Nature Calls!

My launch into barefoot running actually started about 12 months ago, purely by accident.  Yeah, I know you're thinking this is going to be another rant about barefoot running.  Well it's not, although barefoot does come into it.  What I really wanted to address here is our relationship with Nature.  Chris McDougall talks about the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico in his book Born to Run, and how they are at one with their environment, their ability to run ultra-distances, almost effortlessly deriving from their close relationship with the trails.  Kilian Jornet, the super ultra-runner, says that he 'feels with the mountain, the trail, the stream.'  Michael Sandler and Jessica Lee devote a whole chapter in their book Barefoot Running to the fact that to reach our full potential as runners, we need to get back to feeling the trail beneath our bare feet, to become 'grounded', to be one with the environment that we are enjoying.  How many of us, during The North Face 100 took a few seconds to admire the scenery, to enjoy the spectacle of the Blue Mountains, the grandeur of Iron Pot Ridge or Kedumba?  How many of us were fortunate enough to be blessed by the Traditional Owners on Iron Pot Ridge with their music sticks?
We live in an electronic and cyberspacial age; everything is open to us one way or another.  We are literally 'wired for sound' and we become desensitised to our surroundings.  If nothing else comes out of this blog, I encourage you to open up your minds, look around, listen for the sounds, fully enjoy your runs.  I was running on a single track a few months ago, alone for a change, and a big grey buck Kangaroo bounded on to the track about 50m in front of me.  Usually they bound off into the bush, but this big bugger stopped, stared at me for a couple of seconds (I of course had screeched to a halt by this stage) and then started to hop towards me.  Oh sh....., I thought; but I stayed my ground and the Roo gave me a look of disdain and bounded off into the bush.  I reflected on this later and I realised how lucky I was to be able to share, albeit for a fleeting moment, the beautiful bush with one of the owners of that bush.  We don't realise, although I hope we do, how much beauty, peace, tranquility and spectacle there are surrounding our trails (and although I'm talking about my local trails, it could be anywhere in Australia, New Zealand or in fact anywhere in the world - just don't look for Kangaroos in Germany!), birds, animals, reptiles, insects; their sounds, the sounds of the bush!  Most of us will have experienced meditiation, but trail running for me epitomises the Buddhist concept of Mindfullness - filling our minds, not with how buggered we are or how far we've run or how far we still have to run, but enjoying, with our fellow runners, the trails and our surroundings - unplugged!

An Introduction to Dusty Boots

This is my first attempt at a blog and my first attempt at recording my running experiences;  believe me, there are heaps of them.  But it's OK, I won't go back to my childhood, just a few years further on at about the time I was in the Army.  I had always loved running and had always been involved in sport, one way or another.  But one day just after I turned 20 the Australian Government, in their collective and short-sighted wisdom, conscripted me into the Army - the only lottery I've ever won - and for the next two years (as a Nasho), and for the following 21 years (as a Reg) I spent in uniform, promoted up through the hierarchy to the rank of Major, where I thought that before they kick me out I'd better resign; so I did!  I had been in Artillery, but served most of my time as a Physical Training Instructor (PTI) and most of my time looking after the fitness of Infantry soldiers.  When I left the Army I HATED RUNNING!!!  It was only after about five years that I started running again, and enjoyed it - for all the reasons we, as runners, know and love.  My training was invariably on the beach, a really long beach, Birubi Point to Stockton in the Port Stephens area and I would run 5-7km in the soft sand and back on the hard sand.  Every Day!!  Talk about Overuse Syndrome, until eventually I re-tore fibres (bundles of fibres had been torn as a result of a squash injury years before) in my achilles.  That put me out of action for 12 months.  You would think that I would give it away after that, but 'not on your nellie'!  A beautiful Princess came along and kissed this wounded frog back to life.  A Long Story made short - We just completed The North Face 100 (TNF100 - a 100km race through the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney) and intend to complete it again next year - ONLY FASTER!!


This blog is all about my running experiences, starting from now and leading up to TNF100 next year.  It'll include my attempts into barefoot/minimalist running and I hope give inspiration to anybody who wants to get into running at any level, especially those folks who are over 50 and reckon they'd never be able to do it.  Believe me - YOU CAN!!!