Distance 6km [total: minimalist 11km: Barefoot 14km]

Saturday morning, the sun is out it's 8.30am and 21 degrees centigrade.
I headed the short distance down to the beach in the car (ok I know it is bad)

The tide was quite high but receding which left a few meters of nice firm sand to run on.
This was another barefoot run and I was planning just to do 3-4km again but something happened.
Its like a metamorphosis, I seemed to be running as well if not better than when I had shoes on. Gone are the hesitant small footsteps I took about 3 weeks ago, unsure if I was going to hurt my feet on the sand.
I am actually running normally and faster and its great just to wander off into the water any time I want rather than avoiding it like I used to when I wore shoes.

When I ran with my Asics 2140's along with the orthotics prescribed by the podiatrist I mentioned before about the shin pains, as well as those I also got pains in the hip area, like something was out of place.
I actually think the orthotics were modifying my running style and causing me problems rather than solving them.

I am trying to be objective about all this and not get swept in in some kind of evangelistic zeal.
Obviously the drawbacks of barefoot running is that the hard surfaces tend to wear away at your feet especially the concrete footpaths that are the norm around here.
I think that the process of toughening the feet up takes longer than the muscle adaptation in the feet.

Interestingly, on my run, which I extended out to 6km I think it was a 50/50 split between barefoot and shod runners.
I have not had any new blisters since I first ran on the beach, that one is now healing up.
At the moment it feels like I have had a vigorous foot scrub.

Neil