Running bare feet 3

This weekend I did the forest loop twice totally bare foot.  "Totally" means that I do not even carry my trainers with me.  I admit that it is still painful in places where the surface is rough but generally I am pleased with progress as, when I started this game, I did not believe I would ever be able to run the forest loop bare foot.  This course is about 5 miles and starts and ends on the road, but once in the forest is mostly on forestry tracks, some on grass, some along a muddy trail.  The dog thinks nothing of bare foot - either mine or hers.

These people that say that bare foot running is bad for you have, I suspect, never tried it.  If you, my reader, have never tried it then I can assure you that the experience is very pleasurable - even after the run the tingling in the feet feels good.  And without doubt running barefoot encourages one to land on your toes which, it stands to reason, is better for you.  It also exercises different leg muscles which tell me this the morning after!

Waterworks

My title "Waterworks" could refer to a municipal division or to an older man's medical condition, but in this instance I am talking about my inherent interest in the flow of water between different levels. At the risk of loosing my anonymity I share two photos to prove my early interest:  

Now I am "grown up" I have the following recent photographic evidence of my continued fascination: the dog expressed surprising interest when the dam was breached. Indeed my definition of a satisfactory seaside is one with sand that is good for building and a water course.

Somewhere in between and closer in period to the second of these four pictures I remember an enjoyable day emptying my father's garden water storage tank and using considerable amounts of mains water via a hose pipe.  Regrettably no one was there with a camera.  The location was a hopefully unused vegetable bed in my parents garden.  I discovered, invented if you will, the venturi pump.  In my life I have invented several novel machines, most of which I discovered later had already been invented.  More of that in a later post maybe.  In this instance I discovered that I could lift water from a large lower reservoir (filled from the tank) to a higher reservoir by directing the hose jet along an interconnecting water channel.  I managed a few inches of lift and was exhilarated.

The venturi pump is an amazing invention. It has no moving parts (apart from the water itself). Correctly engineered it is strong enough to lift water from a reasonably deep well - where the advantage is that the mechanical parts can be at ground level.  Because it has no moving parts it can be used to pump stones, sand or sludge out of a sump.

The diagram below shows the principle.  The motive force is provided by high pressure water injected at (1) through the nozzle (2). The venturi effect occurs at the constriction (5).  You can check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venturi_effect - the theory says the pressure at the constriction here will be lower than at (3) and thus suction is created.  Or is it?  Is it the constriction at (2) that does the job? - because we want the pressure at the inlet (3) to be low, not at (5).  You will find the book explanations curiously hazy at this point..

Another wonderful hydraulic invention is the ram pump, more of this in a later post.

Running bare feet 2

The good Lord would not have given us bare feet if we were meant to wear shoes all the time.  Now there is an internet presence for bare feet running it is no surprise to find the opposite viewpoint expressed, see http://www.runningbarefootisbad.com/ but their counter arguments do not convince me.

You can check out all the sites that advocate bare foot running.  I did this when I was first considering it but now the only thing that matters to me is that I like to doing it.  Here are some of my reasons:


1. Above all, it feels good.  Once one's feet have hardened a bit.  Your body will interact with the surface you are running on; your eye will seek out a path that avoids obstacles.  Running on smooth grass is the best, but sand or mud is also pleasurable.  It is good to be that bit closer to nature.  Indeed I would choose to run entirely naked for the same reason if it were not social unacceptable.


2. Clearly it is not true that it is positively bad for you - there are many peoples in the world who go bare foot either out of necessity or choice;

3. Most people (and my intuition too) say that it is better for you.  There are some good testimonials in http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-240-319--6728-0,00.html.  My own experience confirms that I land on the heel when in shoes, whilst I tend to use the ball of the foot when bare foot which softens the blow which must be better on the knees;

4. My biggest expense in running is for shoes and socks.  I gave up socks a long time ago, and now I use shoes much less I must be saving myself some money.

5. One of my courses involves swimming across a river.  It is a good deal easier swimming without shoes on!

I have a couple of courses from my home that I can now manage without shoes at all - both are about 5 miles in length.  In each case I have to tread slowly and carefully for short distances over the worse parts.

Do not expect to run a whole course bare foot from day one (unless you are blessed with golf links nearby) - it takes time for your soles to harden and time to adapt to the implied different gait.  You will get the occasional cut or thorn, but you will not get blisters.  At first you might stub your toe a few times. I have been running bare foot for at least 6 months now and my feet are only starting to adapt.  There is no shame in carrying your shoes with you if you are in any doubt about the terrain and you certainly should to start with.

I personally think it is worth it.  The shoe manufacturers have sold us a lie in making us believe that you need "good" running shoes!

Running bare feet

Horrors - it is over a year since my last post!  Perhaps this is typical of first time bloggers - they give up too easily.  I will, however, blame it on pressure of work.  When I was blogging regularly this country was in deep recession and I was out of work.  Thankfully I now have work.

Back to the subject.  I have already explained my love of running.  For the past year I have been trying out running barefoot having checked out some web sites that promote it.  With the passage of time there are now web sites that discredit it sponsored, no doubt, by the shoe manufacturers.  Say what you like I am hooked.  It has taken time to harden my feet to the point where I can now run a few courses completely bare foot.  I hope to follow this post up with some specific experiences which encourage some of my readers to take the plunge. In the meantime Wikipedia has a fair summary of the subject:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barefoot_running

No posts for a while - too busy with work - but this cold spell might change that...

Dog again

No posts for a while - it has been a very busy summer - but at last the dog is showing signs of improvement so I have taken her for a couple of shorter runs...

