Running barefoot?

Training has been going fairly well. Been pretty busy lately. Getting things ready for the transplant games. Hospital lost some of my blood work data and I have to redo my blood work again. Little stuff.

Anyways, last week I was doing my strides. I was thinking and feeling how awesome running barefoot is. In the transplant games, I signed up for the track and field distance (50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m etc.) Why don't I run those barefoot? I will see how my feet feels on the ground the race is on. If it feels alright, I won't mind doing it. Just wondering what's your thought on that?

....
I receive a weekly email from DrMirkin's eZine. Today's article intrigues me. He talks about the importance of retaining muscle for live longer. Muscle produces protein + white blood cells to kill cancer cells :). You know what this means...a more reason to train =D

How Lack of Exercise Shortens Lives

Many studies show that people die from inactivity,
not just from aging. We know that as people age, they lose
muscle, their immunities weaken and because of their weakened
immunity, they are more likely to die of cancer and infectious
diseases. As you age, you lose your ability to kill germs because
of lack of muscle. When germs get into your body, you must
make white blood cells and proteins called antibodies to kill them.
Antibodies and cells are made from protein and the only place that
you can store extra protein is in your muscles. When you have
large muscles, you have a ready source of protein to make
antibodies and cells. When you have small muscles, you have a
very limited source of amino acids to make protein, so your
immunity may be inadequate to kill germs.

You need antibodies to control cancer cells also. Each
day, every healthy body makes millions of cancer cells. Your
white blood cells and protein antibodies are necessary to ferret
out and kill these cancer cells. You develop cancer when these
cancer cells survive and start growing. Having large muscles
gives you the source of protein to make antibodies that kill cancer
cells as well as germs. Furthermore, when your skeletal muscles
are small, so is your heart muscle. A strong heart can withstand
arteriosclerosis and infections that can kill a weak heart.
Lack of exercise causes muscles to get smaller. With
aging, it takes increasingly longer to recover from exercise. When
older people get injured or get tired too soon or feel sore too early,
they do less and less or they stop exercising altogether. Instead,
they should be exercising more intelligently so they can retain
their muscles.

A major advantage of competing in sports at any age is
that you can learn good training techniques and how to avoid
injuries. If you can exercise into your nineties and beyond without
quitting or getting injured, you can retain muscle mass, keep up
your immunity and live longer and healthier.