July 16, 2020

In August I’ll be 58. It wasn’t until my late 40’s, early in 2010, I realized that many of the simple things I thought I knew were dangerous lies; the blind leading the blind. My “table” was being set for these discoveries after being diagnosed with an aggressive Follicular Thyroid Cancer in the latter part of 2004, along with several other health concerns, new and old. Evidently, I didn’t realize I needed to be student preparing to be ready for the teachers. When the student is ready, the teacher will come. Now I hope to be a teacher for a few people as they become ready.

For this specific publication, I will focus on what my feet and lower extremities were trying to tell me. Our feet are very sensitive and pain can be a great instructor and motivator. This issue moved to the forefront of my awareness in the Spring of ’08 with my first bone fracture, in my right leg. I cracked in the tibial bone in the ankle. The tibia is the larger ankle bone on the left side of my right ankle. Balancing on a downed log over a creek, the log broke free from the stump and I rode it down about a few feet while wearing a heavy, cheap sandals. I heard a pop, hobbled to stable ground, felt nauseous, light headed and then used a combination of crawling and hopping to get a couple hundred feet to our house to let my wife know I needed a ride to the hospital. I was befuddled by how easy that bone cracked and that bothered me, but not as much as my focus on decreasing my risk for a cancer recurrence. I knew I needed to strengthen my ankles and had started doing some long walks after the break healed. I suspected diet was a key issue for lowering cancer risk and I was struggling to put the puzzle pieces together. So many pieces and so much misinformation to sift through. Bone health is also related to what we consume. Maybe the many health concerns were all more food related than I ever wanted to believe?

In early 2010 as I was getting more serious about strengthening my ankles, I bought a Bosu ball at Walmart. Imagine a rubber therapy ball, cut in half. With the flat side down, the idea is to balance on the ball, with bare feet for dynamic balance and exercise using our core to strengthen the lower extremities. After the Walmart stop, I drove out to Xenia Shoe and Leather for a new pair of casual shoes. A customer can have their horse saddle repaired, get work boots, buy inserts from a certified expert, buy or have Birkenstocks repaired, etc. Xenia Shoe and Leather is a tiny store, very opposite of Walmart, and they had a crowd that day. New to their inventory were the quirky Vibram Five Fingers “toe shoes” with thin, flat, firm outsoles and no arch support!

When the orthotics guru started selling the opposite of support, I had to take notice and needed to learn. While waiting to chat with the owner, I started reading his copy of Born to Run, a best seller by Christopher McDougall that was on display by those goofy looking toe shoes. My mind was spinning after reading a couple chapters of the book, talking with the owner/orthotics expert, buying a pair of thick soled casual shoes with arch support and one pair of silly looking Five Fingers “toe shoes”. From there I drove straight to the bookstore for a copy of that book. I read Born to Run fast. Then read it over and over. Then I effectively lived the ideals of the Raramuri (the running people of the Copper Canyons in Mexico) the best I could as a mostly full-time parent in a comfy, bustling suburb in Ohio. By December of ’10, I was 100% in on the all plant based diet with months of minimalist and barefoot running experience. And I was trying to live the culture as well; to be more cooperative, less competitive and to share freely what I was learning after using my body like a test tube. Sure, I was confidendent in what I was learning. I knew it could work, but could I make it work for me?

As I experimented with barefoot running, minimalist running in “five fingers”, racing flats and track spikes; I became super focused on footwear. Noticing what the folks at senior living facilities were wearing, and making the connection to their lack of mobility and their thick, padded footwear. It became obvious that most people were not only messing up their feet, but allowing their entire bodies to remain weak, with out of balance muscles. I was noticing the arches of my feet becoming more arched, less flat. The top of my feet, that midfoot area was becoming stronger, and thicker. I became very good at pointing my toes forward and taking shorter steps, realizing that the prints I left in sand, mud or snow seemed to be coming from a completely different person. I transformed the shape and function of my feet. My foundation was getting healthier, my running much easier and more fun. About September of that year I order my first pair of huaraches from Invisible Shoes, a kit for about $24. These were life changing in great ways.

