I'm just a 46 year old woman who wants to stay in shape and feel good and age well. I'm not a marathoner. I'm not a triathlete. I'm just a mom. But I love to run and workout. Not that it's always fun while I'm doing it, but I love the feeling of success after I finish. Some days it's just pure will-power to finish my run or do that lunge or push-up, but at 46, I think I am doing really well. I don't know if 45 was a good time to start barefooting it, but I was having back and knee problems and ran across the book, "Born to Run," and was inspired. So I am blogging my journey of barefoot running. Thanks for taking a look. I hope it inspires and helps someone else along the way.

pre-run yoga stretch

Friday, March 18, 2011

Bikilas

My Bikilas arrived. I've run about 10 miles in them so far!

They are a bit different than the Classics that I normally run in. The Classics are a bit loser and perhaps more of a barefoot experience. The Bikilas are more fitted around the foot.

I got them with the hopes of being able to run the road as it warms up and as I've spent considerable time on the track building up to running barefoot with no TOFP. I am running four miles with no TOFP, so I'm crossing my fingers.

I am still running a bit less on the balls of my feet but rather a modified midfoot. It's more comfortable and more doable.

So the Bikilas are wonderful like the Classics for track running. The true test will be outside on the road.

Happy running!

Saturday, March 5, 2011

They're on the way!!

I had to do it! I ordered my BIKILAS. Mm-hmm! Yay! I am excited.

I wear a 41 in the Classics and by the sizing chart needed a 40 in the BIKILAS. I hope they fit well.

I ordered the blue/dark grey.

I'll tell you why I did this when last post I was lamenting that I had to wait to afford them. I ordered some Nike Vomero Zooms the other day because they were on the endangered list at the site I order from, and my son's needed some running shoes (I have one son who swears he'll NEVER wear VIBRAMS because of how they look). So I figured I'd grab a pair and throw them in the closet for road runs. When they arrived they looked different from the pair I presently run in and so thought I'd better take a few laps in them to make sure they were all right.

I hit the track in the VIBRAMS for the first three miles and then thought I'd throw the Vomeros on for the last mile. BIG MISTAKE. You know the saying, "You don't know what you've got until it's gone"? Well, the contrast between barefoot and new, stiff shoes that didn't feel that great was too much. I could hardly get through the run and cool down. So I decided that my money would be better spent buying the Bikilas and sending the Vomeros back.

That's it. Now I will have the Bikilas. I'll tell you all about them after a run or two.

Happy Running!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

I'm one-fifth of the way there!

I have run nearly 100 miles on my Vibrams! Wow!

Still hitting the track for now. The outside weather here in the North does not facilitate running yet. But I love running in my Vibrams.

My running buddy got some Bikilas. Um, I'm jealous. But I have to say that it really makes no difference, right. I mean, how can they be that much different than the old Vibram classics? Anyway, I am one-fifth of the way to 500 miles. It'll be interesting to see how long my Vibrams last. I know my running shoes don't go that far without breaking down.

My son did something to hurt his foot--same place that I hurt mine--running on his Vibrams. You have to be so CAREFUL. You have to take it slow. Now he's got four weeks of giving his foot a break and then he can start up SLOWLY again. I feel bad for him. I think our feet are shoe-trained and have a hard time adjusting to barefoot. I am still careful because I don't want to be on injury status again. It STINKS.

My buddy also over-did it on her vibrams and had to drop off for three weeks and then has started slow again. You can still run the entire run--in our case four miles--but you just do five laps instead of the 22 our track requires for four miles. You just keep adding in a lap here and there until you can do the entire thing. Even then, after a full run in Vibrams, I will switch up one run with shoes and the next run half way with Vibrams before another full four miler in them.

Well, happy running. I WILL own some Bikilas soon. But until then, I'm burning up the track!

Happy running.