Running in cushy modern running shoes is like joining up with a mega-church. It's new, stylish, involves lots of money and modern ideas but may in the end be bad for us. Maybe it's time to ditch emergent evangelicalism and learn to run and worship as the caveman did. Maybe the new cutting edge coffee sippin Mars Hill Church isn't what we need. Maybe it's time to get down and dirty. Maybe it's time to drink lots of beer and experience the sensual pleasures of this good earth. Maybe it's time to tread lightly and with grace, to conserve energy and not waste it. Maybe the custom orthotics and preacher man are hurting us with their rigid dogmatic ways. Maybe the pain we tried to avoid and bury with layers of EVA foam was trying to tell us something we needed to hear: Stop. Heal. Grow. Love.
In short my story of running has been essentially a story about me getting out of the way of myself. But before I could learn about getting out of my own way I had to get rid of the technology that was getting in the way of me discovering myself. And if that sounds like nonsense I won't be surprised, for in some ways sense had nothing to do with it. This story like all the best stories started with a girl. It started with a girl I once liked and the shoes she wore. Enter the five figured Vibram. Vibrams When I first donned Vibrams, my first pair of minimalist running shoes I had no idea they were even made for running. Nor did I have any inkling that this weird guy named 'Barefoot Ted' (who lived only a few miles to my south) had a hand in persuading Vibram into making a running 'shoe'. At the time I hadn't even heard of ultra-marathons or running Tarahumara Indians or crazy Eat and Run vegans named Scott Jurek. No, I just liked a girl who ran b
I'm not yet willing to give up my orthotics that made running possible for me 16 years ago, but I wholeheartedly approve of a beer-drinking, earth-loving run.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work Jayme, I'm so excited that we've reconnected, and that you've found such a positive way to channel your energy.