Questions & Answers

I'm a cross country and mid distance track fellow at Cedarville University in the enormous village of Cedarville. I made the switch to minimalist whole-heartedly after a summer of research this year. Ballin.

Just becoming a member of an exciting and interesting thought -- barefoot running!! I have just today made my first pair of huaraches, and am transitioning to barefoot running. I live in Northern BC so was quite intriqued to find the "sockwa" websight to go with my homemade sandals. I was searching for a way to keep my feet warm in winter, though I am thrilled to do without runners because I do struggle with feet that are often hot. I did a Relay in Northern BC and had a tough time cooling down, so I hope THIS IS THE SOLUTION!! I designed these sandals after reading and trying many designs. MY design is based with a supple,machine stitched double layer of leather. 7 holes made with a drill by drilling into a wooden block. Check the photo to see where to place the holes. And lastly threaded with lacing as seen in the photo. step 1.Lacing about 4' long--I started by threading 2 pieces of tubing (1 inch long clear tubing each) just long enough for my foot to keep the heel lace nice and high.(no more twisted lace or unsightly and unnecessary knots, no more collapsed sandals when you take them off!!)(clear tubing--large straw size)Next pair will be with beads --I had none :( Step 2: Thread through the heel hole,from the inside of the sole, than up and through one piece of tubing a second time.(make sure you have half the length of lacing) The second piece of tubing is for the other side of the heel -- thread second side of lace through the inside of the sole, than back up and through the 2nd piece of tubing and voila a no nonsense solution to the proper fitting heel. Make sure that the heel lacing is just the right snuggness for you, not loose, not tight. Step 3. Left lace crisscrossing to the right TOP hole--down, and UP again through lower right hole( from under the sole) and lastly DOWN through the hole between the big toe. The right lace crisscrosses to the left TOP hole, down to the left lower hole and then UP through that hole and lastly DOWN the hole between the big toe. Tie the two together and melt with match to flatten and glue. Voila, perfect fitting and super easy to get on and off. Probably none of this will make ANY sense to you, unless you have made huaraches before. In less than 5 minutes the threading is complete!! ENJOY!! :))

It's taken about a year for me to feel as though my stride is where I need it to be, but will continue to work on improving it. About 6 months ago I started moving towards minimalist running shoes, and well now I'm there. I run in NB Minimus Trails and Brooks Green Silence.

My running shoes are fine for road and relatively smooth trails, but as I start moving into the ultra trail running direction, I feel as though I need something more substantial to protect my feet from the sharp rocks, and also snow is just around the corner.

Any input as to what to consider for this? Thanks

Hello, my name is Richard McNeil. I am 42 years old and started running Feb. of 2009 and did my first marathon in August of 2010. I started out with thick soles and inserts and kept having knee and foot problems. I then went down to Brooks Mach 11 and slowly worked in to that. I did my 2nd marathon in Oct. 2010 in Saucony Kinvara. Since then I have been doing some of my runs in huaraches, but nothing over 6 miles at one time. I will be running Iron Mountain 30 miler trail run in VA this weekend on 9/3/11 in the new zero drop Altra Instincts which I have been training in. Since I have went to more zero drop or what I call minimalist shoes I have been injury free.

Hi all! I am a barefoot/minimalist ultra distance trail runner in San Diego. I'm an online editor for Active.com and a Registered Holistic Nutritionist. I write about food, running, and life at vanessaruns.com. I'm also posting this comment as an entry to the injinji giveaway (http://www.toesalad.com/injinji-socks-giveaway) :)

Have a great week!

Vanessa www.vanessaruns.com

I've got ITBS in my left leg/knee. I have been using a foam roller and taking time off but I can't seem to shake it. Any help would be great. Thanks.

Hi, I'm a newbee to barefoot/minimalist running, I started running barefoot in April. I am up to 5-6 miles a couple of times a week barefoot, and running in VFF's the other days. I'm here to learn from others, and maybe someday give advice myself!