Shasta

A few days back I picked up a well worn book and, once again, read the following and cried:

"I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the Horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you."

Can this be explained just in terms of "Judeo-Christian" indoctrination or is there something real here?

Dogless

Sad - the dog is convalescing so I am running alone. True I miss her, but not that much. I guess I am blessed to have freedom to be alone but human company when I need it.

In spate

We've had some steady rain and this makes the river angry. I was concerned that the dog might not cope with the much faster running river, but in fact she led the way leaving me with no option but to follow. The swimming diagonal into the flow trick seems to work.

A couple of years ago I did my usual lakeshore route after much heavy downpour and the river was the highest I have seen it. No dog with me this time. Having decided it was chicken to retrace my steps I choose my launching point with care and manfully struck out but was quickly taken by the raging current far beyond my intentions and over some rocks that bruised my legs - I thought at one point that I was done for but eventually managed to haul myself up onto the bank and limped back home. I do not recommend such foolishness.

Fish pie and dogs

This afternoon I cooked fish pie served with sautéed courgettes and garden peas - see my 'Food' page. It worked. Vive ma mère! I took the dog on my lake run before serving the meal. The dog actually belongs to someone else but I exercise it: why? Partly because he is away at college and partly because she is good craic. She loves the water so isn't fazed by the need to swim the river, but she doesn't approve of the mud. Only a very good friend will allow you to enjoy being lonely without wanting to butt in. On this score a dog must be a very good friend.

Precipice

A precipice is not a good place to be if you are pushed. I feel like I’ve been living on the edge for so long now that it has become a habit. I feel like I would not survive unless I was pushing myself to the limit. I suppose the guys who built these houses chose to do so as a kind of challenge. But I do it in an unsuccessful effort to reach my goals, seemingly not realising that “I can of my own self do nothing”.

Hike

A hike for over twenty miles in the Wicklows, accompanied by a dog and a team of young men whose pace exceeded my comfort. Art's cross and Three Lakes are landmarks on the way. The peak was in the clouds, and helpfully marked by a solar lantern - you can see the blue LED glowing!

Mud

The lakeshore is very muddy in places. When running around this part of the lake one has to accept that legs, feet and shoes will get plastered. There is one place where there is about three feet depth of fine silty mud and to hit that when running is interesting. You sink almost immediately to knee depth and, if you give in, you can sink still further. This particular patch is 'safe' in that it has a bottom, but squiggly enough to make it a little hard to get out. The experience is actually rather enjoyable (don't people pay good money to have mud baths?), although part of the enjoyment is the unexpectedness of it, so it doesn't repeat so well.

Getting muddy is not so bad when one can get clean again - fortunately there is a lake close by...

Railways

Talking of railways, a strange thing happened to me when about 10. At that time I collected Lone Star OOO railway - the diecast version before they came along with electric. I was playing with it on the lawn in my parents back garden The lawn was evidently not at all level because I found myself grading my line by carving cuttings and making embankments. Not the sort of thing grown-ups want done with their lawn. The strange thing is that, although I was admonished, I cannot remember being punished. I bless my parents for this show of understanding and wisdom!

Running

Following my father's lead I have always been interested in railways. To cut a level swath through hills and forests and run two heavy iron rails through it seems such an unlikely way to create a mode of transport - and yet it became so popular in Victorian England. Sadly many of those lines have long since been rooted up and converted back to farmland although some have happily persisted as cycle-tracks.

To sit at the front of a rail-car or DLR where you can see the rails ahead fascinates me.

There is a similarity between running and the motion of a train: the legs hitting the ground give a rhythm not unlike the joints between the rails. And so I would run around the playing field at school and imagine that I was driving a train, or was the train. This I did frequently. Is anyone else that weird? Looking back I wonder what my peers thought or maybe, hopefully, they never figured it out.

Even more strange is that I still imagine this, sometimes, whilst jogging. Indeed I would go as far as to say that this is one of the attractions of running for me. Is anyone else this weird?

Sometimes running is akin to flying: once warmed up try a steep downwards slope with occasional bumps or boulders, and at full pelt jump high off each rise - that's the nearest thing to personal flying I have experienced (I am too chicken for extreme sports like base jumping).

Kiplings "The Jungle Book" has been one of the foundational texts of my upbringing. In the Second Book we have the following quote which I can partially identify with on a good day. This is such a good description of the joy of running:

"Forgetting his unhappiness, Mowgli sang aloud with pure delight as he settled into his stride. It was more like flying than anything else, for he had chosen the long downward slope that leads to the Northern Marshes through the heart of the main Jungle, where the springy ground deadened the fall of his feet. A man-taught man would have picked his way with many stumbles through the cheating moonlight, but Mowgli's muscles, trained by years of experience, bore him up as though he were a feather... So he ran, sometimes shouting, sometimes singing to himself, the happiest thing in all the Jungle that night, till the smell of the flowers warned him that he was near the marshes, and those lay far beyond his farthest hunting-grounds."

The lake

One of my pastimes is jogging. For as long as I can remember I have generally run rather than walked. At school I discovered, oh joy!, that one could opt to cross-country-run instead of organised sport. I was never particularly good at it, but then I am not a sports person. As for anything involving a ball... More recently I have starting jogging on a regular basis and a route I particularly like goes around part of the lake close to where I live. The route is about 7 miles door to door and involves crossing a river and several smaller inlets.

Besides the obvious health reasons, jogging is a safety valve for me. For about an hour I can get away from the bustle and tension of life and think my own thoughts.

First Post

Writing an honest blog is a bit like undressing in front of the world. Even writing anonymously I am concerned that I should not misrepresent myself!