Day 2 - Morning after

2011-02-08T10:20:00.000-05:00

So It is the first morning after starting to run. Man am I sore!! My calf muscles are pretty tight but I have been stretching them out at my desk and I think they are doing better. My thighs are a little sore but nothing I can not push through. What is really bothering me is my right hip. I am not sure hot to describe the pain. It is not a consistent pain. I mainly feel it when I walk. I am hoping that it is nothing to serious, and will probably rest today to let it recover a little. I don't want to over do it in the beginning and cause myself an injury that further delay my training. I am going to play todays run by ear. I am hoping to do another 3 miles, but time will tell. I still have several hours before I have to make that decision.

Day 1 - The Journey Begins!!

2011-02-07T19:05:00.000-05:00

So I started training today for my first marathon, and I will be doing it barefoot. My hope in doing this is that I might be able to convince some of you to try barefoot running, to discuss the benefits of it, and to document my experience going from a smoker of 10 years to a barefoot marathon runner.

First let me give you some background on myself. I am currently 28 years old. I started smoking when I was 18. I was never a chain smoker, but at my peak I was smoking a pack a day. I decided to quit smoking 11/29/2011. The motivator for me doing this was I saw many people that I went to High School with were running distance runs. In High school I was very fast and very good at running distances. My record mile in High School was 4:57 minutes for a mile. After 10 years smoking I could not run 100 yards much less a mile. My goal was clear. Stop smoking, start running, and start training to be able to run a full marathon.

Being new to running I started to read about what kind of shoes to get. I stumbled across a few post about the benefits of barefoot running and became interested. When I read the statistic that "70% of all runners get hurt each year. Before the invention of the modern running shoe these types of injuries were very rare" They were referring to shinsplints, rolled ankles, runners knee, and many other running injuries" By running barefoot, or in Virbram Five Fingers as I am, allows your foot to function as it evolved to do so. After some more reading I had decided that I wanted to give this a try. I am going to be writing about my runs. About how long it is taking me to add distance. Describing the after run feelings of my feet, legs, hips and back. Give any tips I discover. And eventually start posting my times and my progress as time passes.

I hope that some of you find this interesting. I will take any questions you might have and will try to answer them as quickly as I can. Just shoot me an email at: barefootmarathoner@gmail.com

Distance ran today: 3 miles
Pace: 10 mins/mile

Barefoot Marathon

Day 2 - Morning after

Day 1 - The Journey Begins!!