Last day in the land of 10,000 lakes

Our rental truck is packed, the car is ready to be towed, and I finished my last run in the Twin Cities (for now). As I mentioned in my last post, we're heading west to Denver, CO for our next adventure. Who's excited to drive a 15 foot truck - without cruise control, a tape player, or a CD player - across the country while towing a car? This one! Our stuff has been in storage for 13 months, which is long enough to know you really need to toss things you forgot you had and that you need to toss even more of the stuff that you didn't need. Let the purging (hopefully) begin - because we all know that once we see that trinket we forgot we had from Africa or find the shoes that "just might come in handy someday" we will fold under the pressure of emotional attachment and keep them in a box for another year until we have the courage to either a.) donate the item or b.) take a picture of it for sentimental sake and then donate it.

Despite occasional knee pain, my barefoot running is going really well. I am up to 4 miles barefoot and 5 miles in shoes. It has come to my attention that I am definitely going to need minimalist shoes soon. The combination of cold pavement/grass in the morning and the arrival of acorns does not go over well with completely bare feet. 

These little buggers can be quite painful if you're not paying attention!

If you're looking for some good videos and info on running barefoot versus running in shoes check out this recently released study about where and why people typically land on their foot (fore, mid, or heel). Simply fascinating stuff. The site summarizes the 3 main points from the study, which include:

1. People experience higher impact and lower efficiency when landing on their heel
2. Barefoot runners lower center of gravity to reduce impact
3. We evolved to run on our forefoot

Well, that's all from Minnesota... Colorado, here we come!