I have been going barefoot for 5 months now and I am wondering how long it should take until the feet will not hurt after a day of working. The hurt I refer to is the connecting ligaments between the toes and bones in the top of the feet and the plantar tendon. I should mention I am not running but I do maintenance around a cottage resort. I am up and down a hill all day. Carrying loads of lumber or what have you. the ground is mixed forest, grass and sandy scree. By the end of day when I sit for awhile my feet hurt for the first few steps when I get up.... not just the plantar facitias issue but between the bones in the instep. I have high arches, spent years in the gym so have what would be termed over developed calves so I understand this can be a problem for the plantar issue. Thanks Geoff

Has anyone purchased the Merrells for their kids? I would love to have some feedback about them. If I am going to pay $60, I want to know that they are durable. We have been dissappointed with the quality we are seeing in kids minimalist footwear and would love to see a shoes that will hold up to their activity. Merrell has a history of great quality, but I was wondering if that same quality is seen in their children's "barefoot" shoes. Thanks.

I just ordered and received a pair of Invisible Shoe Connects. I went running in them today. I really liked them. The best thing about them was the thing I've always hated the most about them, the thing that made me never want to order any Invisible Shoes: the silly hardware store laces. But because I do part of my run at lunch on the beach, I didn't care about getting the laces wet in the ocean so I just ran right through the surf. Yay!

I am really surprised at how most of you all can run with such thin soles. Even though I got the thicker ones that they have, I could feel almost every little rock right through them. A few times I stepped on some crater or rock that hurt enough to make me jump. And the bumps they put in front of the crosswalks for the blind people really hurts to walk on. But overall, I liked them.

The real reason I ordered them instead of just making my own sandals is I wanted to see if the soles could be used for other shoe/sandal projects. I'm not sure glue will stick to them, though. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has glued a leather top on a pair of these, if anyone has done so.

Good morning all!

Just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Rorie, a barefoot/minimalist ultra runner from the UK. I've been BFR for over a year now, and recently launched http://runfree.co.uk as a specialist store for all of the natural runners in the UK and Europe.

It's good to be here - look forward to some barefoot discussions on this forum in the future!

Rorie http://runfree.co.uk

Some of you who were already running in minimal shoes in the early times of barefoot style running (and now I don't mean caveman running on bare feet) have probably worn Feelmax shoes or read about them. For some unknown reason Feelmax has stopped production some time ago. Feelmax shoes were very light and had very thin and very flexible flat soles. The German distributor of Feelmax decided to start making his own minimal shoes under the name of Sole Runner. The shoes are based on the Feelmax concept. At the moment there are two models: the ankle high T1 Allrounder that reminds a lot to the Feelmax Panka and the FX Trainer which is more flat. The FX Trainer will be available in September. For more information see: http://www.sole-runner.com/produkte.html The soles are a littlebit thicker (1,5mm/0,06in) than the Feelmax soles. The soles are glued instead of sewn as with the Feelmax shoes so they are more waterproof. The uppers are made of 3D mesh. The shoes have a non-removable insole. I don't know the thickness of this. I haven't seen them in real yet. The shoes weight 300-330 grams/10,6-11,6 oz a pair. At the moment they are only being sold in Europe: In Germany, Switzerland, Slovenia and the Netherlands. Sole Runner plans to entry the US market soon. The price of the shoes will be about 80-86 Euro in Europe.

