Michael rests as he muscles up the energy to pull himself out of his home hospital bed with a broken arm and new titanium hip and femur in 2006.

From RunBare Co-Founder, Michael Sandler.

It was four years ago today I was injured in a near death accident. I’d been out inline-skating, training for a world record ultra-endurance coast-to-coast attempt to help students and adults with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder. It’s something similar to what I’d done in 2004, when I rode my bicycle 5000 miles, in 40 days, solo and unsupported across the US to help with the same cause. That effort helped me reach people across the country, and yielded an invitation to speak before members of the House and Senate.

On this fateful day, after finishing training, I’d unlaced and sat down in the cool snow-melt run-off of the Boulder Creek to meditate and pray for safety and guidance. Then I laced up my skates and pushed off. The words from a new CD (Inspiration) from Dr. Wayne Dyer were resonating in my head “Everything happens for a reason”. I told myself to go slow, as I was in a touristy part of town and on a Sunday. However, I never expected what happened next. A tourist/father teaching his toddler son how to walk, inadvertently stepped out on the bike path before me. Even with a great brake sponsor, and going slow, there was no time to react.

I would either hit the baby, or hit the deck.

And no one hits a baby.

I threw myself up and back, a move that would have made an Olympic high-jumper proud.

In the air, I wondered if I’d still be able to do my cross-country skate.

And as I landed with a dull concussive thud, I had my answer.

And yet, I was smiling.

I’d prayed for safety and guidance, and somehow had my answer.

I wiggled my fingers, then toes, looked at the baby I’d avoided, and his dad, then up at the sun above.

Life is good, I thought. Life is good.

It was a moment that changed my life. And I knew it in an instant.

In 2006, doctors put together Michael's hip and femur. Today, he no longer sets off metal dectectors.

I’d shattered my femur, hip, and arm, and later found out shards of femur were less than a centimeter from my femoral artery, or a centimeter from death.

But I believed everything happens for a reason, and this event too would help my life.

It’s been 4 years since that event, or the ‘gift’ as I call it. A lot has changed in that time. They were lucky to save my leg, but with a titanium femur and hip (and near 1 inch leg-length discrepancy) told me I’d be lucky to walk again, and to forget about ever running. They were right, too, until I took off my shoes, felt the ground, and began to heal. Now I run 10 – 20 miles a day barefoot, touching the earth and feeling stronger with each step.

Since my accident and healing, I’ve gone on to help others, whether that’s runners looking to improve their performance, injured runners looking to heal, or people who used to love running but have quit because of their ‘bad knees’, ‘bad hips’ or ‘bad feet’…runner’s who’ve been told they just couldn’t’ do it anymore, or whose bodies just weren’t letting them. But once you go barefoot, and learn a lighter way to run, you find yourself dancing on the roads and trails, almost effortless, with a child-like grin once again.

Four years ago put me on this path to help others, to help us reconnect, run again pain free, and to dance with our feet.

I am very thankful for this day, and for where the ‘gift’ has taken me.

Thank you too for sharing in this special day, and thank you for listening.

With blessings,

~Michael Sandler,
Co-Founder, RunBare Company

Before you take off in your brand new Vibram Five Fingers, seriously consider going barefoot first. Build stronger feet and diminish your risk of injury.

Chances are you’ve just purchased your first pair of Five Fingers, or are considering getting a pair. They’re a lot of fun, and you’ll likely soon find yourself with a near permanent case of the ear-to-ear grin.

But this is a double-edged sword, because if anything, Vibram’s are too much fun.

If you don’t learn to go slow in the beginning, sooner or later the perma-grin you’re experiencing may be replaced with a perma-ouch.

Running in Five Fingers feels so much like being a kid all over again. They’re just so much fun we can’t help but overdo ourselves. We go too far, and too fast, before our feet our ready, and then BLAMMO, we hit the dreaded ‘setback’.

