San Francisco Marathon

After many years of sedentary living (I work on computers), not really paying attention to my body and turning 40, the inevitable happened. I tore my ligament on my right ankle playing soccer with the kids. I love the outdoors and much as I was a weekend warrior, this put me out of commission. After waiting for the injury to heal, trying out orthotics and limping around for a few months, I noticed something curious. I felt stable and my ankles didn’t roll (I’ve sprained my ankle many times) when my feet were closer to the ground.

And December 2011, the year I turned 40, I decided to do something about getting back to an active life style, fix my ever rising cholesterol and the incessant threat of diabetes. Running felt like a fun thing to do and I was especially attracted by the lack of gear. All it took was moving your legs and propelling your body forward. I was hooked!

So began an experiment where my body was the guinea pig. I gave up meat and dairy and started running all at the same time. And my first painful, miserable run lasted 10 minutes with 3 minutes of walking interspersed in it. Six months later, I ran the San Francisco Half Marathon barefoot and finished 1:52 minutes. This put me in the top 10% of all those that ran the half marathon. But this wasn’t without confusion, injuries, curiosity, exploration, frustration, experimentation, etc. along the way. This blog is a chronicle of what I went through, documenting my passion for running and healthy eating. One of my first blogs, After 4 months of barefoot running, is when I started writing about my journey. Since then, some of the highlights are the Big Basin 50K (my first ultra) and Lake Sonoma 50M (my first 50 miler), both of which I ran in Luna Sandals.

I’d love to hear your story on running. You can find me on most social networks if you want to connect with me: Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Tumblr and Twitter.