A Good Day to Race

Aiden ran his first real road race this past Saturday. He "competed" in a 1-mile fun run called the Shamrock Shuffle in Lebanon, NH, along with his Dadoo, who also ran the accompanying 5K. The little man was pretty excited with his race number pinned on and his new running pants and running shoes raring to go. The day was perfectly warm and sunny, so I sat in a lawn chair on the Lebanon green while the two boys tackled the one mile loop. Andy said Aiden was a terrific runner, a little too fast out of the gate but he slowed down and paced himself later and finished strong. He's so big these days!

5K races are kind of old hat to Andy these days, but this race was a first for him too. It was his first race wearing his new "barefoot" running shoes. Andy was inspired to try barefoot running after reading a book called "Born To Run" given to him by our sister-in-law Becky. It's about a native Mexican tribe called the Tarahumara where individuals of all ages run incredible distances over mountainous terrain with nothing on their feet except flimsy sandals made from old tires. The few outsiders who have studied this tribe and learned to run like them found that they had fewer running injuries and that running barefoot forces your body to run differently than when you have all kinds of padding and springs and air balloons built into your running shoes. Barefoot running somehow convinces your body to be more upright, and your strides to shorten. And apparently, that's easier on all your muscles and your joints, so you can run longer distances without getting exhausted.

Of course, it's a little dangerous to run on debris-filled roadsides (or over mountainous, rocky terrain) with absolutely nothing on your feet. So the choices are to fashion yourself some rubber tire sandals, or get a pair of these babies below. As far as we know, they are the only commercially made "barefoot" running shoes. They look a little crazy, as Aiden loves to point out to his Dad, but Andy loves them.