But this doesn’t have to be the case. If you go slow, and let your skin be your guide (more on this in a minute) you’ll build the strongest, healthiest, happiest feet in the world, capable of mile after mile of near effortless enjoyment, fast and free in or out of your Five Fingers.

But first, we need to wake things up slowly. Unfortunately, modern shoes have weakened our feet.

In short, our feet have been asleep for years, trapped in a dark, narrow constrictive boot that’s shortened, weakened, and stiffened our muscles, tendons, and ligaments, and left our bones weak and brittle. We can build them incredibly strong and supple, but it takes time. If you do too much before they’re ready, you risk tendonitis, muscle tears, strained ligaments, or stress fractures.

To avoid all of this, you need to go slow, and consider tiny distances to begin with.

Let your skin be your guide

Over time, your Five Fingers can help you become the strong, efficient, healthy and fast runner you were born to be. But to transition safely, you need to first feel the ground by going fully barefoot. If you take the time to feel the ground, build your feet, and develop your stride, you greatly diminish your chances of injury when it comes time to slipping on your Five Fingers.

When you run fully barefoot, you learn to run incredibly light, because you can fully ‘feel’ the ground and your impact. Most importantly, when your skin gets raw and tender, you stop and head for home. There aren’t too many people out there that’ll push through raw skin or a blister, at least NOT on an easy training run. That’s why I always tell my runners, “Let your skin be your guide.”

When you let your skin be your guide, you protect everything underneath the skin. The challenge with the Vibram’s isn’t that your skin gets raw, it’s that it doesn’t. You also don’t feel the cumulative damage you’re doing to weakened parts on the inside of your foot. First off, your muscles are still asleep, and aren’t used to the new stride yet. Second, even if the muscles are ready, the tendons that attach the muscles to the bones are still asleep. Third, EVEN if the muscles and tendons are ready, your bones haven’t grown beefier to handle the muscles and tendons pulling at their attachment points. You also haven’t developed the flexibility for the foot to handle a full range of motion, stride after stride, mile after mile. And last, you haven’t developed the ‘padding’ in your foot, to help naturally cushion the impact.

Add all of this up, and you’ll find if you do too much too quickly, you’ll soon tear your feet apart.

If you buy the Vibrams, have fun exploring in them. Just don’t go running too far in them just yet. Instead, invest in your future with a month or two of barefoot running first. Consider this foot conditioning, or boot camp for your feet, to wake them back up, and help them get strong. So, before running far in your Vibrams, begin running fully barefoot, and let your skin be your guide.

But I feel great in my Vibram Five Fingers!

Even if you think all is good, it’s likely not the case. Our bodies build with the use-it or lose-it principle and the principle of ‘specificity’. This means if we use something we get stronger, if not, it goes away. And it means if we’re used to a specific movement, we get stronger for it, and if not, we lose the ability (at least in the short run) to perform that specific movement. These two principles dramatically affect our feet and transition into Vibrams and barefoot running.

Ways in Which Our Feet are Weak

1.) Our Arches are Asleep

With ‘great arch support’ found in traditional running shoes, our strong and springy arches haven’t had to work.  Moreover, by relying on arch support, we’ve locked out one of nature’s greatest shock absorbers and stabilizers, and reduced our arches to mush. They can be rebuilt and raised up stronger than ever; however, you have to start slow. Wisely, the Five Fingers are built with minimum arch support. That’s great for letting your foot do the work. But, if you do too much too fast, your muscles won’t be able to handle the new workload. Instead, you’ll force the job onto your plantar fascia, the band of easily-upset connective tissue running the length of the bottom of your foot. It was never meant to handle such force, and can quickly lead to Plantar Fasciitis.

