My bear feet are bigger than yours!

Hello world, again.

I am Simon.  My name is ironic, because it is often translated as to mean 'he who hears', and yet my hearing is not so great.

Now, there's a philosophy that I really really like.  And that is that all of the muscles and nerve endings on the soles of your feet are connected to different parts of your body.  I assume that this is how reflexology works, but I am not so interested in massaging other people's feet.  I do give a lot of upper back and neck massages, but for some reason I have never felt compelled to massage anyone's feet before...I think that foot massagers are a special breed of people, perhaps of a similar kind to that Tarantino guy.
But I am into exploring making use of these magical gems at the bottoms of my legs.  I don't think that I enable them to be as magical as they could be, as I keep them for too often in a comfortable environment that merely decreases the power of their muscles.

One of the reasons for me deciding to explore running barefoot is this: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100127134241.htm.  In March of this year, I ran the Bath Half.  I had ran some quite long distances before, but never 13 miles.  I didn't want to mess up my new badminton shoes, so I decided to go out with some dodgy trainers, thinking that they're still shoes and so I'd still be fine.  I learnt through the experience that I had, of being unable to walk without pain for the following two weeks and still continuing to have some pain in my feet for upto a month after, that not all shoes are good shoes.  In fact, after this run, I started my first explorations in walking barefoot.  Walking barefoot, for the first couple of painful weeks, was the most comfortable way of walking, as my feet muscles had been damaged and shoes seemed to just restrict the muscles moreso.

A friend of mine in Bath began to urge me, since way before the summer, to start running barefoot with her.  I agreed that I will plan for it when I got back to Bath after the summer.  She hadn't really ran barefoot before, but I liked the idea of this adventure that we'd share.

I was in Alicante, on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, for a month in the summer.  The weather was good, so I mostly walked around topless and barefooted.  There were times when I'd go to a shop and realise that I'd forgotten to pack my sandles, and so either I was not allowed into the shop or I had to sneak in.  Shop workers seem to not like bare feet in Alicante.  I was running often in Alicante, as there was very good reason to be doing so.  My brother had a room in a flat about twenty minutes run from the beach, so I often ran down to the beach with just swimming shorts on, and nothing else.  My bare feet felt lovely cycling the ground - it felt at times like I was hovering along the surface of the ground, as there was no aftershock being felt throughout my body.

Perhaps due to excessive wintery cycling on a bike that was way too big for me, or perhaps because of playing badminton at a competition level (both arguments are probably equally as likely), I have attained a hip injury that makes a lot of physical activity a little stressful.  I haven't ran a huge amount this year because of this injury:- after the Bath Half in March, I had been planning to run some 10k's throughout the year, but this hasn't happened because I've not been able to begin running distances with my dodgy hip.  However, that running that I did in Alicante had very little consequence on my body.  I believe that the findings from that study I have linked above, of how barefoot runners do not have to absorb the collision impact that shoe-wearing runners absorb, is the reason for why barefoot running was so good for me in Alicante.

I left Alicante for a Buddhist community in the Spanish Pyrenees.  The landscape was harsh, and very rocky.  My barefoot running routine was forced to stop, because I could not master the terrain there.

When I got back to England, I went on a hike in North Norfolk.  For the first day and a half-or-so, I walked completely barefooted.  It felt good, but I really didn't feel good to be walking along the boardwalked path that was covered in chicken wire.  So the sandles soon were used.

Since then, I haven't really been barefooted so much.  This little adventure with Transition Bath is incredibly exciting for me, as I believe that it will be very life-affirming.  This will be my first deep exploration into my feet's properties.

The benefits of a little competition.

Well, another first for me today: I went for a run while away at work.

I know that we’re supposed to be blogging about our local running adventure, but I just wanted to share this as it was quite an interesting experience for me.

First, just to clarify; I work as long haul cabin crew for BA (not very Transition, I know) and my job entails a lot of time spent in hotel rooms around the world. Until now, that time has been spent doing many things – but getting fit wasn’t one of them. For me to get up and go out for a run was a wonderful, fresh experience and I’m very much looking forward to doing it again.

I didn’t push myself too hard, however, because after a few laps of this lovely little park in Johannesburg, I realised that to do so could prove a little silly for 3 reasons:

·   I had only had about four hours sleep the previous night as I had been working a 12-hour shift bringing 300 passengers the full length of the African continent.

·     It was 27 degrees, very sunny and my water was back at the hotel.

·      Jo’burg is 5751 feet above sea level. Oxygen is harder to come by at this altitude.

Nonetheless, having realised all of this, a fellow runner then appeared. He was running the opposite way to me and, as the track was on a ½ mile loop, we kept on passing each other at the same two spots. Now, I’m not overly competitive, but knowing that this other guy had seen me, there was no way I was going to drop off first, and I made it my goal to keep going longer that him. Silly? Perhaps, but having that incentive really worked to push me on even when the above reasons had me feeling pretty ropey after just 10 minutes. I also like to think that he felt the same way and that my presence pushed him on a little too.

Anyway, I am glad to say that my self-induced competition ended in a draw: He backed off and started walking the course – I imagine as a warm down exercise – and I told myself that enough was enough and not to over do it (being half a mile away from my hotel and in a foreign country I didn’t really want to collapse from heat exhaustion and dehydration). 

As I left my impromptu competitor walking round the course and headed home out of the gate, we exchanged a friendly salute and – so I like to think – a mutual gesture of thanks for the company and the amicable competition. A good run.   

Hill training: My God it actually works

So, I went to go on a jog with Let’s Go Run on Friday morning, but due to heavy traffic on the school run, I was a bit late and never made it. Instead, I went for a bike ride and then took a little jog up to Perfect View and around the block. 

