In the NY Times, Christopher McDougall writes about barefoot running and raves about the merits of a 100-year-old training exercise called 100 Up: It was five months since I discovered W.S. George’s “100-Up,” and I’d been doing the exercise regularly. In George’s essay, he says he invented the 100-Up in 1874, when he was an [...]

Today, I ran along Guess Rd, five miles North to the Citgo gas station at S. Lowell Rd, and back … 10 miles (16KM). The weather was beautiful, but the road seemed a bit busier than normally on a Sunday morning. I was only planning to add a single mile to last week’s 8M run, [...]

A few weeks ago, they finished repaving Guess Road from Umstead Road to the Orange County line and I was really happy to see the nice, wide shoulder they built. They added about 2-3 feet on either side of this fairly busy rural, 2-lane highway. I used to bike up Guess Road to Little River Park [...]

We did it! Yesterday, the 11foot8 team @Overheight When Flashing@ participated in the Doughman – “the world’s premier Team Relay Quadrathlon” – and we finished in a very satifying 8th place (out of 75 teams). The race has 5 legs. Each leg starts with an eating challenge before the athlete goes on to run or [...]

We’re in! I registered the 11-foot-8 Doughman team today – Team Overheight When Flashing! We’ll be competing on Saturday May 28th with 75 teams from all over the country in the DOUGHMAN race – the world’s premier Team Relay Quadrathlon, combining competitive eating with a traditional triathlon. Part of the challenge is also to raise [...]

Yesterday I ran 3 miles on the Al Buehler trail and I think I’ll make that a habit, again. I stopped running in May because of a fracture of a metatarsal bone in my right foot. I think I may have broken that bone practicing kicks on the old punching bag at the gymn … [...]

Saturday thru Wednesday we were at the beach and besides lounging, eating and drinking beers I also did a fair amount of running. The weather was great – lower 70s, sunny with a pleasant breeze. So since last Sunday, I ran a total of 28.35 miles (45.62 km) in 5 runs – all barefoot of [...]

The last few days we had a bit of a spring-teaser and I was able to go out and run on some new and interesting ground. Friday (50F/10C sunny, dry) I did another lunch run in town, from my office to my favorite bar. And today (65F/18C sunny, dry) I did my first real trail [...]

I am getting cold feet. I knew this was going to happen – it’s the fundamental reason we do wear shoes. They protect our feet from the elements. And I am a wimp that way … I hate it when my feet are cold. Cold, wet feet is the worst. So yesterday I did just [...]

Less than Six Months to the Doughman – the race is on May 29 – so I figured I’d kick off Doughman Season  with a nice lunch-run to Dain’s Place. Oh yeah, baby! Lunchtime rolled around on Friday, I got into my running shorts and jogged the 1.1 Miles to 9th Street. Barefoot, of course. [...]

Photo of Scott Jurek and Arnulfo Quimare in Copper Canyon, 2006. Courtesy Luis Escobar. Do humans suck at running? Apparently that’s what many experts in sports medicine think. Or is the human body actually perfectly adapted to endurance running and a lot of the running injuries are due to bad technique and expensive running shoes? [...]

Today, I ran 3 one-mile stretches on the beach. Sand is a great training tool because your feet give you instant feedback at every step. On asphalt you get feedback, but sometimes only too late, when you already got that blister. In sand you can feel how deep your feet sink in and where. That [...]

Today was a nice, mellow late summer Sunday and I ran the Al Buehler trail around the Washington Duke golf course barefoot in 30 Minutes. It felt great. No sore spots. I focused on technique – high cadence, light tread, straight strides … I had a little trouble toward the end on downhills … started [...]

I had a couple more interesting runs. Sunday morning I ran 3.5 miles (5.3 KM) in the neighborhood. I picked one road because its old blacktop has been completely destroyed by log trucks and that rough, cracked surface is really interesting to run on. I think that one of the adventures of barefoot running is [...]

As I slowly emerge from a draining summer of work-stress, my exercise routine is starting to take shape again. Besides martial arts I have also recently discovered running. Previously, I enjoyed an occasional run in the woods, but generally I preferred my bike. Yesterday however, I ran for the first time barefoot – just a [...]