What Nike did for me and I will always be grateful

I was a mediocre runner who had to deal with injuries every few years.

In that frustration, I was looking for answers without finding them. Asking here and there, visiting the whole collective around popular athletics.

One day I saw an ad on TV for Nike shoes that simulated barefoot.

I remember that some Kenyans were running with them, with such a fluid movement that it seemed that they did not step on the asphalt.

At that moment the Rome Marathon came to my mind in Bikila running barefoot.

Suddenly everything seemed to make sense: Bikila and a pair of shoes that looked like she was running barefoot. The excitement filled me up inside.

Once again I found a motivation to get out of the pit of injuries where I was falling again and again without any remedy.

At that time, I was working in Madrid and I went to a shop specialized in athletic shoes.

When I arrived I asked the shop assistant about the shoes in question and he told me that those shoes were not for me.

I tried to reason with him, but in a strong way he said no. He put me on a gadget with a mirror on the floor and made me bend my knees: "You're a pronator," he said. "Your feet are leaning in."

Just like that, just like that. I'm a caveman, so I tend more to hyper-supinate (the foot lands exaggeratedly on the outside).

He sold me some Asics with pronation control and soon I was injured again.

For several months afterwards, the Nike and Barefoot Bikila ad came to me again and again like a nightmare?

How was it possible, what was the right shoe for me?

I found the answer in the book Born to Run, at that time in its English version.

Reading it made me discover the White Horse, the Tarahumara and how there were many people who ran with the minimum on their feet, in sandals or barefoot.

It was like finding an oasis in the middle of the desert.

I bought the least protected competition shoe I could find, the Adidas PR.

I cut off part of the sole and started walking and running progressively. Interspersing the race with leg and foot exercises.

From time to time I also ran barefoot, trying to make my feet feel better.

My feet became stronger and I managed to achieve that feeling of kissing the ground that I longed for and with it, my injuries began to disappear.

Some time later the forum and the blog of correrdescalzos.es were born, the minimalist shoes became popular and with them ZaMi was created.