The 4MM kit sandals came with a leather hole punch tool to customize them for my feet. Just add a hammer and install a hole! Then the fabric lacing goes thru the hole where a knot is tied. After that, the hammer is used again to flatten out the knot and then the process of perfecting a lacing technique began, before the first run. The first run was where the magic of the thin huarache was revealed. If I didn’t pick up my feet, especially in grassy areas, the thin forward part of the outsole would roll underfoot to slow me down and remind me to not shuffle my feet. Don’t push from the ground, but pick up the feet from the core gut muscles. While this seems intuitive and simple now, it was not then. I see so many people run with their feet in horrific shoes that weaken their arches and prevent the sensations “needed” that encourage healthy, natural, low impact motion. Sometimes less is more. For human motion, the least protection for the feet is best for any application.

About one week after getting those $24 kit huaraches, I ran well in a local 5K race and was hooked. I started running trails. It was scary at first. Then I realized that with focus, I could pick up my feet with ever short step and “roll” thru any terrain without tearing off a toe or landing on my face. I was learning a lot and sharing too, on the Invisible Shoes message board. Roughly three months later I switched to an all plant based diet and my energy just kept going up as I ran more. The following April, I’d perfected a lacing method that let me run a good pace in the Xenia Marathon, hands free. No adjustments or issues of any kind needed. So, I made a video about it and created a YouTube channel. Sadly that video is lost due the channel getting hacked in ’19.

Invisible Shoes evolved into Xero Shoes and the newer products do not require much lacing nuance. It’s much easier to go as minimalist in footwear as possible, just as there are many more plant based food options, making the diet change easier as well. There are more options available and the diet/minimalist approach allow for synergies that can create magic for us, as the plant based diet is heaviest in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties. Ultra marathons cause oxidative stress, a temporary issue for us to resolve. This is part of the discomfort/growth equation. We push into discomfort to create growth, often dancing on that thin line between potential growth and the risk of a setback or injury.

Ultra marathons intrigued me, so a first 50K attempt happened in early June of 2011. In preparation, I felt so great that I broke the rules for transitioning to minimalist running. I made too many “upgrades”, too fast. My biggest training day was running a “four-a-day” workout of eight miles, four times in one day, getting done well before dinner. I was running too many miles, some too fast, in super thin, light footwear. Five days before my first 50K, I ran about five miles with other runners, probably too fast and on the walk home, suddenly it felt like somebody smacked my lower leg with a bat. Being so green about sports, I didn’t understand what stress fracture was and figured I had some tendonitis. I stayed off of it and ran the 50K. I went out too fast, but as the ankle hurt more every mile, I ran slower. After the finish, I could only hobble to my vehicle. Then, I did what people do who tend to avoid seeing doctors. I looked around online and self diagnosed the pain as tendonitis and wasted close to three weeks soaking the foot in ice water. I even ran on it once before doing more research. That deeper digging led to me understand that a stress fracture to the fibia, the smaller bone opposite the tibia in each ankle, is one we can often run on. I’d fractured the other side of the same right ankle as before! But, I logged a 50K completion and after nine years of ultras, still no DNF’s (Did Not Finish) at the 50K distance. And, I’ve run over sixty ultra marathon in nine years, including 16 official 100 mile foot races, and due to the pandemic; two DIY 100 milers. Blister free after all those 100 milers and not a penny spent with chiropractors or orthopedists since recovering from that stress fracture! Being injury free, meant I could invest in gear and races, rather than “waste” resources on medical needs.

The recovery process included many weeks in a boot, no running and a realization that biking and swimming would not replicate the pleasure and growth I experienced from running. I learned that running backwards with ideal form in waist deep water would aid the late stage healing, and to lightly shake out the feet daily for “body sensing”, to really feel deep inside what was going on. This way I could become hyper aware of the healing process. This led to me running the ’11 September US Air Force Marathon in minimalist shoes. My Orthopedist suggested I should not run it. Developing a deeper awareness of the body’s signals is important. Body sensing honestly is vital. I ran it successfully in a new pair of shoes.

