My Feet Have Changed August 23, 2010
Posted by The Barefoot MD in : Health, Running, Shoes, Thoughts , trackbackTrue to my desire to give barefooting a good try, I have only had three different situations surrounding my feet. If I’m in a somewhat dressy situation, such as church, I wear my Sanuk Boardrooms. If I have to enter a public building where shoes are required, but it’s not a dressy situation, my footwear of choice is my Vibram Five Fingers. Every other situation I go sans shoes or any other type of foot covering. So, being summer and all, I’ve been shoe-less quite often.
Of course, I’m still running barefoot. Just this past Wednesday, I ran/walked (mostly ran) 4.5 miles. This was quite a unique run. Not only was I barefoot, but it was also dusk when I started. It’s amazing how the senses in your feet really compensate for diminishing amount of eyesight you have at night. I hit a few pebbles on the trail, but my body did exactly what it was meant to do. My body’s reflex made me do a double-step. The pebbles were no more than split-second annoyances.
As I’ve continued running barefoot and utilizing the muscles and structure of my feet the way they were designed, I noticed something that I had read was going to happen. My feet have gotten bigger. I used to have the most narrow feet. Now . . . They’re beefy. They’ve really bulked up in the mid/forefoot. What really made me notice the change was about a week ago I was sitting in church in my Sanuk Boardrooms. My feet were feeling kind of claustrophobic so I kicked them off. It was like taking a breath after being underwater for several minutes. It felt good. It was that moment I connected: my my shoes didn’t used to fit like that. It’s been a very gradual thing, but as I’ve read from several sources . . . my feet got bigger. I haven’t measured my height to see if I’ve gotten taller, but it wouldn’t surprise me if I grow a centimeter or so. :)
Here’s to the amazing ability of our bodies to adapt to nearly any situation in which we put them.
Comments»
I just noticed this about my feet too. I have been running in VFFs for 2 years and i now think my feet are getting more muscular but also a bit flatter. my shoe size has definitely changed…very cool