Rebounding from my injury, I am learning to trust my own feet again. This combined with re-integrating minimal shoes has been figuring out how to walk and run again. What I mean by “minimal shoes” is a shoe with zero support, zero drop in soles, and little padding between you and the ground. My running shoes have been minimal for eight months and have been broken in and working out great. I recently introduced a general purpose minimal shoe for walking to supplement my journey towards foot health, the Xero Mesa Trail II.
The running part is far easier in minimal shoes as it’s all landing on the front of my foot and the spring of my arch takes care of the rest. Walking has been another matter, it feels idiotic to admit that I have to learn to walk again in these minimal shoes.
Back to running though, my runs have been great but occasionally I will have some soreness or hot spots during the run. I have found that relaxing and letting my body do what it already knows how to do results in much less strain and fatigue. I find I must routinely take an inventory of how I am feeling and bring myself back to a calm relaxed state. This has a side effect of getting me to submit to the run and enjoy it. Take my gaze up and look at the trees.