In Christopher McDougall’s book Born to Run, there is a character named Barefoot Ted who ran an endurance race wearing Vibram Five-Fingers (in case you are unaware, they are a minimalist shoe with no cushioning).  With such a colorful name we had to look him up on the internet and discovered he is right in our own backyard.

Last year at the Natural Trainer certification course with Jon Hinds we trained entirely barefoot and were introduced to a series of running progressions that originate with yoga postures, and progress through a variety of body weight, resistance, and running drills.

Aside from that experience we normally train barefoot in the studio since most of our activities there originate with some form of yoga or jujutsu.  So the opportunity to train with Barefoot Ted seemed a natural choice.

Ted began with recounting his experience and training philosophy which had many similar points to our perspective of natural movement.  We could have used much the same language to describe Taoism, jujutsu, or yoga.  Our first run was on concrete which was a great way to begin as it made us very aware of the internal thumping sound of a heel strike resonating through our bodies, and the absence of vibration became very noticeable when we allowed our ankles to properly absorb the impact.

Training progressed over various surfaces, with an emphasis for using stairs as a way to isolate proper landing from other factors such as cadence, stride, speed, etc… As a final exercise we ran on grass.

It was a great way to spend a chilly Sunday morning in Seattle at Volunteer Park overlooking the city.