 2.) We’ve Lost Flexibility

Our incredible foot flexibility and dexterity has been eliminated by stiff soles and over-effective ‘motion control’ systems. Our feet were meant to bend and flex, fore and aft, and to the sides. This allows us to absorb impact, use the foot as a spring, and handle uneven terrain and rocky surfaces. We once had incredibly flexible feet – just look at those of a baby. But now our feet have become as rigid as our shoes. While we NEVER twist our feet in our shoes, that’s exactly what you’ll need to do in your Five Fingers for terrain, propulsion, and shock absorption. It’s a big part of what makes us feel ‘free’. However, building this flexibility takes time. Do too much too fast, and you risk tendonitis, strained ligaments, tears, or even a stress fracture by putting new forces on your feet.

3.) Our Achilles and Calves Have Weakened and Shortened

Ever taken a close look at the heel of your shoe? Chances are it’s almost an inch high or GREATER. Now, I’m not talking about high heeled shoes, but your RUNNING shoes. Supposedly, this high heel helps ‘protect’ our foot with extra cushioning. But what it really does is prevent your foot from its full range of motion. Our bodies adapt to raised heels by shortening our achilles and calves. To add insult to injury, when we’re forced to heel strike, we lock our achilles out of the equation. The achilles can handle almost two tons of force if fully strengthened, but in a modern running shoe that promotes heel striking, it hasn’t had to work.

The Vibrams, however, allow you to use a more ‘natural’ stride, and that means landing on your forefoot, loading your achilles and calf, and springing back with each step. That’s why the achilles was built so strong in the first place and it takes time to build them up again. Work your calves and achilles too much and too soon and you’ll pull and strain these muscles and tendons, or literally tear them apart. 

4.) Our Incredible Toes Have Become Unbelievably Weak

Did you know 18 out of 19 muscles and tendons of our feet connect to our toes? Mother Nature wouldn’t have done this if the toes weren’t vital to our feet. Unfortunately, our poor toes have been asleep for years. Look at your current running shoes. See how high the front of the shoe is off the ground? That’s called ‘toe spring’. Shoe manufacturers add toe spring to help your foot roll more easily. Now look at your foot. Are your toes up and off the ground? Far from it! We grab with our toes, support ourselves with our toes, and keep our arches strong with our toes. Strong toes and the attaching muscles are essential for our stride and healthy feet. When you have strong toes, you have a strong foot. But in a shoe with toe-spring, there’s no way for our toes to spread, grab, or feel the ground. This atrophies all connecting muscles, making them incredibly weak. Wake up your toes too quickly and you’ll start tearing your feet apart.

Getting Strong for Five Fingers

If you let your skin be your guide, you’ll find you rarely go too far.  Instead, next time you get sore or tender, head for home.

Start barefoot, but remember to carry your shoes with you. Consider them your new "Hand Weights"!

Try this on your next run: Start out barefoot but carry your Five Fingers with you. Then, when your skin starts to fatigue, put on the Five Fingers and head SLOWLY for home. Don’t sprint home. Even if you only have a few hundred yards left to go, consider walking home.

As your feet toughen up, so will your muscles, connective tissue and more. You’ll also find your lightest stride possible.

There’s more to it than this, and great strength and conditioning exercises you can do for your feet and legs to make the transition go more quickly, but hopefully this is enough to get you going, and SAFELY in the right direction. For more on getting into the sport, and beginner and advanced technique alike, check out our book due out in March. Pre-orders are available on our limited first edition which you can find it at www.BarefootRunningBook.com. Also check out our clinics. We’ll have a full list of them later this spring, and will likely be traveling to an area near you.

Above all else, go slow and have fun. You’ll love your new ‘shoes’ be that the Five Fingers, or your incredibly strengthened new feet. And you’ll love your beaming new ear-to-ear grin, guaranteed to continue for years and years of running to come.

Have fun and we’ll catch YOU barefoot!!!

It should be an exciting and informative presentation. We’ll be talking about the latest science, including Dr. Daniel Lieberman’s new study, and the recent study from the University of Virginia.

The result of wearing ill fitting shoes for a lifetime.

Unshod Adult Bare Feet are wider in the forefoot, providing natural stability.

