Barefoot Running

Anyone that has watched a marathon has probably noticed a number of Kenyan runners, generally considered the best long distance runners in the world, running barefoot towards the finish line. Once mastered, barefoot running is extremely effective, but this doesn't mean that just anyone should attempt to run a marathon on pavement without shoes on. Most people seldom ever go barefoot, even around the house, leaving them with feet that are utterly unprepared for the rigors of running or even walking without shoes. However, with proper training just about anyone can teach their self how to run barefoot.

Although running barefoot may at first seem like an unnecessary pain to endure, in the long run there are actually many benefits to this exercise. Ideally runners should concentrate on running on their toes or balls of their feet, but excessive padding in shoes can create the bad habit of landing on the heels. Planting the heels before the toes puts much more stress on a runner's feet because doing so requires the runner to force all their weight on their heels. Runners that land on the balls of their feet have the advantage of distributing their weight more evenly across their entire body as they run. Running barefoot leaves little choice but to land on the balls of one's feet. Without the extra padding in the heels of running shoes, barefoot runners quickly realize how painful it is to constantly land on the heels of their feet. Running sans shoes is basically nature's way of teaching joggers the proper way to run.

Aside from alleviating the pain associated with running, staying up on the balls of one's feet is also beneficial to increasing speed. A runner can achieve much more bounce by staying up on their toes since they're not planting the entirety of their body weight down with every step they take. New barefoot runners will quickly notice that when they are forced to improve their technique, that they instantly become faster runners. For all the benefits that barefoot running offers, it is not easy to ditch the shoes overnight, and proper precautions should be taken by people looking to switch to barefoot running while minimizing bodily harm.

The most advance barefoot runners can tackle surfaces from pavement to gravel, but even they had to start somewhere. It's crucial that beginning barefoot runners start slowly, and work their way up before they attempt long runs on rough surfaces. To those that have it available, beaches are an excellent place to get started running barefoot. Both the soft and wet sand are very forgiving to raw feet, while the grains of sand help build up callouses, particularly when the sand's hot. To those that don't have beach access, large grass fields are an excellent place to get used to running barefoot, although grass isn't as effective at creating callouses as sand. Aside from running, good callouses can be built up just from walking around barefoot as much as possible. Once the feet develop callouses, barefoot runners can start tackling more difficult terrain such as dirt and all weather tracks. Once this becomes comfortable, runners will find that they feel much more comfortable running on pavement. But, since pavement is a rough surface, new barefoot runners should be cautious. Instead of running long distances every day on pavement, it's a good idea to work up to these goals by limiting the amount of time and distance to run barefoot. Nonetheless, once a person's feet have gotten used to being barefoot, they'll find that doing so is actually much easier than wearing shoes.