Ever since I started going barefoot my life has changed in so many incredible ways, but for most of my life I struggled with poor foot health. My Dad, being a podiatrist told me I needed to wear arch support because I had flat feet, only thing is I hated wearing them and decided instead to struggle through whatever issues my feet might cause. As an athlete, playing football, wrestling, baseball and more I put up with shoes throughout the years, tight, uncomfortable, ill-fitting shoes that always made my feet hurt. I often had smelly, sweaty feet with athlete’s foot, my shins often hurt, my feet often felt sore after a workout, nothing about shoes was every appealing to me. Flash forward to my Mid 30’s. I move back to Colorado of all places and, after an arduous divorce, I started to feel this inner pull to take my shoes off. At the time money was tight, my hiking shoes were wearing down, I had to buy knew ones but dreaded going to the shoe store, so I figured I would try hiking barefoot. At first I only made it a few minutes but within weeks I was going barefoot more and more. Before I knew it I found myself not only hiking for 6+ miles barefoot but running barefoot on the trails, up and down the rocky mountains, it felt so freeing, I felt so alive. I always hated running in shoes and I assumed I just didn’t like to run, but barefoot running, ah, it felt more like dancing through the trees, flying with the wind. I quickly fell in love and decided to try and run my first barefoot marathon in the mountains, on a trail that no one had ever attempted barefoot. It was the hardest and yet most rewarding thing I had ever done and taught me so much about my feet. In the end I realized that feet are simply amazing and that because we lock them into shoes, or foot prisons as I like to say, that we lose out on so much of the functioning of our feet, but not any more! Now I write and guide others to unlocking the gifts of their feet so they can run, walk, hike and simply live a barefoot life in whatever capacity feels best to them. It’s time to take back our feet and see how incredible they are in their full form.