» Sport: The Barefoot Runner
Joe Addison introduces his son to the habit
“How can you be the Brighton barefoot runner when you’re a smoker?” A fair question and one put to me by a friend who saw me puffing away outside a restaurant last week.
I should give you a bit of backstory really. I had my first cigarette at the age of 12 and started regularly smoking at 14. Aside from a few sporadic weeks of sanity, I was a constant smoker for the next 15 years, averaging a pack a day, sometimes more. During the 1999 European Cup final, I smoked 40 in 93 minutes (most of those in the last 10 minutes!) and could not speak for two days afterwards.
But as soon as I started running I realised I should try to stop if I was going to have any chance of completing a marathon, and found it fairly easy (my wife and children might disagree about the first few days) because I was working towards something. Within weeks of stopping I was feeling fitter and healthier than I ever had. I still had the occasional cigarette, usually when alcohol was involved, but generally I have steered clear.
Then came last month’s ultra race. In my disappointment at not finishing, I decided to take a break from running for a couple of weeks. And that’s when the smoking started again. I wasn’t chain smoking, but I was making more than one trip outdoors a day. And this is where my friend found me to ask his question, to which I didn’t have a suitably witty answer.
“I took him down to the cycle track in Preston Park, the very spot where I took my first tentative un-shoed steps”
I have since stopped again and resumed running, which feels great, but I don’t think I’ll ever be completely free from nicotine. At least while I’m a runner I don’t feel the urge. I guess I’ll just have to keep on running.
My son, Mason, occasionally comes along to Parkrun and on shorter runs with me. His Parkrun times are getting faster and faster, and his running form is better than mine. This week he decided to try a bit of bare-footing. So I took him down to the cycle track in Preston Park, the very spot where I took my first tentative un-shoed steps, and he did a 500 metre lap completely bare.
I’m not going to push him into it, but he’s already talking about doing parkrun barefoot in the future. It won’t be long before he’s flying over the finish line ahead of me and I’m very proud of him.
