Good morning and HAPPY FRIDAY friends! Wahoo! TGITW (Thank goodness it’s the weekend!)
Sorry to disappear on you yesterday. Tues/Thurs are my BIZ-EEEE days and I had two additional pieces of fun in my Thursday that kept me away from the computer.
One was a visit from one of my all time best buds after she got off of work, where we polished off about 3/4 bottle of our favorite Riesling and jibber-jabbered non-stop for two and a half hours. It was such a wonderful time.
The other exciting thing on Thursday was my little brother and his wife welcomed their second baby into the world! Unfortunately I live 1300 miles from them, so I won’t be seeing Baby #2 anytime soon. Thank goodness for webcams! 
I was really hoping the new baby would wait until next Wednesday so that we could share a birthday, but she must have been in a hurry to meet her big sister sooner!
Speaking of birthday, MSP wanted to share with me what my gift would be a little early because it would require some ‘trying on for size’ before he could order the actual gift. That got me curious!
In addition to reading “Born to Run“ currently, Matt from No Meat Athlete has inspired me to want to give barefoot running a go.
MSP heard that and decided to gift me with some VIbram Five Fingers! SO EXCITED!!!
In anticipation of the arrival of my new fitness ‘gadgets’ I decided to get a head start on Wednesday. Barefoot running is something you must start SLOWLY because all that running around in my fancy Nike SHOX will have changed my gait and most likely weakened some of the supportive structure of my lower legs and feet.
I did intervals of a different sort on the treadmill this time: shoes on, shoes off, socks on, socks off, shoes and socks back on, shoes off, etc.
I did 3 miles, about two of which were ‘shoeless’.
OK, first: holy calves of fire, Batman! Not so much DURING as much as the days following. I have some DOMS going on in my calves the way I figure I would if I did 1000 sets of heavy calf raises. You should see me trying to walk DOWN a set of stairs. Comical.
Second, it was so FUN! You feel so much ‘lighter’ on your feet, almost springy because it truly forces you into a completely different gait. Apparently I’m a heavy ‘heel-slapper’ in shoes and that just won’t work barefoot. You need to be more onto the balls of your feet, while still letting your heels come down lightly.
Afterward, I did about 15 minutes of deep yoga stretching because I knew my legs were going to need it.
Then yesterday I did another 30 minutes of yoga, including a LOT of downward dogs to hit those calves a bit.
I won’t be using my new “unshoes” during the marathon, because I don’t think there’s enough time to safely transition to that distance. But I definitely plan to use them as much as my calves will allow during my shorter training runs. Maybe the marathon after this one… 
And I have to give props to our good friend Bo, because he had FiveFingers YEARS ago before they were trendy. And I think I remember teasing him about his crazy looking shoes. Bo, I’m eating my words now and you can tease me all you want to get me back!
Today’s question: Any barefoot running ‘aficionados’ out there? Read “Born to Run”?
Friends, have a FANTASTIC Friday! I’ll be back tomorrow sometime after my 9 MILE training run. I really hope my calves stop crying before I head out or it will be a L-O-N-G 9 miles…
– Shari B. =)
