Running naked

Being at home, in London, I have a little less to write about than I do when I’m overseas. Actually, that’s not true. I have plenty to write about. I could write about how I spent fifty quid on CDs when I was supposed to be buying trainers. I could write about the fact that I’m off to do Dartmouth Regatta next week (due entirely to a random encounter in a Chelsea bar at midnight last week). I could also write about how my flat needs a good tidy. This is all boring, though. Well, again I find myself questioning the nature of this journal. I really dislike the implications of the word ‘blog’. It seems so egotistical and self-indulgent – the idea that anyone would be interested in what I have to say about this, that and t’other. I can justify it to myself while I’m away because 1)It saves me bombarding my friends with emails – they know where it is if they’re interested in what I’m up to. And 2)It’s hopefully giving some idea of interesting things happening in faraway places. Now I’m home, though, I’m really only talking about that which my close friends know already.

The other issue is, of course, that it’s the ‘bad’ stuff that’s entertaining. There’s nothing more interesting than reading about arguments, complaints, muggings and police corruption. The second two don’t happen so much here, based largely on the fact that I know my way around, and that we have an effective and largely corruption-free police force. The first two, though, involve people, and more specifically my opinions of people. I can’t really write about this sort of thing in London in the same way I can while I’m away, since the people I’m interacting with – and thus writing about – are the people who may well be reading this. I can’t very well write about, as a hypothetical example, an argument I may have had yesterday with a friend, if said friend might then read the slating I’ve given him or her.

So, I’m a bit stuck really.

Meanwhile, take a gander at these….

Vibram Fivefingers, they’re called. On one of the many inflight magazines I’ve had the chance to peruse over the last two months, I found an article all about the benefits of walking and running barefoot. This, twinned with how good my many, many injuries have been feeling while I’ve been walking around Africa either barefoot or in sandals, and I thought it well worth a second look. The basic tenet is that the human body has evolved over thousands of years to walk efficiently. Then, over the last few hundred years, we’ve introduced shoes. That’s fine on the face of it, but modern trainers have so much support built in that they’re fundamentally altering the way we run (and I speak as one who has ‘profeet’ custom insoles for my rugby boots and trainers). The main effect of this has been to encourage a style of running where we lead with a heel strike – that is, the heel strikes the ground first before rolling onto the toe. Try this barefoot and, bluntly, it hurts.

So, without labouring the point too much, I’ve found these foot things (I hesitate to call them ‘shoes’) which will allow the sensation of running barefoot whilst still protecting my tootsies from the effects of glass, concrete, needles, etc. on the pavements of London. The only thing is I feel a bit of a prat in them.