The road to Perfect View

Interestingly, I noticed how much easier this little hill was than when I tried it a few weeks ago. In the time since first running up it I've done a few small runs and plenty of cycling, and that little bit of work seems to have paid dividends because I relatively flew up the hill on this occasion, as opposed to struggling up last time; this bodes well methinks.

Morford Street

Yesterday, on the way back from visiting the Moscow State Circus, I ran a mile home to fetch the car because my 3-year old was cold and my 7-year old wasn’t feeling well and the half-hour walk home with them would not have been a pleasant experience, believe me. However, after running up Morford Street and then to the top of Camden Crescent wearing (the highly inappropriate) Converse trainers and jeans and carrying a rucksack full of stuff, I found myself questioning the sense of this decision. Still, to quote a much over-used, but-oh-so-true phrase: no pain, no gain. I guess any kind of hill training is handy for the Bath Half.

I also made a couple of notes to myself when out running:

• The right tunes are very important – Before going on a run  I need to make sure the iPod is stacked with bangers that push you on and not slow stuff that… well… slows you down. Save that for dinner parties.
• I need a bum bag - Carrying my phone, iPod and keys in my hands while running is, quite frankly, a pain in the arse.

I also have a couple of questions:

• Do you just run through a stitch, or should you stop?
• How can I make myself less flat-footed? (I can hear my shoes thudding on the ground even over the music in my headphones)
• Why does it always rain on me?

Balloons in Victoria Park - nice.

 Photos courtesy of my lovely wife.

Off we go then...

Just like Nathan, I have been totally inspired by the London Olympics this summer. When I heard about an opportunity to run the Bath Half for Transition Bath, I just couldn’t resist. Luckily, the invite appeared in my inbox just as I was contemplating my need to get trim and healthy again and trying desperately to think of a fun and exciting way to do it. I’m a reasonably fit individual, but I have never run for fun, and the closest I’ve ever got to running a half marathon is jogging along next to my little girl as she cycles to school.

My uncle winning his Commonwealth gold.
 (it's in the blood)

There is much more, however, to this quest than just getting fit and challenging myself. The chance of joining in this Local Running Adventure has appealed to me on many levels: it will get me out in the open to go and explore this wonderful city we live in as I never have before; it will allow me to join not just the small community of TB runners, but the greater community of Bath runners and indeed the community of Bath as a whole; and, finally, it will allow me to get more involved with TB, hopefully raising some much needed funds at the same time.

So then, here begins the adventure. Like the other runners, I’ll be updating this blog regularly with training stories, running routes, photographs and, no doubt, many complaints as to why my legs and lungs are feeling so sore.

Wish me luck…

Be Inspired. Be Inspirational

There is no doubt I have caught Olympic fever. What a fantastic and exciting time we live in and how amazing to see people achieve what most of us can’t even dream of. Inspired by the Olympics and Para-Olympics I have been out running more miles than ever before and even signed up for the Bristol Half at the end of September and my first ever Triathlon too. I love to run and particularly on the trails and hills of Bath. I love the excitement, energy and challenge that running on single track can give you.

The connection it can give you to the more than human world and the variety of wildlife you can see.
One of my favourite runs is the skyline and running to the top of Rainbow wood with Daisy (our dog), who seems to make it all feel so simple on four legs. At the top of the climb, lungs burning and legs on fire, you are hit with the most amazing smells of wild garlic and sweet scented flowers whilst you run through a tunnel of trees and beaming sun waiting for you at the top (well sometimes).

This brings me to the idea. When I heard the Bath Half charity places were opening I couldn’t wait a minute to apply. However, thinking about it it would not make sense to just run the day and doing nothing with it. Over the summer I have been reading Born to Run – a fantastic book to inspire the even the most stubborn of coach potatoes to get out running – and although no ultra marathon across torturous terrain in depths of Mexico lets have our own running adventure. One that can give us our own sense of connection and inspire ourselves to do more, to build a legacy of transition physical activity and get everyone up on their feet running, walking, and cycling and seeing some of the best and cherished spots in Bath.

We are born to run to help us survive. We are not designed to be great sprint runners but we are exceptionally efficient at long distant running, Chirs McDoughall explains in his inspirational book Born to Run. The surprising bit is we are only good when we remember the important ingredient… Love.

"Vigil had become convinced that the next leap forward in human endurance would come from a dimension he dreaded getting into: character.  Not the "character" other coaches were always rah-rah-rah-ing about; Vigil wasn't talking about "grit" or "hunger" or "the size of the fight in the dog"/  In fact, he meant the exact opposite.  Vigil's notion of character wasn't toughness.  It was compassion. Kindness.  Love...  

That was the real secret of the Tarahumara: they'd never forgotten what it felt like to love running.  They remembered that running was mankind's first fine art, our original act of inspired creation.  Way before we were scratching pictures on caves or beating rhythms on hollow trees, we were perfecting the art of combining our breath and mind and muscles into fluid self-propulsion over wild terrain.  And when our ancestors finally did make their first cave paintings, what where the first designs? A downward slash, lightning bolts through the bottom and middle - behold the Running Man.  

Distance running was revered because it was indispensable; it was the way we survived and thrived and spread across the planet.  You ran to eat and to avoid being eaten; you ran to find a mate and impress her, and with her you ran off to start a new life together.  You had to love running, or you wouldn't live to love anything else.  And like everything else we love - everything we sentimentally call our "passions" and "desires" - it's really an encoded ancestral necessity. We were born to run; we were born because we run. We're all Running People."

Quote from Born to Run by Chris McDoughall 2010 (pp.91-92) 

We were born to run for food. Now running I hope can re-connect us with natural world, friends and the whole community. A chance to step back and see the world for what it is.

Together we can make a difference and continue the good work that the volunteers of Transition Bath continue to do.