That Magic Mile

I did it!!!

The older I get the more I look like Homer. Gotta work on that...

I've been a good little barefoot novice and taking it nice and slow, just like everyone said to. It has been excruciating at times because I've had to set my fitness and weight goals aside in order to build in to the barefootin' (bfr from now on, K? Get it barefoot running). Mileage has been measured in fractions as I let my feet, calves, and Achilles adjust to their new reality.

1/4 mile here, 1/4 there. Then a half . Then 3/4. That felt pretty good. A couple weeks ago, you might recall this self-referential post where I quite accidentally ran almost a mile barefoot. Running in such short bursts almost never felt like a workout (except for the knees down, but that's a different story) and was a bit extremely boring.

After hiking a couple miles (mostly) barefoot Friday and a busy weekend I finally got out for a run yesterday before the Indie Day festivities (short for Independence, not mopey glasses-wearing musicians). I felt strong throughout the whole thing and kept repeating "one more lap" as I hit the loop's end. I ended on 4 laps plus the run back to the house.

I was pretty sure I'd hit a mile, but didn't want to jump the gun since my phone's GPS was wonky and only recorded part of the route. I went out today and measured the loop and calculated my distance: just over a Mile (capitalized for awesomeness)! I am so stoked for this milestone (horrid wordplay not captured until proofreading, but I'ma let it stay in), you guys don't even know.

Here I am, one month into this bfr experiment commitment, and I've hit the mile. This is better than I thought I'd ever do, to be completely honest, and I couldn't be happier with my progress. I still need to work on my form and get the tootsies a little tougher, but I'm getting there and seeing real progress/results. This is huge!

Thanks for reading and following my adventures. I see many more miles in our future. Dig it.