Hi my name is Steve. IU live with my wife and 3 kids in one of the suburbs of Durban. I have been running shod for about 3 years. In that time I have completed 3 standard Marathons. Unlike many other parts of the world, South African road running is very club orientated. About a year ago, I finally took the plunge and entered for Comrades. This is by far the world's greatest foot race. Also at 89km (about 56 miles) it is no laughing matter. The cut off time is a very strict 12hrs. To cut a long story short, while training for this Ultra, I developed Plantar Faciitis in both feet. As I was doing upwards of 60km a week, this injury rappidly became chronic and I had to shelve any plans of running Comrades. I had not done any running since March until I finally broke the hiatus and went for a short 2km run at the local university (UKZN) sports fields on 30 Jul. This was compltetely barefoot and felt great. My breathing took a bit of strain though. I have repeated this every second evening and so far so good. My calves are a bit stiff but nothing radical. The one advantage that I have is that I'm quite used to being barefoot. At home I hardle ever wear shoes unless I have too. Cutting the grass, etc are obvious exceptions. At work I tend to stick to mens Skechers which are pretty minimalist.

Hello! I'm just now learning about the barefoot running and ChiRunning. I have been running off and on for several years and have always had to stop due to injuries to heal. Then start back, to have it happen again. I'm here looking for a better way. Running is my way of releaving stress and relaxing. My main injuries in the past has always been shin splints, plantar fascitis, achilles pain and tight calves, and (most recent injury) hair line fracture to my left foot. My goal, THIS TIME...... is to start SLOWLY and build my way up. I would love to run a half marathon by this time next year. I'm a full time nurse, mother of 3, & love the outdoors! Looking forward to learning all I can and maybe make some friends here. :o)

My name is Jamie. My husband and 4 children(age 8-19) are beginning this tremendous journey to changing our lives. We are so excited about the transition to minimalist/barefoot style running, and nervous as well. We live about 30 min from Texas, have pasture and roads to run on and during the school week we have access to any kind of surface basically. Our 13 yr old is a cross country runner and is chomping at the bit to get underway. My husband and I have a goal set for running a half marathon, and our 8 yr old daughter wants to run with us! Thanks for letting us join the forum, looking forward to reading all the great information you already have!

My son is 13 and runs cross country. We are all in the beginning of our transition to minimal/barefoot running. He is very excited about this but we are not sure how or what he should do for this season. Any advise, ideas would be greatly appretiated!

Hello. I'm a new member here at ToeSalad. I started running a little over 2 years ago in my mid-forties, transitioning to minimalist and barefoot after about a year. I do about half my runs on pretty gnarly trails, so I'm still using footwear for those runs -- NB Minimus these days, and just bought some Luna sandals. Otherwise, for road runs up to about 15k I'm barefoot. Longer than that and I'll eventually throw on my Minimuses or VFF KSOs to save my skin.

In the rest of my life I'm a mom to four kids from 8 through 17, mostly unschooled (my eldest has been in school part-time for a couple of years). We live on a rural acreage in the mountains, a couple of miles from a village of 600, an hour and a half's drive from the nearest fast food joint or shopping centre. I play violin and viola, as do my kids. I'm also a very part-time family doc.

Looking forward to making the most of the resource that is this site!

Miranda

This is a shoe I am VERY excited about! VIVOBAREFOOT has just published the official press release for the Neo Trail, and I like what I see so far. It is attached at the end of this post. I am hoping this may actually be my all-around outdoor trail running/hiking/backpacking shoe.

This also did a video during the product shoot, which I have embedded here. <iframe src="&lt;a href=" http:="" <a="" href="http://player.vimeo.com" rel="nofollow">player.vimeo.com="" video="" 26475410?title="0&byline=0&portrait=0"" rel="nofollow">http://player.vimeo.com/video/26475410?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="380" height="214" frameborder="0"></iframe>

VIVOBAREFOOT AW11 Shoot from VIVOBAREFOOT on Vimeo.

Greetings, All!

Just came over from the Barefoot Runners Society. I am the Michigan Chapter president and have been running barefoot almost 10 months. Looking forward to sharing what I know and learning new things!

I'm not a runner. Or at least I never thought I was. I was no stranger to the outdoors, I enjoyed a stroll through the woods, knew my wild eatable plants, my camping skills, but sports held no draw for me. I never saw the point of punishing my body for an artifical score.

