Recently there has been a lot of discussion on the concept of running barefoot. There are some purists who suggest we should all be running barefoot, period. Personally, I don’t care for the word ’should’ in any context. It implies someone else telling us what to do or be, when we all have to decide that for ourselves.

But can we just go run barefoot? To help you answer this, consider how long it has been since you ran barefoot. 20 years, 40 years, 60 years?; most of us have not been running barefoot since we first learned how to run as toddlers (*). How many years of shoes, dress shoes, high heeled shoes, perhaps periods of inactivity, or of modern running shoes do you have in you? These are just a few examples of all the stimulus the body is adapting to every minute of every day. This adaptation happens slowly and if we want to reverse the resulting changes in posture, muscle strength, flexibility, balance and confidence; then (more…)

A few days ago, my boss forwarded a Nature magazine article to me that he thought I’d be interested in.  Thinking it was about something we were working on, much to my pleasure, I found it was an article by Daniel Leiberman et al regarding barefoot running. By now, most of you have probably read about this article, (more…)

Its week 13 of marathon training and I have managed to keep up with the marathon training plan more or less.  I’m not quite where I should be in terms of the length of my longer runs due to other demands on my time and as the long run is the most important part of marathon training, I will have to decide at some point if my April marathon is too soon.  

Running continues to get better and better.  I am running more often and for longer which gives me the opportunity to practise even more.  The habit of engaging my core and staying aligned has become deeply ingrained.  (more…)

In a previous post (Running Motion for a Midfoot Strike), the ChiRunning motion was described as a midfoot (full-foot) landing with a heel lift/knee bend. Along with this motion, it is also very important to keep the legs and feet relaxed.

Running with a relaxed midfoot (full-foot) strike allows a subtle forward lean (fall) from the ankles to propel you forward with no resistance. If the legs/feet/ankles are holding tension, then the hinge (ankle) is stiff which acts as a brake against your forward fall. Relaxation also removes a significant amount of stress from the lower legs and feet. The statistics indicate that 65-80% of all runners get injured each year in some way. And most of those injuries are at the knee and below. Could it be that we are asking a relatively small part of our body to do a very big job? If we can relax the lower legs and feet, then we can (more…)

As wonderful and liberating as trail running can be, it is almost inevitable that a fall is somewhere in a trail runner’s future. The question is not “if” but “when” and how well the runner will roll, recover and begin running again. Along these lines, I’d like to share a recent experience I had while running a trail marathon near Mt Hood in Oregon.

During the second of two loops on a trail around a large lake, I was running along in good ChiRunning style only vaguely noticing the plethora of roots that  covered the terrain. I recall feeling good, moving steadily forward with no apparent worries in the world.  Then, in an instant,  as if hit by a bolt of lightening, I was stumbling and on my way down.  No time to think, I hit the dirt and like a child in a gymnastics class, I rolled forward over one shoulder and was back up and running before I knew what had happened. (more…)

For those of us in northern climates, winters with cold, snow and ice are facts of life. Nothing against my surfing ChiRunning buddies, but northerners know that our winters make us tough. They can also make us better ChiRunners.

I’ve come up with a few examples of how ChiRunning in the great white north is not only possible but can improve your running form. (more…)

With the start of the New Year I’ve got back into hill running. Some people love running hills; others avoid them like the plague. I’m one of those runners that normally enjoy running uphill more than downhill. Unfortunately I’ve slowed down and perhaps as a consequence my love of hills has waned a bit. A little voice has been talking to me though, with a gentle reminder that it’s time to improve my ChiRunning hill techniques. The race that I love — the Dipsea, celebrates its 100th anniversary this year and I want to be in good shape for this extremely hilly race. (more…)

It’s week 10 of marathon training.  The weather is conspiring against me and the ‘big freeze’ has made following the marathon training plan challenging to say the least. I was away for Christmas and I brought my beloved NB790s with me not thinking about the weather.  As much as I love these shoes, they have zero traction and are downright dangerous when running in icy conditions.  So I missed a couple of runs and had to reduce the length of my last long run because I fell!  No damage done, just some bruising and I’ve been fine since. (more…)

I’m always amazed and grateful at the tools that ChiRunning has given me to make my running a more pleasant experience. And I’m even happier when I can share them with a running partner, and see the beneficial effects almost immediately, while we are running. I was running the other day with some friends who are training for some long distance trails runs. They’ve been putting in a lot more miles than me, and they both were commenting on various aches and tired spots that were coming up. I can empathize as I have been there too. (more…)

It is so easy to get caught up in being focused on everything we have to do and things we want to accomplish that sometimes we don’t allow ourselves the time, or space in our brain to just have fun. Even with our running and walking programs. While I am sure that most people reading this will say “I enjoy running … therefore I have fun” I just wonder — how much more fun could you be having? (more…)