This again?

What I am enjoying most about running lately is that it is endlessly hackable.  You can fiddle and futz and experiment, and it hardly costs anything.  [Unless you buy stuff, but that's not exactly what I am talking about here.]  Adding core work to your routine?  Go for it.  Want to mess with your stride?  Experiment for a week.  Want to run while juggling?  Who cares?  With running, there's no standard equipment except legs and no rules except put one foot in front of the other.  Everything is permitted; nothing is forbidden.  Hell, even shoes are optional. 

Ever since getting taken to task by commenters [including Barefoot Ted!] for questioning the sanity of barefoot running, I have been curious about the barefoot running phenomenon.  First, I bought Nike Free 5.0s with the intention of gradually moving toward barefootedness but probably not going all the way.  So far, I have loved these shoes more than any other's I've used.  I trained for and ran a marathon and a half-marathon in them.  After nearly 700 miles, the same pair is still going strong.  Yet, I wonder what's next.  Running shoes are designed to wear out.

Fired up by my recent reading of Born to Run, I've been experimenting seriously with barefoot running for about a month now.  About once a week, I have run 1-3 miles barefoot on various surfaces, with and without foot protection [sandals or whatever.]  Yesterday, I ran five whole miles in my home-made huaraches.  What are my impressions?  Running barefoot is the bomb, but it takes some getting used to.  I know.  Like you couldn't read that pearl of wisdom everywhere else the subject is raised.  But it's true. 

With nothing between your feet and the earth but [perhaps] a thin strip of rubber or leather, running barefoot extends the experience of running into whole other dimensions.  Beneath me, I feel each pebble, minute variations in slope, and every bone and tendon in my foot doing its job.  I become hyper-aware of what my body is doing and feeling.  Are my feet landing underneath my hips?  Are my strides too long?  Check my breathing.  Now, even after just three or four barefoot workouts, running with shoes feels like trying to feel a sculpture with boxing gloves on.  At first, my ankles and feet were sore afterward.  But after each run now, my feet feel stronger and less sore.

I'm a convert.  And I think my next running shoes are going to be Vibrams.  I'm not ready to go the full monty [entirely bare-ass barefoot] because the places I run are often littered with glass and other sharp, pointy things. But I think I am through paying my quarterly dues to Nike.  Over the next several months, I will slowly increase the numer of miles per week I run barefoot and see how it goes.