot into a form (shoe). Your soles will tell you how high to lift your knees, how gently put down your foot. Your soles will even tell you where to put your shoulders and your head.

I know this sounds weird but you just have to trust yourself and try bare footing.

Buildup slow, walk. Dont run! Dance, dont run. Wax on and wax off barefoot, but DON’T RUN. Side step, hop, skip, DON’T RUN. When you can skip barefoot you are ready to run. A lot of us runners have hurt themselves in minimal shoes because we thought the magic was in the shoes. It’s actually in your foot muscles which where never developed because we have been wearing shoes since our muscles were growing as children.

“The human foot is a masterpiece iof engineering and work of art” -Leonardo DaVincci

I know what you are thinking “But, Garrett. What about all the science about orthotics. Are you saying all the podiatrists have their head up their asses?

Yes.

Or perhaps they just have their motives in their wallets. You cannot buy your own innate wisdom! But plenty of people, gurus, doctors, therapists and life coaches will sell it to you anyway.

OK so what are people really saying to me where they say thinks like “People are different that the paleo days”

What they are saying tio me is “I’m a coward and I fear realization that all my money and time invested in shoes selection was a waste of time. I’d rather look like an athlete sooner, not later, by cheating with orthotics,getting out on the road and imitating running than actually becoming an athlete. Besides Garrett, your training routine looks like you openly invite pain into every step of your life. Please don’t remind me that life is suffering”

When I started barefoot walking I said to myself “Is walking really this difficult? Nowadays I say “Is walking really this easy?”

All of modern life is life this. We run from pain only to find more pain than we left.

My body is a prosthetic for my soul. My soles need only the thinnest prosthetics. I am technology.