Paul Both's Run for Liberty: Training to Run Across America in FiveFingers

By Justin Owings on Oct 16, 2009 | In user stories | Leave a comment »

I've recently had the opportunity to learn about Paul Both — a musician and sound engineer "with a running addiction" — mostly via his twitter account (@paulboth). Through that interaction, I've learned that Paul is training for his "Run for Liberty," a run that begins on February 9, 2010, in Huntington Beach, California and ends at the Statue of Liberty:

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As if running across the country wasn't feat enough, Paul will be doing the run in Vibram FiveFingers, which he started wearing a few weeks back.

I asked Paul to share a bit about what he's been up to with regard to his training and running to share on birthdayshoes. Here is what Paul had to say:

Hey Justin

I love your site! It is cool seeing and reading about other peoples' experiences with the Vibrams. After watching my daughter run barefoot for the last year or so and reading "Born to Run" I decided to go the minimalist route and start running in VFFs. I originally went in, thinking that I wanted the KSOs. They didn't have my size, so I ended up getting the Classics. I am so glad I did! I haven't had any issues with them slipping off (the only thing I was worried about) and I think I feel freer in them than I would have in the KSO's. I developed a blister on the back of my heal from the first run in them (because I pulled the drawstring too tight out of fear of them falling off) but that has healed and now I don't even pull the string to snug them up and they stay on just fine.

I did way too many miles in the the first 3 weeks that I had them (120 miles) because I was in the middle of training for the Long Beach Marathon and I had to switch back to shoes the last 2 weeks of training so I could preserve a decent marathon time. But, aside from running, I have been all VFF all the time. Now that the marathon is over, I will return to running solely in the Vibrams and ramp up slowly this time.

I am training for a run across the country from Huntington Beach, CA to New York City that starts Feb 9th 2010. I am going to be doing the run in my Vibrams! Although I may have to find those KSO's in my size (and black) since it might get a bit cold that time of year. But weather permitting, I'll be in my Ninja Classics!

You can see Paul in his "Ninja Classics" (black Classic FiveFingers) in this video, which also features Paul's daughter talking about getting into running:

It's good to hear that Paul's VFF training is going well — even after Paul jumped in the high mileage deep end!

If you want to keep track of Paul's progress training for the Run for Liberty, he's periodically putting forward YouTube episodes (like the one above). You can stay on top of those videos by subscribing to Paul's YouTube channel.

Best of luck in your training, Paul!

About the Author — I founded BirthdayShoes.com in April 2009 on realizing just how much I enjoyed having "free feet" - I mostly wanted to use them for weights, sprints, and plyometrics (I'm not much of a runner!). I'm a Googler by day and minimalist footwear aficionado by night; you can find me 'round Atlanta. If you want to catch up with what I'm doing outside of the site here, follow me on twitter @bdayshoes or @justinno or check out my personal site JustinOwings.com.
Justin Owings+ has written 710 articles and 258 comments.