I started my year off with a recovery from a running related injury. Coming off my natural high of running a marathon. I decided my 2010 year would end with a 50km run through the Marine Headlands of San Francisco. My training was tough, so much so that 3 weeks into, I could hardly bend my knees without pain. All my muscles and tendons were tight.

The recovery was slow, but eventually I got back on my feet and running. My concentration became more on speed than distance. I had to learn to do things right before doing the extreme. My goal of 50km still awaits me.

In May, running took me through one of my greatest challenges. I and 11 other friend-runners (frienners?), with 2 vans stockpiled with food, Gatorade, and running gear, set out to cross 198 miles over a 2-day relay race. It was awesome. I can not do

No sleep, running at 1am through quiet back streets, and ending in the beautiful cliff side with panoramic Pacific views. I’m coming back for it next year!

Action shot from the relay. It was really hot then!

I’ve also been grateful this year for the friends that I have and made. One of the greatest friendships I have forged has been through a common interest with my video podcast called Yet Another Beer Show. I’ve been able to work with Colin and Steve on with one of my greatest interests — beer. We’ve had obstacles in our way, but I feel that 2011 is the return of Yet Another Beer Show. We’ll be back!

I’ve also seen my friends get hitched! Now I’ve question their intentions, mainly asking why, and sometimes being the voice of reason to say “It’s not too late to run. The keys are in the car.” All joking aside, I’ve seen my friends who are happy being with each other decide to complete their lives. This is the single greatest thing I’ve seen in my friends and because of it have had the experience to visit some awesome locales for weddings. This year I actually have Best Man duties to my best friend’s wedding, which will be tame and completely uninteresting.

Wedding dinner with the crazy couple!

This year takes me, once again, of having to pay taxes in two difference cities, in two different states. I’ve dealt with this many times before as this is not the first time I have picked up everything and move to a city.

My move to New York City from San Francisco was two-year itch. A change in scenery and people is always what leads my itch. I have this avoidance to settling on anything. New York has proven to me that there something that can satisfy my need for impulse activities.

At seven months now, starting at the end of May, I’ve seen, met, and done a lot in New York City.

Sunset over South Williamsburg as seen from my apartment

New York has proven to be the city that everyone I know wants to come a visit, which has been awesome! To anyone reading this, come visit, let’s play tourist.

New York is also a host to a lot of people who I have met through the years. Its been a constant reminder of how small the world can be. With well over 8 million people, its amazing how much I run into the people at the gym, in the neighborhood, or subway who I haven’t seen in years.

The most memorable of the reunions was my 10 year high school reunion. These are people who I grew up with in Hong Kong.

10 year High School Reunion of HKIS class 2001

It’s interesting to say 10 years, it’s a long time, but when I met everyone again no time had passed for us. People got older, skinnier, fatter, better looking, matured, still haven’t matured, etc, but overall it was the same diverse group of people I grew up. With all our changes and backgrounds, we still greet each as only a day has passed.

Is New York home? I love it here, but there’s always more of the world to explore. I have that itch, the world as small and there is so much to do and see.

The year of 2011 was exciting, healing, and awesome! If you have been apart of it thanks, if you haven’t, see you soon its been far too long.

After my first half marathon, my feet hurt for about a week, something I attributed as a badge of honor. Needless to say, the rest of me hurt too, which lead to a week or two of recovery. I started training for my next half marathon (SJ Rock n Roll).

It was on long run (11 miles) that I was having major problems with my shoes and therefore my feet. I was wearing the right socks, hydrated, and even baby powdered to keep sweating under control. At mile 10, my feet felt like they were in a perpetual sauna. I took off my shoes and with the pain of the blisters just started to walk. This is what I will say was my eureka moment, which people will speak of years from now.

I started a light jog to finish the last mile, all while barefoot. Please forgive me if this sounds exaggerated, but this was the single greatest feeling my feet had ever had from running. There was no soreness from shoes, no rubbing to create blisters, and most importantly my feet could breathe. I received many worried looks from my fellow runners as they feared my safety for the possibility of stepping on something sharp.

There was no outside influence for minimal running for me. I had no idea where to begin about doing research or starting my journey with minimal running. I proceeded to do the half marathon, as trained, in my normal running shoes. I had a faster time, but the same reoccurring problem, my feet hurt like hell afterwards.

The great event that came from the half was when I saw two men wearing VFFs. As soon as I saw them, I walked over and did the Q&A that many of us have been accustomed too. One question that I did ask though was why they had switched to them and there answer was my driving force to purchase my first pair of VFFs shortly after.