We’ll look at transitioning to barefoot running, proper form, the dangers of modern footwear, the benefits of minimalist footwear and what to look for, how to train barefoot, and much, much more.  
 
We’ll also be looking at how to overcome injuries and get back into the sport, injury free, and how to stay that way for a lifetime of running 

We’ve been doing a lot of research for our upcoming book, “Barefoot Running,” which we’ll be sharing as well, and will have a lengthy Q/A session to discuss concerns and questions on this topic.

Bring your questions, bring your shoes, and of course, bring your own bare feet.

This talk is free and open to everyone of all ages and abilities. We welcome everyone to join us. Above all else, we hope you have fun, and learn something to bring back to your training.

So, it’s the dead of Winter. The air temperature has finally climbed into the 40’s, but the ground’s still as cold as ice.  Plus, it looks like snow is in the forecast this week. “Wait, I’m not ready for barefoot running in snow!” you exclaim.  The fact of the matter is we can’t always go barefoot when we want to, especially as beginners.  And, that’s when you start eyeing that trusty treadmill.

Can you run barefoot on a treadmill? The answer is, “Yes,” and it’s not a bad idea if it’s the only way you can get barefoot running. But, please, please, please proceed with caution and consider the issues below before you get started.

Issue #1: The Treadmill Belt Comes at You

There are several mechanical challenges going on with a treadmill. Because it’s coming toward you, rather than you toward it, your mechanics often change from propulsion to deceleration. In other words, we find it hard to spring off of our toes, but instead often have force driving through our toes.

Solution:

You can help avoid this by decreasing speed, while increasing incline, naturally putting you up on your forefoot. Over the course of a run, you can gradually begin to decrease the incline and increase the pace. This way, you should still be able to spring off of your toes.

Issue #2: Running on a Treadmill is Running in a Tight Space

Personally, I find it difficult to keep up on my toes properly when it looks like I’ll land on the plastic in front of me.

Solution:

To overcome this, back up a good foot from where you’d normally run on the treadmill, to give your mind the space you need to stride correctly (chances are, it’s one of perception, NOT of reality, but your toes may think you don’t have enough room to come down correctly when you’re so close to the machine.) Trick here, make sure you can reach the control panel or safety rails and more importantly, make sure you’re not so far back you may wind up running off the machine.

Issue #3: Treadmills Lack Relief

There’s no relief on a treadmill. The surface, not the angle, is always perfectly flat. This means your feet don’t have natural relief in the terrain that lets one muscle group work a little more, and another rest a bit. In other words, when you’re on a dirt trail, or even all but the flattest of bike paths, your feet are constantly making small adjustments for the terrain, and these adjustments help prevent overuse fatigue by resting different muscles with each stride.

On a treadmill, there is no relief, so it’s quite common to develop an overuse injury running the SAME distance you were comfortable running outside. Why? Because step after step after step are IDENTICAL. The lack of relief can get you.

Solution:

So if you’re starting out on a treadmill, and since there are no ‘all-terrain’ treadmills in existence (at least not to my knowledge), vary the speed and incline as much as possible. For myself, I like changing the angle a little bit each minute. For instance, warm up for 3-5 minutes with the machine flat, then throw it up to a 7% to 10% grade, then with each minute, decrease the grade by 1% as you increase speed slightly. Another variation would be to have an interval setting where it changes the speed every minute – fast, then slow, then fast again.

Any change is good when you’re on a treadmill. Even if you’re focused on long, steady speed, steady on a treadmill can be dangerous until you’re ready.

Issue #4: Treadmill Belts Get Toasty

Additionally, those belts are coarser than you think. When you’re running on a treadmill and sense something burning, LOOK DOWN. Chances are, it’s your pads (the thickened skin and fat deposits on the bottom of your foot).

Solution:

I’d recommend starting with 3-5 minutes your first day, and then adding a minute or two each day afterwards. If your pads are cooked, it’s likely you cooked everything beneath as well (muscles, tendons, ligaments).

