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Deri, the chef, was going to run 26.2 miles barefoot!<\/p>\nI\u2019ve always fund Tuesdays inspiring. There\u2019s too much pressure on Mondays, Wednesdays are too late and so forth and then it\u2019s the weekend and there\u2019s a different kind of inspiring going on.<\/p>\n
But Tuesdays, well, they are just perfect for seeing the world in a new way.<\/p>\n
So, as luck would have it, I felt lucky when Deri Reed, AKA The Ethical Chef, AKA, the Barefoot Runner, agreed to meet me on a Tuesday. I say agreed because I basically badgered the beautiful soul that is Deri until he said \u2018come to my restaurant for 9.\u2019<\/p>\n
So, that\u2019s what I did, on a wet, miserable Tuesday morning I made my way West for a date with my barefoot destiny.<\/p>\n
I first came across Deri when he was training for the London marathon \u2013 barefoot! My good friends over at Wales Online had run (boom boom) a story on his efforts which activated my stalker switch quite nicely.<\/p>\n
Deri, the chef, was going to run 26.2 miles barefoot!<\/p>\n
At this point I had simply wanted to cover 26.2 miles, so to imagine running that distance with naked feet seemed as ludicrous as ludicrous could be!<\/p>\n
But was it?<\/p>\n
Sometime after Hannah the Runner was born and I was having issues with daps, I vaguely remember a conversation with Sioned, as in Run Wales Sioned, where she told me that evolution had softened us as runners.<\/p>\n
\u2018We were designed to run without shoes.\u2019 She said simply. \u2018But we\u2019ve softened ourselves.\u2019<\/p>\n
Of course we had! It made total sense really.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I, like others before me, had read Born To Run, but I imagine, not like me, that\u2019s all they did.<\/p>\n
Read it. Marvelled at it. Maybe even mentioned it down the pub? Me though? I became obsessed with the idea of barefoot running. The science behind it, the feel of it, the idea of me doing it.<\/p>\n
But to become an actual barefoot runner? To go out, minus my shoes? I just didn\u2019t know\u2026<\/p>\n
And then as chance would have it, myself and my colleague, fellow run activator, Andrea, were musing over a pot of tea in the Llynfi Valley when she said, \u2018There\u2019s a bloke in Carmarthen that runs bare foot!\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018I know him!\u2019 I shouted. \u2018Well, I know of him.\u2019 We laughed.<\/p>\n
As I popped my head into The Warren, I couldn\u2019t help but feel a little bit like a Lycra clad Alice.<\/p>\n
In the heart of Carmarthen, tucked into a little crevice on Mansel Street, the Ethical Chef\u2019s restaurant felt as familiar to me as my own living room, such was its welcoming ambiance.<\/p>\n
\u2018Hello?\u2019 I called in far more confidently than I felt.<\/p>\n
I heard Deri before I saw him, he bounded down, what I assumed to be the stairs and I couldn\u2019t help but wonder whether I was meeting a spaniel or a barefoot runner, it quickly became apparent I was meeting an absolutely gorgeous creature quite immediately but that\u2019s completely irrelevant on a running blog; she blushes.<\/p>\n
\u2018Hi.\u2019 He said and my next thought went something along the lines of, \u2018why didn\u2019t I have my eyebrows done?\u2019 the next, next one was, \u2018Why have I agreed to run with this beautiful human?\u2019 the next, next, next was \u2018Remember Hannah, you are married!\u2019<\/p>\n
Deri looks athletic. He was wearing a Crossfit Carmarthen t-shirt and, I couldn\u2019t help but being disappointed, that he was wearing shoes.\u00a0 He\u2019s tall and broad and walks with a confidence of someone who knows themselves well, which, given he pounds the pavement barefoot, I suppose he does.<\/p>\n
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\u2018I\u2019ve never been headhunted for a run before.\u2019 He told me happily, whilst pouring me tea from an actual teapot.<\/p>\n
He told all me all about how a doctor had advised him not to run, after various rugby injuries and then key hole surgery and general niggles in his knees.<\/p>\n
\u2018And of course, once he said I couldn\u2019t, I definitely was going to.\u2019 He laughed.<\/p>\n
He told me about his technique and how hard he found the training for London, on his own, in the winter, barefoot!<\/p>\n
