Doug,

You sound not unlike a lot of us who came to barefoot running. Not
all of us have the same reasons, for there are many such as knee
problems (me), desire to run naturally, learning better technique
through BF running, just to name a few.

For me, I just knew that once I kicked my shoes off that I had found
something that I would stick with as long as I ran. It just felt
right! Sometimes, it's hard to explain to others when the ephiphany
has happened ... we just know when it has.

Anyway, welcome to the group. We have a bunch of folks that merely
lurk and don't check in very often. I hear from a few of them from
time to time on email. Then, there are a couple that post fairly
regularly. Feel free to post often, or just read when you can!

Cheers!

BR

--- In BarefootRick@yahoogroups.com, "dr.brandt" <d.r.brandt@...>
wrote:
>
> I just joined the group and wanted to introduce myself. My name
> is Doug and I run 4-5 days a week 7-8 miles at a time. I just
> started barefoot running in the last 4 weeks, motivated initially
due
> to losing toenails. While not painful, it is unsightly. I figured
> that if God made me with toenails, I should try to keep them.
>
> After a couple of days of toughening my feet by walking barefoot on
> the sidewalk for 30' cooldowns after running, my first barefoot run
> was 1.4 miles in 9'30" on neighborhood sidewalks. This is what
> really got my attention. This is 1' faster than normal.
>
> Since then, I have run 5K barefoot twice and a couple of 1.4
milers.
> My feet need alot of toughening to get where I want. I am now
using
> FiveFingers to assist in the transision. After a couple of 1.4
> milers, I ran 7 miles in FF this week at 51'. This is 2' faster
than
> typical for me. But I cannot yet run 7 miles every day in FF
(maybe
> I can do it 2x per week). I have to intersperse BF, FF, and SF
> running (barefoot, FiveFinger, and shodfeet, respectively).
>
> That's enough for now
>
> Doug
> Colossians 1:17
>