In high school I dislocated a kneecap with the help of a school bully, and I never got better. Sure, the knee got stronger, and mostly functions like a normal knee today, but the pain migrated out of the knee and took up residency in the rest of my body, wandering about from part to part as it saw fit. The doctors called it Fibromyalgia, which basically means "we have no clue, but it looks like these other patients we have no clue about."

My fibromyalgia was kept "under control" with muscle relaxants and pain killers, but any sudden increase in activity would bring about a flare-up, and avoiding increases in activity led to decreases in activity and a long slow decline.

Sometime in college I realized that one of my major pains was related to my shoes. In an old pair of shoes my bad hip would ache more than in a new pair of shoes. There's a family hip condition that my pediatrician said we'd "keep an eye on", so I didn't think too much of it, and counted myself lucky to have such a mild form. I assumed the problem was related to the uneven shoe wear that results from the odd alignment of my hip. I started replacing my shoes every six months like a good little consumer. I continued to decline slowly.

I was training a dog as a mobility assistance dog, and considering that I might someday have to join the growing ranks of Fibromyalgia patients on disability.

Then one day the hip pain returned with a vengeance, while I was wearing 7 day old shoes. I looked at the soles, no wear pattern. I looked at the previous shoes, much less wear than it used to take before I replaced shoes. I found if I switched between two or three pairs of shoes in a constant rotation, I could get by, but the pain was getting pretty intense just sitting in my office chair at work for long periods. I would come home from work, take piles of painkillers and try to sleep it off.

Soon after, while trying to figure out what to do, came my sister's wedding. Mom was ill and there was no professional wedding coordinator, so I was on my feet doing the little things a bride shouldn't have to do for herself all day long. I was wearing dress flats, since I was never coordinated enough to wear heels, which had no arch support and made my feet hurt, but my hip was fine. Near the end of the day, I was trying to move the car and my feet started cramping.

My feet were cramping? Common wisdom is that there are no major muscles there, but 15 years of living with fibromyalgia related cramping made it very clear what the arch pain was. I had overworked muscles in my feet and they were curling up in rebellion. But my hip was fine. Suddenly things those crazy barefooters had said made sense. Barefooting might not just be a crazy fad, but rather a real solution to my problem.

After the wedding I shopped around for a pair of shoes that was flat, had no arch support, and didn't pinch my toes, to no avail. I had had moccasins from a prepunched kit in the past that didn't fit well at all. Then I did what I always do: make what you can't buy. My first pair of homemade shoes were "ruby slippers" made from a couple layers of some Christmas brocade, and suitable for indoor use only. My hip felt great when I took indoor walk breaks in them. I decided the experiment was worth continuing, and ordered some leather to make a proper pair of moccasins.

Life was not peaches and cream right after the moccasins were finished and I went full time in minimalist shoes. My heels hurt, my arches hurt, and I could barely shuffle through my desk job day. But my hip felt better. Sore feet actually get better when you can sit down, the misaligned hip previously had me in tears for good parts of the day. I considered this a good trade.

I was soon hobbling 0.25 miles a day, just down to the corner, to the fire hydrant and back, or down to the trail entrance and back. I had a lot of foot pain, but movement was my new antidote to hip pain, and I was going to keep it at bay no matter the cost. Then after about three months, it started getting better. Normal life didn't cause foot pain, 0.25 miles was an pleasant little stroll, and I slowly upped my distance. I joined a gym with an indoor track and a hot tub. (A magic combination.) On the track, I not only walked, but occasionally jogged a lap. Last month I managed 1.2 km, half running.

I have a long way to go, but so far I've been able to recover from every setback, and for the first time in 15 years I'm seeing an overall slow improvement instead of a slow decline. Maybe I'll never run a marathon or win a 5k, but I'm finding out what my real capabilities are, finding health in the process, and maybe even becoming a runner.

Denise Skidmore AKA Hobbler Turning Cobbler Myhealthexperiment.com