Pain is simply a whole lot of information coming at us very quickly to fill a gap in our knowledge! If we evaluate that information, we just might learn something! Pain avoidance could mean we are lacking knowledge gaps. And, as my philosophy on running evolves, I’m less inclined to worry about pace at races, vs enjoying my time with runners in great places. It’s become more about seeing how long I can ride this wave of completing 100 milers and how many hours of runner’s high can I accumulate over a lifetime?

Why do we tend to have such a deep, often emotional connection to our shoes, the brand, style, etc? Why are our feet so sensitive? And into my latter 40’s, how did my feet become so weak and flat? How did I end up taking such large steps, heel striking with toes pointed outwards, vs forwards towards where I was going? Comfy shoes are like a favorite old recliner or that pair of jeans we wear till they literally fall apart. But overly comfortable shoes block too much information and encourage us to do unhealthy, less natural motions with our body. This can be similar to the ill effects we can have from sitting too much! Too much comfort can be very harmful to us over time. Remember, we want to avoid a high volume of new information coming at us, AKA, pain. That information coming from those sensitive feet is very valuable. Be wary of anyone trying to sell you anything that is more likely to “make your feet stupid”, or weaker.

When I started running marathons and ultras in huaraches, so many interesting conversations began. I recall very clearly running in some primitive looking, thin Xero huaraches at the USAF Marathon, locally. A heavily muscled, much younger, man with huge tattoos glanced over at my somewhat feminine looking sandals as I passed him around twelve miles in. Without looking up, he muttered, “NO F’N WAY” and sped past me. This happened a few times and his sweat was drowning him! Naturally I passed him once more and never saw him again. In Born to Run, the toughest all around athletes were the guys in colorful skirts and sandals. Not because of the colorful clothes from their culture, but partly due to the flat design of their sandals and their hard working lifestyle, which tended to be nomadic subsistence farming.

At another race, a 50K, I recall passing a couple of younger runners going up a hill. Clearly they were talking about their new shoes. As I passed in thin, home built looking huaraches, I said, “I don’t know how you guys run in THOSE things”, as that was the comment I’d often hear from them. People might say, wow, that’s a leap of faith, or you must have a genetic advantage. The truth is that my feet were as dysfunctional and weak as many peoples are and that changed when I went barefoot, or minimalist in footwear choices regardless of what they looked like. Form follows function. I didn’t care if others thought my sandals looked silly, or not macho enough. Form follows function and the form of my body has changed with the footwear.

People no longer laugh when they see me run Superior 100, Cloudsplitter 100, The Falls 100, or Kettle-Moraine 100 in huaraches. Some of the toughest runners are typically surprised and wonder how it can be done. I needed to keep costs down and avoid all injuries to be able to run so many races, so doing this was somewhat a necessity. It does take a leap of faith and a slow transition to more mileage and sometimes more speed. I like to think of speed as an unintended consequence of getting the “light, smooth and easy” parts right. And during that process, thoughts of trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon have faded, as I prefer the 100 mile distance and experience.

Our feet are not something we should be ashamed of and hide under socks and shoes. Brands and styles of footwear are an interesting lifestyle product type, one in which we are likely to always have a special bond. And if you use some of the ideas in this publication and from my YouTube channel, you might become very proud of how your bare feet look and function. When you do cover them, due to cold or attending certain places, you will realize that everything matters, from what we eat to what we put on our feet.

There are many good minimalist shoes out there, although they tend to not be big name brands that you’ll recognize. Big shoe companies make a lot of money by controlling the advertising messages, selling you the comfort you crave and setting you up with padded shoes that wear out fast and need to be replaced often. Much footwear that is branded as “minimalist”, is not. One brand I know and trust only builds truly minimalist footwear of many types, including sport sandals, huaraches, running shoes, athletic shoes, casual shoes, dressy shoes, boots, hiking boots, water shoes and more …

#PaidXeroPartner I am a proud Xero Shoes Affiliate and may receive compensation for referring the Xero Shoes brand