Remember, even on a treadmill, stand tall, land on your forefoot, engage your core and take short natural steps. One of the keys to barefoot running and staying healthy isn’t stride length, but leg speed. Shorter, lighter strides always win when it comes to a lifetime of healthy, injury free running.

By Erin Frustaci
Fort Collins Now

July 10, 2008

Michael Sandler barefoot running down trail in Boulder, CO with dog, Sawa in tow (also barefoot).

Each morning Michael Sandler wakes promptly at 2:50 a.m. With camera in hand and his two dogs by his side, Sandler heads out to the mountain foothills. As the stars fade away and the sun rises in vivid shades of pink and orange, he kicks off his shoes and, for the next two to four hours, sprints barefoot along the dirt trail.

It’s in these early morning hours where Sandler finds what he describes as his “quiet mind.”

Running along a mountain trail without shoes in the dark—risking everything from a broken leg on uneven trails to snake bites, not to mention trampling over sharp rocks and twigs—might not seem the ideal way to quiet one’s mind. But it is for Sandler, who’s mind hasn’t always been so peaceful.

In fact, throughout most of his life, it’s been a place of clutter and confusion, where dozens of thoughts dash in and out in no particular order. Throughout his life he has battled Attention Deficit Disorder, which affects about 10 percent of all Americans. He would argue that he was the poster-child for ADD, demonstrating severe symptoms that often prevented him from leading a normal life.

Through intense introspection and a series of unexpected challenges, Sandler learned how to successfully function with his “hyper-creative mind.” The 37-year-old—formerly of Fort Collins, but who now lives in Boulder—has made it his mission to help others overcome the challenges of ADD and appreciate its benefits.

He founded the Creative Learning Institute where he coaches students and adults with ADD, and recently released a new book titled College Confidence with ADD. Though there have been major advancements, Sandler said building awareness is an on-going effort.

“If someone’s missing a leg, we immediately understand the problem and offer assistance and accommodations,” Sandler writes in his book’s introduction. “If someone’s missing the ability to focus, manage time, organize complex tasks, control impulsively, or fit into a standardized learning program, we tend to tell him to shape up or ship out.”

It’s not the first time Sandler has made this argument; in fact, in the summer of 2004, he made it to practically every person he encountered while embarked on a cross-country bike ride designed to raise awareness of ADD. Like the idea of running barefoot in the mountains, the bike ride would seem to non-ADD sufferers like a form of acute masochism.

He planned to make the trip from Washington state to Washington, D.C. in 40 days. He traveled alone and killed the long hours by dictating his book, answering email with a PDA and conducting interviews with newspapers and radio stations along the way. Sandler learned long ago that being an ambitious multi-tasker helped tame his ADD.

It might seem a little ironic, then, that his new book—which was originally scheduled to come out in the summer of 2006—took two years longer than expected. But Sandler said it’s nothing unusual for people who suffer from ADD.

“Those with ADD are not known for follow-through, historically,” Sandler said. “Until 2004, I was the typical hyper-creative mind, being

College Confidence with ADD by Michael Sandler is a national bestseller.

fantastic at starting something, but not having the follow-through. I’d bounce from idea to idea to idea. … It’s typical for an ADD person to have delays, but at some point it clicks.”

For Sandler, it finally clicked for good in 2006 when he was faced with a serious accident.

He was nearly finished with his book. It was to be a how-to guide for college students with ADD. The vast majority of it had been written during his 40-day biking trip from Seattle to Washington D.C. Then, on April 2, 2006 Sandler experienced what he now calls “the festivities” or the “beautiful gift.”

He was out for a skating session in preparation for his next big adventure, his plans to skate across the country that summer. After meditating in the river, in which he prayed for safety and guidance, he laced up his in-line skates and started rolling along the Boulder Creek bike path on the west side of town.

A father, oblivious to the fact that the path was used by bicyclists and skaters, was using it to teach his young child how to walk.

