About Me

Nick is my name and I am a 24 year old graduate of Business Entrepreneurship out of California. Career driven and down to earth (literally), I spends my days finding new innovative ways to be as productive as possible with the least amount of energy. I slipped into philosophy in his early years of college, which lead him into a minimalistic lifestyle (Zen) of barefooting or barefoot running. I now swear by bare feet running shoes and run to tell the stories that come with the loving running for the sake of running and not trying to obtain a goal other than enjoyment.

When I first started gaining interest in this field of bare feet running shoes,  it didn’t just come from the fact that I wanted to run barefooted but with the lessons that minimalism in my life were getting me. It seemed to be that the saying, “less is more” seem to start ringing truer and truer. So if that rang true in other areas of life, why can't it ring true when it comes to running with your bare feet (or close to it). I actually openly disliked running at all, so avoiding it at all costs like many other human beings on this planet was definitely something I delved into for awhile. However just seeing the benefits that it had on the human body and that there were methods in this world that could make it pain free.

I jumped and splurged into my first pair of Vibram Five Finger shoes, something I had saw on a Tim Ferriss Blog during my sophomore year of college and decided to put my feet to the test by wearing them everywhere. These bare feet running shoes did not thank me at first in respect to how sore my feet were, but I don’t take back making the purchase. Within a week my feet felt stronger, my toe muscles were more active than ever, and any problems with my legs were not there. This is where I started forming ideas that less could be more when it comes to running and wearing barefoot shoes. I definitely got a lot of looks while wearing them around campus (they were a pair of blue vibrams so I stuck out like a sore thumb) so I decided that I would try something different. I searched online and found my next pair of bare feet running shoes which turned out to be Terra Planas Dharma Black Canvas barefeet shoes which seemed more like ordinary shoes and fit my lifestyle perfectly. The only problem was cost for me, but thankfully I own an eBay eCommerce store and was able to get a good quantity of this pair and others that I could resell back to the public at a discounted price. I really feel that these minimal type shoes can do the body health and justice in bringing about stability. So this was definitely a cause that I was interested in.

Not only until recently has is come to my attention how bare feet running shoes actually are very beneficial to the bodies posture and health. Reading about studies and injuries that other more cushioned shoes that are even suppose to “help” your feet can cause has given me a passion to spread the word about the barefoot philosophy. Thus the site has come into being, the barefoot philosophers purpose is to get you running like you’ve never experienced before. There is one more teacher that served as a great influence in my life and that was Christopher McDougall from his book Born To Run where it talks about the famous Mexican tribe Tarahumara and how their lifestyle of running 150 miles on average a day is the norm for them. It caused me to question everything about our previous thoughts that, “our bodies are meant to take that kind of punishment from the ground.” It has to be wrong, because there are tribes all over the world that are doing it through persistence running (running long distances with and animal in order to exhaust it to kill and eat for the villages livelihood) and other transportation means.

My goal for the barefoot philosopher is to entertain this thought, to keep it alive and thriving and to show you that there is a lot of hidden value in running the right way. Even if you have to start out with vibrams and move on to less and less, or whatever suits you best. Remember that less is more in terms of your feet, as it helps you listen to your body more deeply and to make adjustments to it. Here I hope you will find the information that you seek to get you on the right path of barefooting. For now, I run on Huarache running sandals and hope to see you within these pages of my project barefoot philosopher.