barefoot running back home in Salina photos and video

We ran for time and estimated miles today as we barefooted over bridges, ran next to the river, and watched our four spawn play as we ran through and around Oakdale Park. We went over 8 miles. Its amazing how quiet it is here.  Its lovely to experience being back in town from a happy Angie's perspective. There has been much personal growth for me over the last few years while living in Des Moines and my trips back home are a gauge of sorts as to my progress.  I am happy to be here and even more happy to run here!

Jaymon came up with some exciting ideas about games to play while running. Barefoot running in particular. I am really looking forward to brainstorming with him and then getting some meetups together!

I love the creativity that flows when running.  

 The littlest spawn love being barefoot and that makes me happy although keeping track of tossed aside shoes makes me wonder why I keep forgetting to have them take off their shoes before we get out of the vehicle.

I have rather thick pads on the bottoms of my feet. They are soft and supple yet the skin there is tough.  I stepped on this.....stake....its bigger than a thorn and not really a splinter.  It pierced my foot on the ball of my foot by my middle toe but I just pulled it out and kept going.  Seriously it barely even hurt and I was surprised at how I had taken for granted the padding I have there now. The last year and a half of conditioning has paid off for sure.

While barefoot running you are encouraged to bend your knees more and use your ankles and knees as springs.

A light step makes stepping on sharp objects less of a concern since I compensate by staying relaxed and not striking the ground with my foot. While running over rocks and rough surfaces my foot molds to the surface that it lands on and does not land stiff and rigid .  If it does hurt, then I am not relaxed enough.  It takes practice but its fun!

I forget that people want to see the bottoms of my feet.  I need to moisturize but really my feet are not even very dirty today.  There were so many different textures on our run.  Incredibly rough roads that I had to drop down a bit and work on relaxing.  There were walnuts to avoid as well.  I adore squirrels but cuss them sometimes when I step on a walnut husk that has been skillfully gnawed and left for me to discover with my piggies. 

My feet feel great. My ankles, knees, calves, and my glutes are all sore from the stabilizer muscles working in different ways.  I am really looking forward to running again tomorrow!  My mother in law has a new Grayhound she adopted and I can't wait to take her out for a run tomorrow. 

Here is a video of a little bit of our run.  I warn you, if you are prone to motion sickness it might make you woozy!  Oh and notice my handsome hubby in his kilt....mmmmmmmm!   Lucky girl I am to have a handsome barefoot running, kilt wearing, bearded man.

Happy Running!