Evening Run in the City
Jake Gyllenhaal talking about running barefoot/minimal on Letterman.
“When the run begins, Eric Fair dashes off, leading the pack. His years of drug use have ravaged his body, leaving him with high blood pressure, kidney problems and a slew of other health concerns, but he says he always feels good when he is running.”
Why I run and run with less
I literally finished Chapter 22 of Born to Run, and I got out of my chair and ran 2 miles - simply because I felt that if I didn’t immediately do it, I’d be half human. The rationale presented was clear, unbiased, scientific, and un-argumentative. Somehow the book became for me true self-directed help (as opposed to self-help, which is basically someone else telling you what to do).
Before this mini-epiphany that got me off my butt, I had not run for running’s sake. I ran for conditioning to do other things. Even before that, I ran because thick-necked coaches in polyester shorts were yelling at me.
And now I run with less. Less junk. No music. No wires. (Maybe a phone; RunKeeper is way cool.) No heart monitor. No Camelbak. No compression sleeves. No goo. Just a shirt, shorts, and some Fivefingers. Pure freedom. Go light and hit the trail and feel like a kid again.
I also run to run. This is entirely new to me. Quote the me of two years ago, it would have been, “I run only if chased.” I truly believe that somewhere down the road, the mere act of running was giving absolutely no respect by coaches, peers, etc. It was just a difficult means to an end. The result was that there was no enjoyment out of it. It was just work.
Today, I can run slow and comfortable. I don’t care. But I run distances that amaze me. While nothing to brag about in the grand scheme, I was blown away the first time I ran two hours over a mountain trail and covered the same distance that it would have taken me all day to hike. This revelation suddenly made the world small and made driving the 2-3-miles to work simply absurd. Truly a shift in how I see myself moving and my relation to the space around me.
Keeping that relation pure is why I have taken to running with minimal footwear. Feeling each rock and root is important to the total experience. Using those tactile cues to then adjusting (automagically) to the shifting terrain is what it’s all about. And even stubbing your toe or stepping on that glass if going barefoot. Those risks are the reason the eyes and brain are on highest alert. The whole system is working to move the body efficiently and safely.
And after a day at the desk, I feel like the human I was designed to be.
Interesting article by Mr. McDougall about how he decided to run the 2010 NYC mega-marathon / hunting party.
CBS Evening News - Barefoot Running: Cushioning for Your Soul
Really? Am I supposed to run in these or walk on the moon?
They actually call these Masai Barefoot Technology Shoes. Really.
"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.
It knows it must outrun the fastest lion, or it will be killed.
Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up.
It knows that it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a lion or a gazelle,
when the sun comes up, you’d better be running."
It knows it must outrun the fastest lion, or it will be killed.
Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up.
It knows that it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a lion or a gazelle,
when the sun comes up, you’d better be running."
— Anon.
"You must do the thing which you think you cannot do."
— Eleanor Roosevelt