“The father stepped out with his teetering toddler right in front of me,” Sandler said. “I had the choice of hitting the toddler or hitting the deck.”

Sandler flung himself backwards as if he were a high jumper and landed hard on the pavement.

“My body was broken pretty good,” he said. “I could see the baby was OK, and I could wiggle my fingers and toes… In that moment, life became more precious. I don’t know how to describe it.”

An ambulance rushed him to the hospital; he had a broken arm, shattered femur and a badly broken hip. Though surgery went surprisingly well, doctors weren’t sure if he would be able to walk again. The next few days were a struggle. He was moved to a rehab hospital that he said felt more like a place where someone goes to die rather than get healthy.

“My mind got in gear,” Sandler said.

He asked the staff what it would take for him to be able to go home. Then, he spent two hours doing mental exercises in bed. After modifying a walker so he could use it with his broken arm, Sandler spent the rest of the night learning to maneuver around his room. The next morning he asked for a doctor’s evaluation and proclaimed he would be going home.

“I put on my best poker face,” he said. “I wasn’t prepared to do stairs, but they had me do stairs. I got home and was in so much pain, I laid in bed all of the next day.”

At that point, Sandler knew he had to change the direction of his book.

He demanded that his publisher give it back to him so he could rewrite the majority of it. He wanted to incorporate his spiritual insight that came out of what was among the lowest points in his life. Before the accident, he wasn’t comfortable with writing about such personal experiences. He also wanted to add tabs and icons to make the book easier to navigate.

“I wanted to rewrite as much as I could to help students find passion and chase their dreams, but to also be happy in moments,” Sandler said. “I’m going to give every tool in the world to help them succeed in college, but also to succeed in life.”

Once Sandler was back at home, he diligently hobbled around his apartment building. He even crutched the Bolder Boulder with a broken arm, setting the record for the fastest time for a person on crutches. And he didn’t stop there. The Denver Half Marathon was next.

“That was just stupid,” he said with a laugh.

He started walking for hours a day, then jogging and eventually running. Sandler has always thrived on an active lifestyle. He has spent several years bicycle racing in Europe and loved being outdoors.

But at first running caused him some problems: With all the titanium in his leg, he was somewhat off-balanced. He corrected it simply by taking off his shoes. Today, he runs 10-20 miles a day barefoot—something he was told couldn’t be done.

“There’s a way to find focus,” Sandler said. “Whatever they tell you you can’t do, they are wrong.”

For the last two years, on the anniversary of his accident, Sandler goes back to the exact spot on the trail where he was injured to pray and give thanks.

“It turned out that accident, which wasn’t an accident at all, became the most beautiful experience of my life,” Sandler said.

The first indication of ADD came when Sandler’s first-grade teacher told his mother during a parent-teacher conference he was the worst student she had ever had in her life. He was diagnosed with ADD in second grade. His family moved to a new school district in Massachusetts, and Sandler was prescribed Ritalin.

“It allowed me to sit quiet and focus enough to muscle my way through,” he recalled.

In junior high he was taken off medication and slipped into trouble. Two junior highs and two high schools later, Sandler managed to make it to graduation. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Colorado College, but would argue that cycling was his real major. After a cycling accident in Europe, Sandler found himself working in retail .

“I was successful at what I was doing, but I wasn’t able to juggle all the pieces,” he said. “My desk looked like mini Mount Everest. I felt like a square peg in a round business world.”

Quietly, his world was crashing down. He quit his job and attempted to start his own business. He said he really went off the deep end when he impulsively moved to California to become a professional triathlete.

It didn’t last long. In 1997 Sandler moved to Fort Collins where he pursued not one, but two master’s degrees at the same time.

“My ADD mind said more is better,” he said.

But Sandler learned the hard way. He was completely overwhelmed and bombed his first quiz. That’s when he really decided to confront his ADD. He read as much as he could about the disorder and was put on medication.

“A pill is not a magic answer, but it is like glasses for the near-sighted,” he said. “It let me put on my glasses and see the problems around me.”