After recovering from my second half, I did my research for the VFFs. Normally I can be an impulsive guy, but having to actually consider changing some habit that you have been doing for years is a big decision. It took me about two weeks to decide to buy a pair, and then another two weeks to actually find a place that was selling them that wasn’t sold out.

My first pair of VFFs were brown KSOs, or gorilla feet as many of my friends warmly referred to them. The first night, I made the tragic mistake of going for a nice 5 miler. It felt great, until the next day where my foot felt like it was dying. The muscles in my foot were not just aching, but trembling with what I can only describe as a tight pain. I could feel every bit of my foot through the soreness.

This when I discovered birthdayshoes.com and brought the question in the forum of what was wrong. The current theory is the your feet have muscles that don’t get used much because a normal running shoe does quite a bit of stabilization for you. Your foot now has to stabilize your whole body and absorb the impact of running.

The transition took a lot longer than I had hoped. The first month my left foot hurt the most, the second month my right foot hurt. I believe that it had something to do with favoring/compensating on a single foot.

For the next training program, I showed up my first day in my Vibrams and received the greeting of odd looks, questions, and doubt of the purpose of this shoes. My running coach was not a firm supporter, arguing that I would do more harm than good. I gave my reasoning and said that I would just try this one training program in them.

I’ll skip the description of the training runs, though if you run in SF you’ll know that there are some great scenic routes even in the city. What I would like to discuss is my progression with the shoes.

My neutral standing and walking feet position are very duck like. My feet form a nice comfortable v-shape. I’ve tried for years to mentally correct this problem. This has always made my run look odd, and from what I told, inefficient.

Running in the VFFs never hurt my feet like original running shoes. I did get soreness from my calfs though. I’ve attributed this to heel striking, which my body took a while to get use to. My solution to the soreness was getting a sports massage for the trouble areas, which always resolved the discomfort.

I had to effectively teach my body to run and land on the fore front of my foot. Many people who talk about running barefoot often discuss running on their balls of their feet or toes. I’ve tried training myself for this and it just doesn’t fit correctly with what feels natural. I’ve found that my foot strike is in the balls of my foot with some mid foot. I’ve had no complaints and don’t think that I will be switching my foot striking.

While training, the down hills took quite awhile to become accustomed to. My feet felt they were taking a beating, not in terms of pain. The comparable feeling is after a good gym workout you feel sore and pumped, now imagine that feeling in your feet, only your feet have no muscle, yet.

For this half marathon, I was not aiming for a PR, I just wanted to finish. The run went through SF Golden Gate Park and down the great highway. The first 9 miles the pace was speedy, road comfortable, and down hills felt great, and then I reached the Great Highway.

This is a stretch of road that follows the Pacific Ocean in San Francisco. A great view, with beaches, water, and sun, but the road is old and weathered. It was uneven, in disrepair with holes in the pavement, and just uncomfortable to run on. This caused me discomfort, where I had to walk a good portion of the road. The last mile I manage to run, but it was only because it took me off the Great Highway. I still manage to get a decent run time, but I look back on this experienced and realized that I was still relearning to run again in the Vibrams.

The health benefits have obviously been amazing. I’ve lost weight. I feel great. And for the first time in my life, I feel fit.

The physical has not been the only aspect that has changed for me. The greatest accomplishment of running has been my confidence, which comes in many forms than just self image.

The confidence comes from the races I’ve finished. Having a schedule of mileage you need to run and committing to is a challenge. There were days I said no, but ran anyways, and there were days I said no, and didn’t run. Each time, though, it felt great, even when it hurt.

When a race day came, I never felt unprepared. It was just another run with a couple hundred other people. Having a goal (the race) and accomplishing is always the objective — personal records be damn, finishing is all I’m thinking about.

The confidence comes from the friends I’ve made. The running group that I was part of San Francisco changed my perspective on running. It was no longer lone exercise in the pre-weight lifting regime.

Running can be social. You’ll run with people faster and slower than your current speed, but either way it will be motivation. Some will talk, listen, or politely tell you to shut up because you are talking too much.

The confidence in knowing that there is always the next goal. Getting to the finish line is awesome. Once I cross it, for thirty seconds I hurt, but after that I always think to myself, “What next?”

The next challenge whether is be farther or faster. If there’s a destination race, that promotes drinking of wine instead of water. It could be that next time you’ll spectate instead of participate, to support those friends that have always supported you.

These are just a few of the reasons of why I run.