How and why I became a barefoot runner

During my studies I picked up jogging as a hobby - and I mean "jogging", which can be characterized by a heal-to-toe movement, not running, where the front of your foot touches the ground before the heel (for more on this, read other posts in this blog). During my bachelor studies, I jogged only once or twice a week because at that time I was still playing football regularly.

That changed during my master studies. I had recently moved to Floridsdorf (21st district of Vienna) close to alte Donau and quickly learned to appreciate the Proximity to the water and nature in general. I started going jogging every other day. In the beginning, I was only able to go around obere alte Donau (the "upper" part, 5,5km), but soon I started going around the whole estuary, basically jogging from U6 to U2 and back on the other bank.

I did this also during winter (winters in Vienna can be quite cold, so you don't see to many runners/joggers from November to February), although there were some interruptions and other routes during the Christmas holidays in Kärnten. I never minded the cold, for me it is refreshing (as long as it's not below -10°C) and together with sports the perfect start of the day. Besides, together with stamina, it helped my to get less sensitive to cold temperatures and I hardly ever became ill.

The higher amount of sunny hours in spring raised my motivation further. I pushed myself to my limits, ran around alte Donau faster than ever before, and even more often than in autumn. But after some time I started feeling pain in my right hip. Not from the beginning of my jogs, but rather after approximately 10 kilometers. 

The pain got worse, and soon I began to feel it already after a few kilometers. It was better in Kärnten when I was jogging in the forest, but back then, running up and down too much wasn't my thing. I never would have thought that my pain could come from my running shoes, though. I was running with my brothers shoes, and another pair completely different to the ones I was wearing in Vienna. But the pain stayed the same.

my old running shoes - heel approx 3cm high - strong heel-toe drop

Together with summer swimming and beach volleyball seasons were starting as well. That summer was really hot some weeks, and so I focused on other kinds of sports and hardly ever went jogging any more.

The high temperatures invited people to walk barefoot, something which I had already loved doing as a kid. It gives me the feeling of being connected to the ground, and thereby also nature itself. Because of beach volleyball during early summer, and also during my summer holidays in Spain in July, I was walking barefoot regularly. This helped my feet become less sensitive, and at some point I thought: "If I can run on the grass, why not go jogging without shoes as well?". So I tried jogging barefoot, and in the beginning, it was brutal - not because of the nice, soft ground in the forest where I did my first attempts, but rather because of the lack of "springs" that my jogging shoes provided. 
Naturally, the trees' needles pricked a little but, but that was good because it forced my to hit the ground with the balls of the feet, which are less sensitive than the rest. And since there are roots and other obstacles in the forest, one also has to lift the knees more - this also helps to develop a better running technique. 
In the beginning, this new style of landing with the balls of the feet is quite strenuous because it used muscles and joints in a different way, and I never lasted long. So after a short time I would put on my shoes again.

Despite all connected strains I began to enjoy the feeling of running and walking barefoot. Soon I started also hiking without shoes if not absolutely necessary. I still carried my hiking shoes, but especially in the beautiful Nockberge - mountains (characterized  by gentle, green slopes) in Kärnten I did not need them any more. My bare feet often created puzzled looks on other people's faces, but after telling them how nice it felt, some people even tried it themselves.

Meanwhile, I was already running decent distances without shoes (although gravel roads were still a pain). By mid-summer, I managed 8-9 kilometers without any issues. That was in Kärnten, though, Vienna was tougher. Since the paths around alte Donau are mostly paved (which I still think is quite a pity), running barefoot is much more strenuous due to the hard ground. And in places without pavement, I always had to be careful not to step into dog excrements.

Apart from the hygienic aspects I knew that winter was going to be a big challenge - if it's not 25, but 0°C or less any more, then you start getting cold feet in the morning. I was facing a crisis, although luckily the solution presented itself coincidentally.

When describing my worries to a friend, he told me about barefoot shoes. In the beginning, I was not convinced and thought it might be just another pointless trend in order to make money. But I checked out the websites of the different companies anyway. Vivobarefoot got my attention because their shoes didn't look too special (many of their models look like just any other regular shoe), and because they had stores in Vienna. That was important to me because I was still very skeptical and definitely wanted to check the shoes out in real life before ordering them online.

My skepticism subsided after trying on the running shoes in the store - optically, they looked more like slippers/mitts, but the feeling was fantastic.




My feet are rather wide and flat (which seems to be a good prerequisite for running, according to studies). This is a disadvantage when you want to buy regular shoes. If I buy a size that is not too long for me, then they are too narrow. If I want them wide enough, they are usually way too long, and my feet move back and forth inside the shoes, causing blisters.

This changed once I started buying barefoot shoes, because they are wide enough to fit your feet, as opposed to regular shoes, which force your small toes and/or big toe to move inward. The shop assistant told me to get the shoes one size larger than I wanted to because the feet spread when they hit the ground - and in retrospect, this really paid off.

In contrast to regular running shoes, which are basically like heavy chunks on your feet and will move if there is any kind of gap inside, free space in barefoot shoes is not disturbing at all. Barefoot shoes are so flexible and light that you hardly feel them at all. The very thin, flexible sole worried my at first, but the guy in the shop assured me that it is completely puncture resistant (and so far I have never had any troubles - it even held when I involuntarily stepped onto a broken beer bottle ten days after buying the shoes).

The price of the shoes was quite high, unfortunately, even though I got them on summer sale they were still 90€, which is quite a lot for a student. Anyway, my health seemed way more important, so I bought them, and was already eagerly awaiting the first test runs.