Michael still rises before the sun and never leaves for the trails without his trusty camera and loyal dogs, Pumpkin & Sawa.

Sandler learned what worked best for him, but it wasn’t easy. He reevaluated every aspect of his life, found what worked and tossed out what didn’t. He found answers through meditation and nature, and is now the calmest he has ever been.

His focus is to share his experiences with other students so they can avoid similar pitfalls. He doesn’t want other students to bang their heads against the wall, like he did. His book is chock full of tips, tools and anecdotes.

Even with the release of his new book—and its audio version—like a true person with ADD, Sandler isn’t ready is sit back. He’s already looking toward the next thing. He said he is working on several other books, but isn’t sure which will come out next. All he knows is he is content and happy.

“I feel we were all born with a gift wrapped around our hearts,” Sandler said. “If we follow that compass, wherever it directs us, we can’t help but be successful.

“Then you too will be barefoot, running in nature.”

Stretch before a big workout. It’s the oldest advice in the athletic world. So it shouldn’t be a secret that the science of Yoga, an ancient discipline that’s all about stretching would have a connection with running. But why?

It’s true that running is the only traditional sport in today’s world that rivals Yoga in terms of age. Competitive running is as old as the Olympics, which date back to pre-700 BC. Yoga as we know it today has been practiced for just as long. To find the connection, we have to ask a question: Just how did people run back in the days of ancient Greece, where competitive running was born?

The answer: They ran barefoot. There were numerous running events and different types of races, just as there are many types and disciplines of Yoga, with its 900. But no matter what Yoga pose or Yoga discipline is practiced, it is always practiced barefoot, just as every race in ancient Greece was run barefoot.

When I started doing Yoga, I started to really enjoy being shoeless, and the more I did, the more I thought about running that way. I’d been teaching customized Yoga programs for different, physically-active students and gotten lots of positive feedback. And my own practice had enhanced my own condition with every sport I pursued, but I was still avoiding running since my feet and knees hurt. So when I decided to “put a little Yoga” into my running and took my first run without shoes, it was the beginning of a beautiful connection between the two disciplines.

I quickly found that the Yoga mat and the runner’s course could be one and the same. When running, everything I said to myself on the Yoga mat fit right in with the rhythm of my bare feet hitting the ground.

“Feel it. Be connected with the ground beneath your feet” is a phrase Yogis all know well. It adds significance to the idea of simply being there on the ground. It wasn’t just that my feet were touching the ground; what happened was that I really, truly felt grounded in the most positive way, which is what Yoga aims for. That’s how, for me, barefoot running became mobile yoga.

On my first run, I was quite amazed by the way that touching the ground with bare feet heightened ALL of senses. Simply by feeling every pebble and every grain of sand with my feet, I become able to recognize things I never noticed before. I soon read of mutual experiences from other barefooters. With every run I’ve taken since then, that same heightened sense of being is there within me, as powerful as the best runner’s high but with calmness felt only during deep Yoga meditation on my mat. Knowing I am barefoot on the path makes me feel like a well-heeled Indian scout or hunter. That first ran barefoot run was on a course I still run several days a week before sunrise.

Like any system of sidewalks, my chosen path includes the occasional broken glass. On my first run I was surprised at how easily my eyes found those caltrops glistening in the dim street light ahead, and how successfully I avoided them. Many parts of the course are perpetually peppered with stones from the gardens that line it. Each day those stones get kicked to new places by passing pedestrians, yet no matter where they are I seem to dance right through them. But this primal awareness isn’t limited to the eyes or even the feet.

Yoga tells us to be present in our bodies, aware of how every muscle feels. As an experienced Yogi who just started barefoot running this year, I found out that the same principle applied to my new obsession.

One uses many new muscles once the feet are freed from shoes; that’s when true plantar flexion finally begins. It’s when you find out how important the small muscles that surround your ankles are to your success. Shoes restrict the ankles from moving just like they restrict the foot.