\u2018My mood dipped for prolonged periods.\u2019 He said and all I could think of was, what state must his feet be in?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Luckily, I did not have to wonder long because boy wonder whipped his surprisingly pretty looking size 11\u2019s out for me to ponder. \u2018Feel them?\u2019 he gestured and I\u2019m telling you now, his feet are softer than Andrex\u2019s\u2019 finest, quilted, amazing, \u2018kisses ones bottom\u2019, toilet roll.<\/p>\n
\u2018Wow!\u2019 I said, thinking about my own battered, skinless, ugly looking trotters.<\/p>\n
\u2018It\u2019s like having a natural pedicure every time I go out.\u2019 He said pleased.<\/p>\n
And then it was time for us to run.<\/p>\n
We set off from The Warren, me still in trainers, Deri still in normal attire minus his shoes. We plodded through Carmarthen and I was amused by the double takes and widened eyes that followed the barefoot runner as he, unaware of the attention, comfortably told me about the route, about the surface our feet were running on, about how he feels about running.<\/p>\n
By the time we got to a path that ran alongside the river Deri said \u2018this is perfect for barefoot running.\u2019 Gesturing at the wet, in my opinion, dangerous looking tarmac. I sighed, bent down to untie my laces then panicked that the beautiful human would be knocked out by the odour my feet were bound to produce, having been stuck in sweaty trainers for the best part of the morning.<\/p>\n
If he did smell them, he was too polite to say, and that was one thing I noted about Deri, he is lovely. So, lovely, you would totally trust him when he says, \u2018Go on, take off your shoes, go on run just under three miles in the rain with naked feet, oh go on, and just up this small incline!\u2019<\/p>\n
He\u2019s trustworthy and the type of person that makes you feel you are actually capable of anything and I couldn\u2019t help but wonder that was a possible credential to run barefoot?<\/p>\n
The ground felt, dare I say it, nice. Fresh, damp and natural.<\/p>\n
\u2018You need to just kiss the ground with your feet.\u2019 My Jedi told me and I cooed and told him he should write a book with descriptions like that.<\/p>\n
\u2018Bend your legs and don\u2019t push off with your toes. It\u2019s all technique and practice.\u2019 He said before telling me to slow down. That\u2019s another thing about Deri, it\u2019s hard not to get carried away by his enthusiasm.<\/p>\n
He told me which surfaces are nice to run on, and which ones aren\u2019t, he mentioned that the police had stopped him more than once for legging it across Carmarthen with no shoes on and that he doesn\u2019t always run in normal attire and a flat cap like he was today. \u2018I do wear the gear.\u2019 He laughed. When I suggested that he did look like a smidgen bit dodgy wiggling his way across the various surfaces that a normal urban route has to offer in normal clothes<\/em> and no footwear. \u00a0I was tempted to tell him about my very own balaclava story but thought better of it.<\/p>\n \u2018I feel like a kid!\u2019 I said, being nearly knocked sideways by nostalgia.<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s great, isn\u2019t it?\u2019 Deri replied and had I been sure he wouldn\u2019t have immediately phoned for a restraining order I would have grabbed his hand and swung his arm to the sky, just like a child would.<\/p>\n We walked the final stretch back to The Warren, Deri explaining, that the cool down walk is essential for recovery.<\/p>\n And as my heart rate slowed I was overcome with how great I felt, not just a normal after run feeling either. I felt, amazing, happy, cleansed even?<\/p>\n \u2018I loved that.\u2019 I told my new friend as I helped him carry a load of fresh produce through to the kitchen still minus shoes. \u2018Like really enjoyed.\u2019 In fact, I was dreading putting my trainers back on.<\/p>\n My feet were weirdly unscathed, they felt fine, strong, and happy, like that penguin.<\/p>\n I had another cup of teapot tea which was almost as exciting as a barefoot run if I\u2019m honest, whist Deri chatted easily about his transition into barefoot running, what books or articles I should read and that perseverance is key.<\/p>\n So, what did I learn on my barefoot jaunt? Here\u2019s my top ten;<\/p>\n Anyway, here\u2019s some links to some useful reading and info that you may want to pursue should you want to take your shoes off to run.<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=AiO_E77XY4s<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=C_tbSZAHAAI&t=6s<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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