Just noticed . . .

So, I went for my run last night before picking up my godson from practice.  I obligate myself to pick him up to motivate me to go run . . .

But that's not what I noticed.  This morning I got up, jumped in the shower and drove in to work.  And I realized that I didn't have the usual foot and leg aches I have first thing in the morning.  Usually there is a lot of grunting and groaning when placing any weight on my feet.  It goes away after about a minute and I'm fine.

Not this morning . . . or yesterday if I recall correctly.  The only thing I can think of that may have helped is I took all that time off from running.  Maybe I need that time for things to knit together and get stronger.  Another thing, I also changed something last night in my run.  Because of the continuing leg/hamstring issue, I forced myself to relax my legs.  By doing that, I just focused on pulling my feet up from the ground.

Notice I didn't say "pulling my knees up".

As I've read at Maple Grove Barefoot Guy an at Barefoot Running University, being relaxed will greatly improve your comfort.  I've forgotten that in the last month or so.  I've been so focused on the ache as I run that I've not gone through what I SHOULD be doing.  I've just been using my metronome and focusing on the footfalls.

What I did and shoulda' been doing is focusing on using the metronome to focus on the foot-LIFTS!

And focusing on pulling the foot towards the butt!

So, I had relaxed legs and was pulling my feet up towards the glutes (I tried to use ass, but it looked too coarse) and the ache was somewhat there, but it wasn't as bad as my previous run on Monday.  I'm not limping around today and the ache is very minimal.

I'll be running tonight and see if this bit of good fortune continues.  Hopefully it isn't just a fluke of the day or weather playing a part.  But I'm feeling comfortable today and I think I may have done something right again.

Oh, and check out those two links.  Go through their archived stuff.  They have great advice and anecdotes.  I've been following them for almost a year now.  Both are ultra-runners and they've worked out most of their kinks in their barefoot running.  And yes, they've both run ultras completely barefoot.  And on trails, no less!

I don't plan on doing any ultras, but I do plan on running completely naked . . . feet that is.  You don't need to picture a short fat dude nekkid.

oops, too late  >:)

GD

p.s.

too lazy to grammar check