The simplest, most classic Yoga poses help prepare this runner’s ankles for their new-found freedom of movement. The downward dog and triangle stance are two typical postures I had done for years which helped me build strength in my ankles. Classic, one-legged balancing poses like the Tree and the Eagle both can help build ankle stability and shear leg strength. **** The well-known plank pose (the “up” in a regular push-up position can help build strength in the lower leg while the foot is in flexed position, like it will be when one is running barefoot.

By ditching my shoes and putting some Yoga into my running, I made running a far better and healthier activity. As far as barefoot running goes, I’m still a rookie. But as an experienced Yogi, I’ve already learned that barefoot running brought me much of the awareness that Yoga makes me look for-and even when my bare feet are just on my Yoga mat.

Beginner bare feet learning how to strike the ground lightly.

1. Raw Food = Great! Raw Feet = Not so Great!
Don’t run until your feet are raw. Bring your shoes (I call them hand weights) and put them on, or return home once your feet get sensitive.

2. Never go until you blister.

3. Resting. It’s not being lazy. It’s being smart.

Between workouts, give a day of rest for your pads to develop. If they feel a little hot and sensitive after a workout that’s a GOOD thing, you did well!

4. Just Say “No” to Pencil Erasers.
Stay off of the wet-stuff when building pads…it’s too easy to turn them into pencil erasers when you hit coarse terrain. Then you rub off all of your hard work.

5. Hot, Cold & Everything in Between.
A little heat is good for pad development, as is a little cold. It means coarse surfaces can be good over time, as well as truly rocky ones. Just start slow. If you’re wearing off your pads, you’ll never build them back stronger. Pad growth should be slow and incremental, building layer on top of layer.

I’ll Catch YOU Barefoot!

~Coach Michael Sandler
]]> http://www.runbare.com/200/5-tips-to-building-strong-healthy-pads/feed/ 5 http://www.runbare.com/93/out-to-test-the-vibram-ksos/ http://www.runbare.com/93/out-to-test-the-vibram-ksos/#comments Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:15:44 +0000 Admin http://runbare.com/?p=93 More on the Vibram Five Finger KSO’s and KSO Treks shortly! Be sure to check out runBARE reviews in the near future for more minimalist shoe reviews!

runBARE's CCO, Michael Sandler coaches a barefoot running clinic on a Fall morning in Boulder, CO.

Here are 5 things to expect on your path to running barefoot:

1. Skin will be soft and tender. If you run or walk every-other day, the skin has a chance to grow back STRONG.

2. Your arches will fatigue. Try toe scrunches or working with a golf ball (grabbing it with your feet) to strengthen the arches. Then give them too a day of rest in-between runs.

3. The ground will feel hard. This is a great thing! Don’t look for soft surfaces, but hard surfaces such as pavement or asphalt to feel the ground and learn to step light. As soon as your feet fatigue, or you start to hit hard, GO HOME, you’re done.

4. You’ll learn a new stride. You’ll learn you have to stand tall, to keep your core engaged (stomach and back), and you’ll have to land on your toes. Land light and listen. Slapping the ground hard…get forward on your toes. Pitter-pattering light, you’re doing it right!

5. Everything under the skin will fatigue, then grow strong. It takes time. Listen to your feet and in particular your skin. Even if you’re a strong runner, or especially if you’re a strong runner, you may not know your ligaments and tendons need strengthening under the skin. You’re using them differently, waking things up, strengthening things long weakened, and relaxing muscles long-since tight. Being a strong runner, or jumping straight to Vibrams can trick you, if you don’t start slow. Consider going barefoot only every other day, and starting truly barefoot…even if you love your Vibrams. When you go without shoes, it’s hard to go too far…because when the skin gets sore, it’s time to go home. In this game, it’s all about awareness. Awareness of yourself, awareness of the ground, and awareness of how fast you can adapt. Learn to be aware, and you too, will fly!!!