Eleven miles barefoot

On Friday I received a pair of huarache running sandals for my birthday. So, on Saturday I punched a toe hole in them, tied them up marathon style and went for a test run up to school and back to collect my livescribe pen. Only one and a half miles. My feet were cold for the first mile but otherwise it was all good. The sandals are really comfortable. It felt a little vulnerable and exposed – and odd seeing my naked feet on the pavement. I’m not convinced I tied the sandals very well and I’ll be experimenting with them until I get it just right; the thong lace was a bit tight I think. I got home and … Continue reading

Barefoot: Born to Run

Yesterday – bedecked in fivefingers and comedy running leggings I bought years ago and my NUFC top – I ran further barefoot than ever before. 8.1 miles round my local park. As with last week, I ran the first two miles at an aspirational pace of about 8mph – 8 minute miles. Not a great speed by many people’s standards but good for me. After the two miles I let my body decide on pace. The feeling of tirelessness – being born to run – came again despite having been full of cold all week. As the time rolled on I slowed, partly due to going off track and the ground being muddy and wet causing me to slip and slide … Continue reading

Going Barefoot

Late last year I visited the doctor to see what he thought about some foot pain I was getting after playing football. He told me I had flat feet; no arches apparently, and recommended orthopaedic props to wear in my shoes. I checked online to see what others said were the best ones to use etc. and found articles saying they are useless because, whereas they do change the shape of your foot in your shoe, they do not build the necessary muscle structure to support the arch so it collapses again without the support. Instead they pointed the way to barefoot running and barefoot everything else as well. So, after more reading and watching YT videos (there are many, … Continue reading

My BETT13

This image is from the DLR platform as the police swooped in to fix something: It was a really productive day attending BETT 2013. The main stand I spent time at was Frog. They pushed the boat out on advertising and PR this year, having graduated from a tech company with a market edge to a big player following the award of the Malaysia contract: some six million users representing every school in the country and their parents. This provides power; who doesn’t want a piece of 6 million users? It probably took a total of two hours of interrogation – ask @4goggas, I am thorough – to see all there was to see and ask all I needed to … Continue reading