Why run with out shoes. (My Running History)

For many years I have been a running, never a particularly great running, but by no means slow.  Running for me started in high school.  I joined the high school track team at the end of my high school year and started running the mile.  This is when I found that I liked running for distance.  For the rest of my high school career i ran Cross Country. 

The highlight of my running career was some time in my junior year where on a 3.1 mile course I managed to hammer out an 18 flat, which at that time was only 20 seconds from personally qualifying for states.  Never since then have i been able to reach the same status.  After junior year of high school I became fat, and my running senior year was no where near to as good, and since then also never injury free.

Several times in my life since then I have tried to get back into running, and I seem to follow the same pattern. 

• I realize that I am getting fat and decide to start running.
  
• After a couple of weeks of being very sore from running I finally get into running shape and over the next couple of month start picking up speed.
• I drop a bunch of weight and just as I feel that I can start to compete on the same level as I used to, I start feeling pain in my knees, or shins, or leg.  And running stops for me.

Recently, I became a triathlete, there was logic that if spread the training out between swimming biking and running I would be injured less because I would be working different muscles on different days, and it seemed to help.  But really I am lazy, and I find it hard to switch between activities on a regular bases, so after a so so season, and a month or two off, I am back where I was.  200 pounds and out of shape.

So this time instead of repeating the same cycle in the same fashion, I am going to try something different.   This is where barefoot running come into play.  Maybe about three weeks ago, I picked up a pare of vibram five finger shoes (http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/) which simulate running barefoot with some added protection for the skin.  I spent the first couple of weeks walking around in them just to get used to the ball strike which barefooting requires. And then this past Monday I took a plunge into the world of barefoot running.